Driving Under The Influence of (Legal) Cannabis

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that recreational use of cannabis is now legal in Illinois as of January 1, 2020. Nearly $3.2 million dollars in sales were reported on the first day of 2020!

There are a plethora of guidelines for consumers to learn, and plenty of misinformation floating around the internet. Make sure you know the source of all information you read on this subject, and trust credible sources only! This is very informative article to get you started.

The legalization of cannabis has raised questions about enforcement of driving under the influence. It is illegal to drive under the influence of any drug in Illinois, including cannabis, even if the individual has legally consumed the drug. The legal limit for THC is 5ng/ml in your blood. But what does this mean, and how is it proven?

Essentially, smoking any amount of cannabis will put you over this limit, temporarily. It’s likely that consuming THC in other forms will also put you over this limit. The issue then becomes how long a person needs to wait before they can drive. There is no universal answer to this question. It depends on how much you take, your body size, your gender, and your history of use. You should only drive once you are no longer showing any signs of impairment.

Because it is not possible to conduct a blood test on a driver, law enforcement is developing a saliva test to be used on the road. The test has been developed, but its scientific reliability is being tested at this time. Until a reliable test is developed, a police officer can only use their own observations, based on their experience and training, to determine whether a driver is under the influence of cannabis.