Pubdate: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 Source: Dayton Daily News (OH) Copyright: 2003 Dayton Daily News Contact: http://www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/120 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) SUMMIT COUNTY STEPS UP DRIVING WHILE DRUGGED ENFORCEMENT AKRON (AP) - Summit County has passed a pioneering law designed to make it easier to convict people for driving while drugged. The law, which took effect Aug. 26, is part of an emerging effort to raise awareness of "drug driving" and to make drugged drivers as accountable as those who drive while drunk. The Summit County law establishes a limit for the amount of cocaine permitted in a motorist's blood. Summit County Councilman Paul Gallagher, the sponsor of the law, said the level needed for a conviction is the lowest level of cocaine that can be detected accurately with existing testing methods. If that level is exceeded, a driver can be charged with DUI and receive the same penalties as someone convicted of drunken driving. Gallagher, an assistant prosecutor in neighboring Portage County, said police throughout Ohio already can ask for a drug test if there is probable cause to believe a driver is impaired. But outside of Summit County, there are no blood-level limits as there are for alcohol. Without such limits, Gallagher and others said it is more difficult to convict a driver of driving while drugged because it often involves getting an expert to testify about what a person's blood level means. Gallagher said he wants to eventually expand his law to include marijuana. Jerry Landau, special assistant attorney in Phoenix and an advocate of drug driving laws, said drugged drivers can be charged with DUI if they have minimal amounts of illegal drugs in their system in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Utah and Nevada, all of whose laws are similar to Summit County's. Landau said that whether a person used the drug days or even weeks before an arrest for DUI is irrelevant. "It is illegal to use that drug; therefore, if it is illegal to use that drug, you can rationally say that you shouldn't drive with that drug in your system," he said. Don Malarcik, an Akron criminal defense lawyer, said drugged-driving laws invite courtroom challenges. "There is no way to determine when someone ingested marijuana, based on a blood or urine test," Malarcik said. "If some cop says 'Pee in a cup,' what amount of marijuana in your system determines you are impaired? How much cocaine impairs your driving ability? I don't think there is any reliable scientific evidence that answers that question." John Hartman, director of the Ohio Cannabis Society, which promotes legalizing marijuana, said he doesn't encourage people to smoke marijuana and drive, but questions Gallagher's intent to expand his law to include marijuana. "He wants you to lose your license today for the joint you smoked last Friday," Hartman said. "One thing about Americans is that we're supposed to be fair." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom