Marijuana use has restrictions

With sales totaling about $11 million in the first week, many Illinois residents are taking advantage of a new state law. But, there are facets of the law that need clarification or explanation.

For example, while individuals may consume marijuana they cannot drive while under the influence of it, and there are regulations on how it can be transported.
Under the new law, Illinois residents ages 21 and over can purchase marijuana and marijuana products from licensed sellers, with or without a medical card.
State residents can possess up to 30 grams, or about an ounce of cannabis flower or up to 5 grams of cannabis concentrate. The limit for edibles and tinctures is 500 milligrams of THC.
Use is limited to personal residences and cannabis-related businesses that allow it.
It’s prohibited in public places, such as streets or parks; in motor vehicles; on school grounds, with the exception of medical users; near someone under 21; or near an on-duty school bus driver, police officer, firefighter or corrections officer.
Initially, the law would have allowed individuals to grow up to five plants at a time in their homes. However, that is now only allowed for medical marijuana patients.
Individuals who were convicted for possessing less than 30 grams will have their records referred to the state’s Prisoner Review Board and then to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for a pardon.
Those convicted of possessing 30-500 grams can petition to have those convictions expunged.
For law enforcement officials, the new law means some changes.
“I think one of the big things is going to be the DUI’s,” Vandalia Police Chief Jeff Ray said.
“A lot of people may be under the assumption, I think, that they can use (marijuana) and be able to drive, but we’ve been doing DUI’s for drugs or alcohol for years,” he said.
“But, I think it’s going to be more common to see DUI’s with drugs than what we’ve seen in the past,” he said.
Before the law went into effect, Ray said, an officer could ask a driver who appears to be impaired whether he or she had used marijuana recently.
If they said that they had, an officer could proceed with citation for driving under the influence, “because it stays in your system for 46 days,” Ray said.
Unlike alcohol, there is no standard roadside testing for marijuana, but Ray said that officers can still do some field sobriety tests, such as having the driver stand on one leg or walk and turn around.
Factors that would lead to an arrest for driving under the influence of drugs would also include “behavior indicators and, obviously, the smell of cannabis,” Ray said.
“You take all of that into consideration in your DUI enforcement,” he said.
By law, a driver is allowed to have up to 5 nanograms of THC in his or her system, and the only way to test for the presence of THC is a blood test.
It’s not possible to tell on the scene the level of impairment, Ray said.
“I don’t know what impairment levels are, what 2 nanograms (of impairment) looks like. Is that like .02 or .04 (of impairment with alcohol)?
“I don’t know what it does to your reaction time,” he said.
The issue with the blood testing is that it can take weeks or months to get the test results. “It’s not a quick turnaround at all,” Ray said.
He said when an Illinois resident obtains a driver’s license, there is an implied consent for breath or chemical tests.
A driver who consents to a breathalyzer test and fails will have his or her license suspended for three months. One who does not consent has his or her license suspended for six months.
With a failed breathalyzer test, the driver’s license is suspended for 46 days and his or she receives a receipt allowing them to drive for that period.
With those who are arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, police have to wait for the results of the blood test to come back, then they mail a notice stating the beginning date of the license suspension.
Ray also pointed out that by law, marijuana has to be in a sealed, odor-proof and child resistant container.
“Just the other day, somebody had it in a baggie,” Ray said. “That’s not legal; you can’t transport it in a vehicle that way.”
The law prohibits public use of marijuana, and Ray said he believes that the state is still working to clarify that aspect of the law as far as enforcement.
Unless the use of marijuana in public is obvious and there are factors that can lead to an arrest, he said, it could be a case where a person may not be charged unless he or she is underage or is using marijuana on school grounds.
Many, Ray included, see marijuana as a gateway drug, something that can lead to the use of controlled substances, even though some have contended that that’s not been the case with alcohol use.
As a long-time law enforcement officer who for years has enforced the prohibition of all marijuana use, Ray said, “I never thought we would see the day it would be legal.”