Many people driving/living in Atlanta mistakenly believe that they can get a Marijuana DUI for simply having marijuana in their system. This used to be the case under O.C.G.A. 40-6-391(a)(6) before the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that a “per se” Marijuana under subsection (a)(6) of the Georgia DUI statute was an Unconstitutional Denial of Equal Protection under the law. In Love v. State, 271 Ga. 398, 400(1), 517 S.E.2d 53 (1999), The Georgia Supreme Court held that the fact that the effects of legally-used marijuana are indistinguishable from the effects of illegally-used marijuana could not be explained under an Equal Protection Constitutional Analysis. The Georgia Supreme Court reasoned that the difference was not directly related to the public safety purpose of the legislation as required. The Supreme Court held that the distinction between legal marijuana and illegal marijuana was arbitrarily drawn, and the statute, O.C.G.A. 40-6-391(a)(6) was an unconstitutional denial of equal protection.
Under current law, you can only receive a DUI for ingesting marijuana if the police can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the marijuana made you “incapable of driving safely” or “less safe.” This means there must be at least an act of less safe driving resulting from marijuana usage or some evidence from which you could infer that marijuana usage impaired driving ability – like an intoxicated demeanor or poor performance on DUI field sobriety tests. The reality is that marijuana DUI cases are exceedingly difficult to prove. Even more so than “Less Safe” Alcohol DUI cases.
If you have been charged with a Marijuana Atlanta DUI, then contact the Howard Law Group ASAP. Time is crucial, and you don’t have time before the State collects evidence against you.
