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Sunday, April 29, 2012
By Michael Nichols
Categories: Drug Crimes, Medical Marijuana
PEOPLE v KOON: Michigan OWI-OUID lawyer Mike Nichols of East Lansing Speaks Up and Speaks Out on Lansing Radio
The ripple effect of the Michigan Court of Appeals opinion in People v Koon is still being felt. The Court of Appeals has issued an opinion that means that a sick person who is certified to use marijuana to treat nausea, chronic pain or other symptoms, still cannot drive regardless of how long ago the person used marijuana or whether the person is impaired by marijuana, so long as THC is detectable in their bloodstream.
"The opinion in People v Koon did not address the fact that any measurement system has a very limited ability to differentiate one compound from another at low levels," said Michigan OWI-OUID attorney Mike Nichols of East Lansing. Nichols, who is author of the drunk driving bible for Michigan lawyers, the "OWI Handbook" by West Publishing, spoke on City Pulse radio on Wednesday April 25th, 2012. The program is carried on the Michigan State University student radio station, WDBM of East Lansing.
Nichols advises a patient who still wants to drive that it is now "extremely difficult to know if you are breaking the law." Nichols adds: "you should never admit that you are a patient unless you have your medication in your possession and the officer finds it. In that instance you should probably tell the officer that you are a card-holder and show your card so that he cannot prosecute you. Otherwise, under no circumstances can I think that it would be a good idea to admit that you medicated if you are operating a motor vehicle."
Nichols also provides advice for Michigan lawyers in the 2013 update of the OWI Handbook. "The lawyer should always demand raw chromatography data from the MSP lab in light of the so-called "zero tolerance" regime established by the court of appeals in Koon. The lab must demonstrate with scientific reliability that the cutoff levels for declaring the presence of THC are relevant and reliable. In other words, does the gas chromatography mass spectrometry system in the lab have the demonstrated ability to detect THC at 1 ng/mL if that is the limit of detection and limit of quantification?" he says.