|
Newsbrief:
German
Supreme
Court
Rejects
"Zero
Tolerance"
Drugged
Driving
Law
in
Cannabis
Case
1/21/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/371/germany.shtml
Germany's Federal Constitutional
Court, the highest court in the land, has ruled that tiny traces of THC
in a driver's bloodstream are not sufficient to convict him of driving
while intoxicated and punish him by revoking his driver's license, the
German news web site Tagesschau reported. Until the ruling, any trace
of illegal drugs in one's system would have been sufficient for a conviction.
The January 13 ruling overturned a lower court ruling in Karlsruhe.
In that case, an unnamed
Karlsruhe man was convicted of driving under the influence after having
smoked hashish the previously night -- 16 hours before he was arrested.
Police tested and arrested him after he came to a police station on an
unrelated matter. The test showed he had less than 0.5 nanograms
of THC per milliliter of blood in his system. But the German high
court held because advances in drug testing technology allowed the most
minuscule traces to drugs to be detected, German courts must reinterpret
what constitutes drug driving. It suggested a level of 1.0 nanograms
of THC may be a reasonable cut-off point.
The German court ruling contradicts
model
drugged driving laws crafted by the US Office of National Drug Control
Policy and a private drug testing firm, the Walsh Group. That
model law calls for a "per se" assumption that any amount of an illicit
drug is evidence of impaired driving and is being pushed in state legislatures
across the country.
-- END --
|
Issue #371
-- 1/21/05
Editorial:
Unfortunate
Bedfellows
|
Following
Oklahoma's
Lead,
States
Target
Cold
Remedies
in
Fight
Against
Methamphetamine
|
Mexican
Stand-Off:
Government
Sends
in
Tanks,
Soldiers
in
Effort
to
Retake
Prisons
from
Narcos
|
Blogging:
A
Stunning
Admission
by
Baltimore
Police
Officials,
and
More
|
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Newsbrief:
German
Supreme
Court
Rejects
"Zero
Tolerance"
Drugged
Driving
Law
in
Cannabis
Case |
Newsbrief:
Mass
Arrests
of
Drug
Users
in
Iran
|
Newsbrief:
Marijuana
Bills
Filed
--
Medical
Marijuana
in
New
Jersey,
Decriminalization
in
New
Hampshire
|
Newsbrief:
Resistance
to
Methadone
Clinics
Rears
Head
in
Virginia,
Washington
State
|
Newsbrief:
King
County
Bar
Association
(Seattle)
Calls
for
Legal,
Regulated
Drug
Markets
|
Newsbrief:
Texas
Bill
Would
Ban
Drug
Offenders
from
Entering
Certain
San
Antonio
Neighborhoods
|
Newsbrief:
Last
Week's
Supreme
Court
Ruling
Pays
Off
for
New
York
Woman
|
Newsbrief:
Martha
Stewart,
Prisoner
Advocate
|
Newsbrief:
MPP
Assists
Poor
Montana
Medical
Marijuana
Patients
|
Newsbrief:
Maine
Activist
Providing
Medical
Marijuana
Indicted
for
Trafficking
and
Cultivation
|
This
Week
in
History
|
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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