The Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and several legislators are advocating for a proposed law that would allow police officers to stop a motor vehicle when an officer observes an odor of marijuana and an individual operating a vehicle consuming the drug.

Further, HB 7258 introduced by the Judiciary Committee would also include the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection studying the feasibility of instituting a blood tetrahydrocannabinol level (THC) level at which point a person is driving while intoxicated in a manner similar to blood alcohol content.

It is illegal to smoke marijuana while driving, according to state law. Under current law, an officer is not able to stop a vehicle if they observe a person smoking marijuana while detecting the odor of the drug. The officer would need another primary violation to stop the vehicle, according to Meriden Police Chief Roberto Rosado, also president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association who testified in support of the bill at the Judiciary Committee public hearing Monday.

“This bill gives us clarity,” Rosado told the Courant. “Gives us the power to be able to prevent motor vehicle accidents with serious physical harm or death. Safety really comes down to motor vehicle accidents. We know that individuals that are impaired drive recklessly or violate motor vehicle laws that lead to accidents. Those accidents lead to serious physical injuries and sometimes fatalities. Our goal is to reduce the injuries and fatalities as well as traffic accidents.”

Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told the Courant that he is not sure the bill is strictly necessary because there is already a prohibition against driving under the influence. But he said he is not opposed to the bill.

“Police officers already have a ton of discretion to pull over a vehicle for any number of things including where they suspect someone is driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis,” he said. “Or that an individual is swerving out of lanes or speeding up or slowing down. Or frankly minor equipment violations. I am certainly not in favor of people driving under the influence and we should be pulling over and prosecuting folks who are driving under the influence.”

Stafstrom continued to argue that if somebody is smoking cannabis and the officer smells that and sees that it is reasonable to infer the person is under the influence and it is probable cause to stop the vehicle under existing law.

Opponents of the proposed law argue that the bill is a regression of marijuana policy and that a blood THC level is scientifically flawed as THC can remain in a person’s bloodstream for days or weeks after use.

Christina Capitan, co-founder of CT CannaWarriors, spoke in opposition to the bill.

“Let’s be honest this bill tries to bring the drug war back through the side door and allows police to use the odor of cannabis to just stop and search and we all know how that is played out,” she said. “Decades of racial profiling, wrongful arrests and civil rights violations, mostly against Black and Brown communities.”

She added that THC can stay in your system long after impairment.

“Daily cannabis patients, especially medical users, can test over an arbitrary limit while being completely sober,” she said.

Melissa Maichack also testified in opposition to the bill.

“Cannabis odor sticks around long after the substance is consumed,” she said.

She said she was hit by a car at 55 mph and prescribed medical marijuana and since then has never gotten into an accident driving 1,000 miles a week.

“It is not alcohol,” she said. “It is medication.”

She argued since smoking marijuana, she has started a nonprofit, graduated college, regained custody of her child and started a recovery organization.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated that studies have “shown an association between acute cannabis use and car crashes but more research is needed.”

“It is difficult to connect the presence of cannabis or concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound responsible for cannabis’s psychoactive properties (the “high”), to impairment in driving performance for an individual person,” the CDC stated, citing reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The House Republican Caucus submitted testimony in favor of the bill.

“In sum this bill seeks to bring common sense and balance to our state’s cannabis-related DUI enforcement,” the Caucus said. “It makes no sense that an officer must generally ignore the smell of cannabis, while the smell of alcohol may be used by an officer to establish a legal basis for a stop or search of a vehicle.”

Rep Greg Howard, R-Stonington, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he also supported the bill.

“Right now the people in the state of Connecticut know that they can drive around smoking marijuana and not deterred by the presence of the police officer because they know a police officer can’t stop them for that,” he told the Courant.  “They are enabled and empowered to do it which is a major problem. We need to let police officers know we support them enforcing the laws we all agreed on. All of us agreeing on a law and telling police officers they can’t enforce it sends a very negative message to police officers that has been going on for five years and it needs to stop. It makes no sense to agree upon laws and not enforce them.”

Howard added there are a whole lot of questions about what level of THC in your system computes to impairment.

“However everyone agrees while driving a car if you are smoking marijuana at the same time you are impairing your ability to drive,” he said.

Originally Published: April 1, 2025 at 5:24 AM EDT