Rolling Stoned
- Spencer Drake
- Nov 25, 2024
- 4 min read
The Dangers of Driving High
With the relatively recent changes to marijuana laws in Virginia, many people are under the mistaken belief that marijuana is legal and that a person cannot be criminally charged for smoking it. While it is true that the legislature has decriminalized marijuana for personal home use, that does not mean that it is legal to use marijuana in other settings. This is particularly true of using marijuana before or while you are driving.
Driving Under the Influence
Under Virginia law, a person is considered to be driving under the influence when a person is (1) operating a motor vehicle and (2) is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or a combination of alcohol and drugs, “to a degree which impairs his ability to drive or operate a motor vehicle […] safely.” Va. Code § 18.2-266. For alcohol, that can be either driving with a BAC of 0.08 or higher or driving with any amount of alcohol (even less than a 0.08) and being affected such that it impairs your ability to drive that vehicle safely. Unlike with alcohol, for most drugs there is no number for a judge to look at; instead, the question is whether you can drive safely.
What Does Driving Safely Mean?
What does it mean to be able to drive safely? It means simply that you are able to do all the things you have to do while driving without causing a motor vehicle crash. This means being able to be aware of your surroundings, use your hands and feet separately to drive, watch your rearview mirrors, and be aware of your speed and direction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) has come up with a number of tests to help police officers identify whether a person can safely do all these things, called field sobriety tests, along with chemical testing of a driver’s breath and blood. But even the way you drive can tell an officer a lot about whether you are driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
How Marijuana Affects Your Driving
Marijuana, like alcohol, is classified as a Central Nervous System Depressant, which means it slows down your brain activity. It can slow down your reaction time, impair your ability to judge distances, and decreases your coordination. Unlike alcohol, though, marijuana when smoked can affect your body immediately (edibles take a bit longer to take effect). So if you are smoking marijuana right before or while driving, you don’t have time to get home before the effects hit you, and you become a danger to yourself and everyone else on the road. In addition, the levels of THC in marijuana are much higher now than they were in years past, regularly reaching 15-25% THC content. That means each hit of marijuana affects you much more strongly than it would have in the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s, when the THC content was between 3-7%.
Marijuana affects each person differently, so the effects aren’t always the same. One person might drive much too slow, while another person might believe themselves to be driving slowly while actually driving much too fast. One person might stop too soon or too quickly at a stop sign or traffic light, while another might not realize they need to stop until it is too late. Another person might realize they need to stop but not be able to make their hands and feet work together to avoid an obstacle in the road.
Penalties for Driving High
Driving under the influence of any substance can have significant consequences. Even if it is your first offense, with no other criminal history, and you do not crash or hurt someone, you are going to be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. The more serious your impairment, the higher the penalty will be. It also includes a loss of your privilege to drive for a year, though you might get a restricted license. If it is your second offense, you are going to serve mandatory active time in jail and you will lose your license for three years. If it is your third offense or later, a DUI becomes a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500, and your license is permanently revoked. If you seriously hurt someone because of your driving, you will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine, and if it is because of reckless driving that penalty becomes 2-10 years in prison, and your license is permanently revoked.
DUI Prosecution
In Amherst County, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office takes crimes of Driving Under the Influence very seriously. There is nothing more dangerous or more likely to harm an innocent person than an intoxicated driver hurtling down the road in a one-ton metal weapon. Our policy is to try every DUI case we receive and ensure both that the roads remain safe and that those who do drive under the influence are prosecuted for the danger in which they have placed everyone else on the roads.
In short, if you’re going to use marijuana, do so in your own home, and do not get behind the wheel of a car afterwards. It’s just not worth it.
