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Commission Says: No THC Limit For Impaired Driving

Marijuana plant photo
Flickr/Creative Commons

Michigan should not set a legal limit that would automatically make someone’s driving impaired after using marijuana.

That’s what the commission charged with looking into the matter says.

In Michigan it’s illegal for people of legal drinking age to drive with a bodily alcohol content of .08 or higher.

The Impaired Driving Safety Commission was formed to find out if a similar limit could be set with the main psychoactive ingredient in  marijuana.

That’s Delta 9 THC.

The commission says the answer is no.

Dr. Carol Flannagan is a commission member and traffic safety expert.

She says the way the body stores marijuana makes its difficult to set an across-the-board limit that would be fair to everyone.

“You can make mistakes in two ways. One of them, is you can have people who are in fact impaired and who do not test above whatever that limit is, and then you can people who are not impaired who do test over the limit," says Flannagan. 

Instead of a THC limit the commission recommends police receive more training to detect for drugged driving.

The commission says it has submitted its report to the governor and legislature. 

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