A Pennsylvania lawmaker has reintroduced a bill meant to protect medical marijuana patients from facing DUI charges when there is no proof they are actually impaired behind the wheel.
Rep. Chris Rabb (D) filed the legislation and circulated a cosponsorship memo this week, urging his colleagues to join him in this latest effort to enact the reform.
The memo says that, since the state legalized medical marijuana, many patients have “shared their horror stories about being arrested and convicted of driving under the influence of cannabis without any proof of impairment.”
“That is why this legislation…is being introduced yet again, as the current law must be amended to allow responsible drivers who are also medical cannabis patients to operate a motor vehicle legally,” Raab wrote, emphasizing that the legislation “does not extend to any illegal cannabis use–nor does it protect impaired drivers.”
The bill would amend the current state statute to make it so the presence of cannabis metabolites in a drug test alone could not be used as evidence of impaired driving if the person is a registered medical marijuana patient.
However, that protection would not extend to those who hold a commercial driver’s license.
“Nine years after legalizing medical cannabis for patients, we still have not addressed this fundamental flaw in our law, which could jail someone for driving weeks after taking their medication,” Rabb said in a press release. “Yet, we as a government are more than happy to cash in on the tax revenue generated by medical cannabis. It’s perverse but easily corrected. This legislation will set things right.”
“I believe that people with a medical need for cannabis, who have acted courageously to seek help for their medical condition and have been granted use of medical cannabis, should be protected from DUI penalties for their legal medical cannabis use,” he said.
“A medical cannabis user can take a minuscule amount of medicine for their ailment and weeks later, with traces of cannabis still in their system, be subject to arrest on a DUI charge if pulled over—not because they’ve driven impaired, but because our state laws haven’t caught up with the science. It’s time for Pennsylvania to modernize its laws and protect patients who are doing nothing wrong.”
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Rabb and other legislators have pushed for the reform multiple times over recent sessions.
In 2023, for example, versions of the proposal advanced through committee in both the House and Senate, but they were not ultimately enacted into law. The current House bill has again been referred to the Transportation Committee for consideration.
Rabb separately attempted to get the policy change passed as an amendment to a broader transportation bill in 2021, but it was withdrawn after the lead GOP sponsor of the standalone bill pulled his support, which Rabb said was “due to concerns expressed to him” by the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.
Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, lawmakers are once again pushing for adult-use marijuana legalization, which the Democratic governor also proposed as part of his latest budget request.
A Republican Pennsylvania senator recently defended that push to legalize and regulate cannabis, calling it “the most conservative stance” on the issue.
Pennsylvania’s Republican attorney general recently said he wants to be a “voice for potential public safety risks” of enacting the governor’s proposal—though he says his office would be ready to enforce the new law if lawmakers did vote to pass it.
The state’s agriculture secretary separately told lawmakers that he’s fully confident that his department is in a “really good” position to oversee an adult-use marijuana program if lawmakers act.
Meanwhile, last month, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told lawmakers they are prepared to implement marijuana legalization if the legislature moves forward with the reform—and that they stand ready to work together as the details of legislation to achieve it are crafted.
Separately, amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP state senator says prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could serve as an effective alternative.
Voters are ready to see that policy change, according to a poll released earlier this month.
The survey, commissioned by the advocacy group ResponsiblePA, found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform—including a majority of Republicans. And 63 percent want to see the legislature enact the reform this year, rather than delaying it.
A Pennsylvania lawmaker has reintroduced a bill meant to protect medical marijuana patients from facing DUI charges when there is no proof they are actually impaired behind the wheel. Rep. Chris Rabb (D) filed the legislation and circulated a cosponsorship memo this week, urging his colleagues to join him in this latest effort to enact Read More
