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South Carolina lawmakers spent the year working on two bills aimed at cracking down on drivers impaired by THC, the intoxicating compound in marijuana and some hemp products. Both measures stalled in late June.
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FULL STORY: Stopping stoned drivers is a priority in SC. Is problem as high as 2 in 5 DUIs?
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Here are key takeaways:
- A proposed DUI bill would set a legal limit of 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood and eventually require testing officers to be drug recognition experts. Both the DUI measure and a separate hemp regulation bill stalled Thursday.
- Lawmakers frequently cited a statistic that 40% of serious DUIs involve THC. State Department of Public Safety data shows only 0.4% of drivers involved in collisions last year were drug tested. Of those with usable results, about 20% tested positive for marijuana.
- Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said law enforcement numbers showing 40% of felony DUIs are THC-related are an “alarming concern” and a reason to insist on taking blood in those situations.
- Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, a former solicitor who chaired the DUI bill’s conference committee, said THC use “has really grown by leaps and bounds” as fewer people drink alcohol and substitute THC drinks, which “can leave you severely impaired.”
- Tim Brown, a research scientist at the Driving Safety Research Institute at the University of Iowa, said arbitrary blood-THC thresholds can treat unimpaired regular users as impaired while letting significantly impaired, infrequent users off. He recommends behavior-based exams over blood tests.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
Read more Tax cut or fire trucks? Simmering issue helped SC start year without new budget