Status: 08/13/2022 3:50 p.m
Anyone who smokes weed, drives a car and is controlled has so far been considered unfit to drive if the drug is detected in their blood – even if consumption dates back a long time. Experts are now working to raise the THC limit.
In the debate about the approval of cannabis, experts are calling for an increase in the THC limit in road traffic. The previous limit also punishes people who are already fit to drive after consuming cannabis, it said. THC is the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
“The previous limit value for the THC concentration is not good because it makes no statement about unfitness to drive,” said Andreas Kramer from the German Lawyers’ Association. As with alcohol, the value must be set in such a way that only intoxicated drivers are sanctioned. A drug trip is currently assumed from a value of one nanogram – the smallest possible reliably detectable concentration.
This limit would probably penalize people who consume cannabis for pleasure more than once a week – “even if they wait a sufficiently long time before driving,” added the head of forensic toxicology at the University of Frankfurt, Stefan Tönnes.
Studies: Impairment only from two nanograms
The problem is that with cannabis, unlike alcohol, there are no fixed scientific limit values above which an unfitness to drive can be assumed. “Unlike alcohol, cannabis has very different effects on different people,” said Siegfried Brockmann, head of accident research at the German Insurance Association.
He advocates a limit of three nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. According to the German Lawyers’ Association, studies would show that one can only speak of an impairment from a THC value of two to four nanograms.
Topic at the Traffic Court Day
In the coming week, the experts will take part in a working group on the subject at the Traffic Court Day, which will take place in Goslar on Wednesday. The annual congress is one of the most important meetings of road safety experts in Germany. It ends on Friday with recommendations to the legislature.
The President of the Association against Alcohol and Drugs in Road Traffic, Helmut Trentmann, assumes that with the release of cannabis, the number of trips under the influence of cannabis will increase. He therefore calls, among other things, for a broad education of all road users. In addition, alcohol and drug controls on the road should be increased.
The ADAC wants to stick to the one-nanogram limit because of the sometimes unclear dose-effect relationship. “Road safety must not be up for negotiation,” said a spokesman.
Date for legalization still unclear
The federal government is currently in the process of implementing the legalization of cannabis agreed in the coalition agreement. There is no date for yet. Most states already waive criminal prosecution for possession of small amounts of cannabis.