Friday, June 7
Too high to drive? Germany plans to reform THC limit for car drivers
Since April 1, smoking weed has been legal in Germany, but how long should you wait before getting behind the wheel after smoking? At the moment, car drivers who are found to have anything more than a tiny amount of THC in their system can expect to receive fines, strikes on their licence or driving bans. The federal government now wants to change this.
The rule change is not intended to allow people to smoke while high. Rather, the problem is that the active ingredient of THC can be detected in the blood for a long time after cannabis is consumed, meaning: if you smoke a joint on one evening you might technically be legally unfit to drive for days afterwards. The proposed new law would raise the legal limit from 1 nanogram per millilitre of blood to 3.5 nanograms. Part of the regulation would also ban alcohol consumption for weed smokers.
Assessing cannabis consumption in this way is complicated, though. The dose-effect of alcohol is relatively straightforward (drinkers can tell how much alcohol is likely to make them unfit to drive). The THC content in cannabis is processed differently by the body, however, and can be broken down differently by different users. But the basic principle still applies: if you’re high, don’t drive.
