Allowed to drive home (20 miles) within one hour of failing a sobriety test.

[jdjasond]

Hi everyone. I was pulled over back in October and the officer suspected that I had been smoking marijuana in my car. I still can't get this situation out of my mind without some sense of closure so I am appealing to the law enforcement community to make some sense out of it. I immediately handed him the very minimal amount that I had in my possession and a small pipe( he was about to search the vehicle anyway). The officers read me my rights and placed me in the back of the patrol car. They then proceeded to have a discussion to decide if it was necessary to conduct a field sobriety test on me. They asked me how often I smoke and I said not very often but I should no better by now. They decided to put me through the sobriety tests. Although my eyesight is very poor they made me go through all the tests without my glasses on and staring directly into the mid afternoon sun. Anyhow, I had no problem getting through the battery of tests, I thought. I suffer heavily from PTSD and marijuana helps me to think clearer. I was almost a scratch golfer under the influence. It helps me to perform better most of the time. But the officer declared at the end of the tests that I had failed and put me in handcuffs. He then took me to the hospital for the blood extraction. Within one hour of having failed the sobriety tests he dropped me off at my car and allowed me to drive home which was another 20 miles. He told me that if I had not received anything in the mail in the next 3-4 weeks that I would not be charged for anything. Twelve weeks later I received my notice that I was being charged with DUI-metabolite.
So the law is the law, I am not disputing the blood test. My question is in regards to the officer letting me drive home. Is this normal? Does it happen very often? I think you can understand how it is confusing. I figured that he was just trying to scare me. If he prosecuted me he could potentially lose his job. My prosecution would be an admission of his own personal misconduct in allowing me to drive home. Anyhow, I just wanted to get some opinions on this situation. thank you

[Citicop]

Welcome to the forum.

No one can say why the officer did what he did. Had it been me, I would have towed your car incident to the arrest. I can tell you that any complaint you have reference that will have no bearing on your charge(s).

I can also tell you that the reception of your comments about how you function better while high will be less than warm. (There is plenty of real science that disagrees with your self assessment, too.)

And save the excuses. Marijuana is illegal everywhere in the US, and I'm aware of no reputable PTSD therapy involving illegal methods. Even if we accept that it's "medicine" (and I don't), there are plenty of legitimate medications that will earn you a DWI charge if you drive while taking them.

-Citicop.

[jdjasond]

thanks for the reply. I really wasn't trying to advocate for legalization. Marijuana helped get me through some very dark days but I am thankful that I was forced to stop.

[scott715us]

thanks for the reply. I really wasn't trying to advocate for legalization. Marijuana helped get me through some very dark days but I am thankful that I was forced to stop.

Forced to stop? sounds like you're still doing it. If you were hooked up for DUI, normally you wouldn't be allowed to drive. Since we don't know all of the facts, we normally don't mmqb a fellow officer.

[icu650]

I would suggest that you look up DWI metabolic diseases on the internet. It might help you understand. It helped me. I was unaware of this term.

[jdjasond]

thanks for the input but no I'm not still doing it. I'm trying to get into the ARD program and I'm not going to jeopardize the possibility of expunging this from my record. Like I said, it did help me through some tough times but the long term negatives far outweigh the positives. Can you tell me though, does the condition-reaction of your pupils alone warrant a failiure on a sobriety test?

[jdjasond]

What facts exactly would warrant a person failing a sobriety test and then being allowed to drive home within an hour? Are there any criteria that warrant such a thing, in your experience?

[jdjasond]

I'm not sure if you are busting my balls or really trying to share something with me here icu650?

[icu650]

No, I am not busting your balls I meant to help you. I was unaware of this term and condition I thought it might help you.

[BJJVad]

You can get a DUI from driving on prescribed medication, so why is it you think it would not apply if you are attempting to excuse your behavior as a medical necessity?

I get really fed up on a personal level with people that call Marijuana -"medicine". I have heard every excuse in the book for why people claim they have a medical "need" for marijuana. It's a bunch of bull****. People claiming stupid medical ailments to try to excuse themselves so they can justify smoking their weed.

I would have more respect for them if they flat out, openly and honestly said, "I wanna smoke it to get high." Because we all know at least that is the truth..

[JR180]

First of all you were not using pot to help get through troubled times. You were using it because you like how it made you feel. Also none of the field sobriety tests that I give have anything to do with your eyesight. I doubt that excuse will work in court. Even if the officer was observing your eyes I am sure that he didn't have you read an eye chart and then hook you up when you failed it.

