Starting January 1, 2020, marijuana will be legal for recreational use in Illinois. Illinois residents aged 21 and older may possess up to 30 grams of cannabis flower, 5 grams of concentrate and 500 milligrams of THC in products such as edibles at any given time. The new law will expunge the records of roughly 800,000 people with minor marijuana convictions.
But, that doesn't mean the police can't use marijuana against you. Think of weed as the same substance as alcohol. You can drink in the privacy of your own home and you can drink in certain establishments. However, you can't drink in public. You can't drink and drive. It is a crime to be drunk and disorderly. Marijuana isn't much different.
Imagine you are stopped by the police in your vehicle and the smell of marijuana is coming from that vehicle. The police, in their investigation, to make sure you are not an impaired driver, may not only pull you out of your vehicle, but it may give them probable cause to search the vehicle. In other words, a passenger in your vehicle may be smoking marijuana, legally, and yet the police officer might feel that they have the right to not only detain you, but they may also search your car. The "odor" of marijuana, like alcohol, can lead to something called "probable cause". With probable cause, the police can search your vehicle and anything they find in there that may be illegal, may be used against you as evidence.
Another issue that Illinois residents might face is the issue surrounding second hand smoke. The science behind residual contact high or "second hand smoke" is incomplete. But it begs the question: If I am driving in a car, and my passengers are smoking weed, will I be affected enough to become an impaired driver? Can I get charged with a DUI? This is a frightening concept that the Illinois legislature hasn't even addressed yet. But more importantly, how will police cite these offenses? Does a passenger smoking cannabis legally open themselves up to the likelihood of unlawful searches and seizures?
There is no answer to these newly developing laws and guidelines. But it also leads me to wonder about what happens when someone is involved in a vehicle accident. Marijuana stays in your system for weeks. If you are involved in an accident involving serious injury or death and the police have reason to believe you are under the influence of a drug/alcohol, the police may request a blood draw pursuant to Illinois statute 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2. That blood draw can then be used against you in court and criminal proceedings. Perhaps you had smoked three weeks prior and had not been under the influence at the time of the crash. Weed does not metabolize in your blood the same way alcohol does. Therefore, you might be charged for a DUI for drugs even though you were not impaired at the time of the accident.
We don't know how Illinois law enforcement will respond to the new "reefer madness". But I can hypothesize that our trends will follow that of Colorado's legalization process. Below is a link to a comprehensive report written for the Colorado State Legislature, The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice Office of Research and Statistics compiled “Impacts on Marijuana Legalization in Colorado,” a report that collects and analyzes data on marijuana-related topics including crime, DUI charges, and hospitalizations.
So before you or your passengers light up, think twice. Your given right to smoke might come at a much worse consequence than anyone thought.
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