Senate proposal shields medical hashish customers from Pennsylvania DUI penalties
The Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee will take into account a proposal subsequent week that shields medical hashish customers from the state’s “zero tolerance” impaired driving penalties.
Prime sponsor Sen. Digicam Bartolotta, R-Washington, mentioned the state’s DUI regulation doesn’t differentiate between medical and leisure use of hashish, leaving registered sufferers liable to prosecution.
Almost 368,000 medical hashish sufferers are registered in Pennsylvania, in accordance to the Pennsylvania Division of Well being.
Bartolotta’s proposal, Senate Invoice 167 , would amend Title 75, the Car Code, to take away medical hashish from the regulation’s definition of managed substance and insert language that claims “if the person is a medical marijuana affected person in compliance with the provisions of the Medical Marijuana Act, proof of precise impairment shall be required.”
That is just like the best way drivers present in possession of pharmaceuticals are handled, Bartolotta mentioned in a December cosponsorship memo . The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Affiliation is among the many supporters of the measure.
“Given the very severe penalties of a DUI conviction, my laws will present vital protections for medicinal hashish sufferers by making certain accountable use of their authorized drugs doesn’t give rise to a prison conviction,” Bartolotta mentioned.
The committee listening to is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The committee additionally will take into account proposals that handle repeat DUI violators and up to date courtroom challenges to the state’s DUI regulation.