As far as you driving home I have no idea about that. I would have put you in jail and towed your car. Instead of trying to blame the officer for you driving AGAIN while under the influence why don't you blame yourself for not being more responsible and calling a cab? You should probably man up and take what is coming to you. If this is how responsible you are I can see you having a long and unpleasant life.( Maybe a short unpleasant life if you continue to operate a car under the influence...that is dangerous)

[jdjasond]

That's really not what I"m saying at all. Your projecting your own thoughts and not objectively reading what I am saying. Medical marijuana is not even close to being an issue in Pennsylvania. For you its a huge issue in California. I guess you need to move to Pennsylvania because here it is an evil plague and anyone who smokes it is the scum of the earth.
What I'm saying about my case in particular is that I should not have heavier consequences than the person who can't even walk a straight line. I did everything exactly the way the officer instructed me to. I walked the line heal to toe with no problem. Did everything without any difficulty. And yet I have a harsher penalty than the drunk who can't even walk a straight line. The officer let me drive home. Why did he let me drive home? Because I really didn't fail that sobriety test. He was just doing business with me, that's all. Being a good businessman and making money for the county on a technicality. And as far as you people who say marijuana is just a plague of the earth, then stop listening to music. Stop going to the movies, the museums, reading books, etc... etc...etc... because a lot of the greatest thinkers and inventors and musicians were under the influence. If your going to condemn something than you shouldn't be enjoying its byproducts at the same time you condemn it. Anyhow, this whole system is about to bust, its just a matter of time. It's the system that needs to be busted more than anything or anyone. Bust the system, it stinks.

[Cat_Doc]

I guess you should have stayed home to catch your buzz instead of out driving.

You took a chance and lost.

Get over it.

[jdjasond]

Ok JR 180. I am owning up. I have accepted my penalties and have quit smoking and drinking. But I'm not going to put blinders on and just condemn something outright as being negative. I was suicidal, seriously suicidal, mostly from taking prescription drugs that some quack gave me. And marijuana did help me to see that life was worth living. I'm not saying that it is a long-term solution. But compared to a lot of the zombie making chemical lobotomizing drugs that they are dispensing with no limits, it is a more natural and healthy short-term solution. The psychiatrists, so called medical experts, really have very llttle understanding of what they are doing. They are businessmen, puppets of the pharmaceutical conglomerate. Anyhow, whatever. I'm sorry I don't mean to be disrespectful to you but you are not omnicient. Your going to tell me what my experience was because your that confident that marijuana is all-bad? And how many suicides are happening every day? And your telling me that there is no merit in giving someone something that may just make them laugh a little bit instead of putting a gun to their head? Oh, that's not practical at all. God wouldn't want that. He put these herbs on the earth, they grow naturally and they naturally create laughter and relieve stress, but they have no utility in helping that man who just hung himself? I was that man. I was stressed out and seemingly at a dead-end in every sphere of my life. And just a few episodes of smoking pot and suddenly there was laughter and ideas about going back to school and finishing my degree and then there was more laughter and it healed me, at least healed me from that noose that was around my neck. But most of you, I know, you are so anti-, so full of hate towards drug users, your saying I the world would be better off if I had hung myself in that tree.
And for all the millions of people that are currently in the same boat as I was, what hope is there for them? We can't give them hope because the form of hope that may be the right remedy for them is illegal. There better off taking some man-made chemical lobotomizing drug that they really have no clue what the hell it does. I know, I've studied biopyschology extensively. They are shooting in the dark and they don't have night vision goggles on. Anyhow, whatever. Things are the way they are. As far as having a short and unpleasant death is concerned you may be right. Eventually that may be what happens to me. I will never have another DUI again, though, I will tell you that much. And I do not intend on smoking marijuana ever again, unless I get suicidal again which you never know it could happen tomorrow for all I know. But I will not deny someone knowledge of a possible remedy just because my tyrannical capitalistic government tells me its illegal.

[Citicop]

Can you list the scoreable clues in each of the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests?

If not, then you can't possibly offer an educated opinion about how you performed on the tests.

I make more than my share of DWI arrests, and as an instructor have a whole lot of training on the subject.

I have never EVER seen an instance where the SFSTs were given, no clues were observed, and an arrest for DWI was made anyway. If you have a copy of the police report that shows that set of facts, I would love to see it, and you will almost certainly win thhe case at trial.

You do not deserve a harsher punishment than someone who was impaired by alcohol. You deserve exactly the same punishment (for the DWI) that anyone else would get.

-Citicop.