'The next horizon': THC legal limit bill advances in Indiana legislature
House Bill 1119, if passed, states a person can be charged with intoxicated driving if their saliva returns positive for THC. Lawmakers specified that police would use a Drager DrugTest 5000 saliva swab that will only show positive results if a person has 5 nanograms or more in their system.
That means someone who has small amounts of THC in their blood would be less likely to be charged with an OWI than they would be under current Indiana law.
The proposal shows a slight movement of the needle in the push for Indiana to legalize anything pertaining to marijuana. Lawmakers file bills to legalize marijuana every year, but none of the measures ever pass, and former Gov. Eric Holcomb through his tenure said he would not take steps to legalize marijuana while it remained an illicit substance at the federal level.
Meanwhile, all of Indiana's surrounding states have legalized some form of marijuana. Gov. Mike Braun during his election campaign showed an openness to medical marijuana. Still, with the Statehouse deadline to move bills out of committee approaching next week, no bills to decriminalize or legalize marijuana have even received a hearing.
Lawmakers during the committee hearing on HB 1119 did not indicate the bill is motivated by a thaw on the state's Republican leaders' hardline stance on marijuana legalization. Evansville Republican Rep. Wendy McNamara, one of the bill's authors, during the hearing said her motivation is to target intoxicated drivers through toxicologist-approved tests, referring to THC as 'one of the trickiest things I've ever tried to nail down.'
'I think this is the next horizon, the next step in how we test for impairment in the State of Indiana while making sure that there's some reliability around that,' she said.
Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, did suggest Indiana may be able to make headway on legalization by passing laws addressing intoxicated driving-related concerns that come with marijuana proposals.
'I think if we had some system we could point to on the impairment, that would maybe deal with that issue and then it could on the other policy debate surrounding legalization,' Pierce said, explaining that reckless driving is the first argument voters raised when the topic of legalization arises.
The bill carries a Class C misdemeanor penalty for violators, which escalates to a felony if the driver causes serious bodily injury or death behind the wheel. Police cannot arrest someone solely because of a positive test, the proposal clarifies, but the results can be admitted in court for a jury to decide how much weight to put into the results.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorney's Council voiced its support for the bill, calling a saliva test a time and money saver.
The House Courts and Criminal Code committee approved the bill by a 12-1 vote, with Rep. Joanna King, R-Middlebury, in dissent. It now moves to the House floor for consideration.
Contact IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana bill creating limit of THC for impaired driving advances
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