Too high to drive? Court to weigh future of roadside sobriety tests

Now that Massachusetts' new recreational marijuana law is in effect, the courts are set to decide if an officer is able to detect someone driving while high.

The issue is that there is no standard test to determine if someone is too high to drive. Officers must rely on their judgement and field sobriety tests that were designed to test if someone has been drinking alcohol before making an arrest.

Next week, the Supreme Judicial Court will determine if that, alone, is enough evidence to convict someone of driving under the influence.

According to the Boston Herald, officers are worried that it will difficult to obtain convictions for people accused of driving while high. It can be extremely difficult to get a conviction with alcohol, and in those cases there is an objectively accepted test. Without the testimony from the SJC, the executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association tells the Herald he believes the cases will go "right out the window."

Prosecutors are arguing in their briefs to the SJC that there's a "scientifically established correlation" between marijuana use and impaired driving, and said an officer should be able to act as a witness for the prosecution.

Meanwhile, public defenders are calling the field sobriety tests "speculative," the Herald reports.

Read the full article from the Boston Herald here.

Cox Media Group