"Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (pot)"?

[callmekami]

This is our situation: After blowing 0.0 on a breathalizer My 18 year old son was told by officers that they were sure he was doing something and he'd better tell them what it was or he was going to jail. After significant badgering (which was witnessed by an onlooker) he finally told them that he had smoked some pot that day and was charged with "driving under the influence of drugs". Is there an actual law to that effect in Michigan? If so, how can there be? I mean, how can it possibly determined how much under the influence a person might be, exactly when the substance was injested, or whether someone is presently affected by it at all? It seems to me, they must need some valid, evidentury way in which to make these determinatiions for such a ridiculous charge to be valid. Am I on the right track here, and can anyone tell me where we stand at this point?

 

[HomeGuru]

Smoking those funny looking joints is illegal in Michigan. So if the cops stopped him while driving and he confessed to smoking some buds earlier, the cops deemed him to be dui. He was guilty by confession.
Now it could be argued that he only took 2 drags, the weed was low grade (mostly stems and seeds) and he was never stoned. But the fact remains that possession and use of cannabis sativa is against the law.
The police may reply that they witnessed him weaving and not driving properly with the exibiting appearance of intoxication.

 

[callmekami]

Hey There HomeGuru!!

Thanks for responding!

I'm not sure they actually witnessed him driving at all. He was in his yard standing next to his truck when he saw them do a U-turn from 2 blocks away, drive in his direction, and pull into his yard. He had no intention of telling them anything and actually hadn't smoked for days!!! (Since he's in the Army reserves and was preparing for his drill weekend). But they just wouldn't stop badgering him, insisting they'd take him to jail if he didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. As it was, he was already running way behind his intended schedule, so he finally gave in.

The question I have now is: How can it be validly determined by any type of testing, exactly (or even close to exactly) when a substance such a marijuana was injested, to determine if a person actually was "under the influence" at the time of arrest since it stays in your system for what? Say, a month or more? Or do they simply based it soley on whether they find any in your system or not? And if so, is it then just a "slam dunk - for the boys in blue"? Obviously if you smoke the stuff, you don't stay HIGH on it for days or weeks, which is the same for most any drug. And with the situation for him being what it is, how do you go about fighting the charge?

Oh, and one last thing if you don't mind, what if the test by some chance (and there very well might be a slight chance), comes back negative? Would they have to drop charges at that point, even though he told them otherwise?

Appreciate it a bunch!!!