Personal Injury Law

California DMV is sued over Medical Marijuana

By Edward Bills

The lawsuit says patients taking medical marijuana under doctor’s orders are unfairly targeted for license suspensions.

A California man was pulled over for speeding on the Interstate and the California Highway Patrol officer smelled weed, searched the car, took the marijuana and pipe and gave the man a sobriety test, which he passed. The angry man showed the officer his doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana for glaucoma. The officer was unimpressed.

The 2005 incident cost the man a speeding ticket, his 1 1/4 ounce of pot and his driver’s license — and nine months of fighting the California Department of Motor Vehicles — before he prevailed.

As a result of that and other encounters involving medical marijuana, an advocacy group has sued the DMV, asking for a written policy that says medical marijuana should be treated the same as prescription drugs.

The suit contends that the DMV has a pattern of investigating and suspending the driver’s licenses of people who use pot on the recommendation of their doctors.

Elford said his Oakland-based group has received complaints about the DMV from patients in several Northern and Central California counties, though Elford and others involved in the issue said they were unaware of any Southern California cases.

The DMV can obtain medical information about someone if an investigation is launched into the person’s fitness to drive.

Full post as published by Bodily Injury Blog on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).