With the recent approval of the Medical Marijuana program in Arizona there are a lot of questions out there regarding Marijuana and DUI charges. One of the questions we get asked a lot is ‘Can I get a DUI in Arizona with a Medical Marijuana card?‘ David Cantor answers this question in the short video below:
So, can I get a DUI in Arizona with a Medical Marijuana Card?
Yes, under Arizona law the important thing is ‘are you impaired by the drug’. If you are found to be impaired, you can be arrested for a Drug DUI.
If you have a drug in your system and don’t have a prescription, you are looking at a DUI with a metabolite of an illegal or illicit drug in your system.
If you have a medical marijuana card, you can still be charged with DUI if the officer thinks you are impaired by the marijuana.
Now there has been some debate, with marijuana there are two types of metabolites, active and inactive. Active metabolites effect your brain and would make you impaired to drive, in this instance you would have just smoked marijuana or have smoked it within the last couple of hours.
Inactive metabolites show up a day or two after you’ve smoked and will also show up in your urine up to 30 days later. The inactive metabolite is the one that can get you arrested for DUI if you do not have a medical marijuana card.
But if you do have the card, there are arguments you can make that you were not impaired at the time of arrest and there is an actual defense to the Marijuana DUI charge. So if you have gotten a DUI for Marijuana and have your Medical Marijuana Card, call us at (602) 307-0808 because we can help you. For more information regarding a Drug DUI in Arizona, click here.