Arizona Medical Marijuana Patients Are Being Unfairly Treated in DUI Cases

Medical marijuana still creates a lot of controversy in Arizona.

But Valley DUI attorney Craig Rosenstein says what’s happening now is just plain wrong.

Rosenstein is urging state lawmakers to fix a possible loophole in the state’s medical marijuana law, which Arizona voters passed in 2010.

According to Rosenstein, dozens of legal medical marijuana users are facing jail time, fines and a suspended license, all because they have trace amounts of marijuana in their system.

Rosenstein told CBS 5 News that if someone is accused of a DUI, they are not allowed to mention in court that they have a legal medical marijuana card.

“To me – that is horrible because the jurors don’t know,” Rosenstein said. “It would be like saying you’re not allowed to introduce your prescription for Vicidin. You’re basically being treated like someone who went and bought it off the street, instead of someone who went to a doctor.”

Dr. Elaine Burns, with the Southwest Medical Marijuana Center, said that medical marijuana can stay in someone’s system for up to 30 says, which means a patient can still face criminal prosecution weeks after they actually took the drug for treatment.

“Now, the cancer patients, in addition to the fact they are dealing with this horrific medical condition, are now faced with this new information and have to decide if they can even drive now – and that shouldn’t be.”

Since the medical marijuana law was a voter initiative it would take a super majority vote from the state Legislature to make any changes.

Rosenstein is hoping a bill to address the issue is introduced during the 2015 legislative session.

“They’re being discriminated against because of the type of medicine they are using,” Rosenstein said

Source: KPHO CBS 5