Aaron Pelley, a Seattle criminal defense attorney, told Newsweek he has definitely noticed an increase in so-called “Green DUIs,” as the caseload at his firm has more than doubled in the past year. To Pelley, the explanation is pretty obvious: “Without question, [police and prosecutors] have taken a new militant stance towards using cannabis and driving.”
So far, he has been unsuccessful arguing that people who admit that they’re medical marijuana users aren’t giving officers immediate probable cause for a blood draw, but he’s much more successful in getting the results of those blood draws tossed, as police have taken to using a driver’s refusal to submit to a test as probable cause to demand it – unconstitutionally. This year Pelley expects police to shift tactics and make it increasingly hard to defend his clients.