Aaron Pelley, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in DUID cases, sees it differently. “Although there were others,” he says, “that singular issue was driving the medical cannabis community to react to I-502. It had nothing to do with entrepreneurs or people who wanted to make money, or wanted to protect their [financial] interests. We’re talking about people who had cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, who would wake up at five nanograms.”
The standard for a warrant, however, is the same as the standard for an arrest: probable cause. Although Trooper Roberts thought he had probable cause to believe Payton was driving while impaired by marijuana, Payton was acquitted, which would have been impossible had the blood test been admitted. “Probable cause is a very low threshold,” says Aaron Pelley. Police commonly cite evidence such as wide pupils, bloodshot eyes, and the odor of marijuana, none of which necessarily indicates a driver is impaired. Police may even claim a driver had a “green tongue,” says Pelley, which is “how I know a cop is lying and padding his facts.” As in Payton’s case, poor performance on sobriety tests may be due to physical limitations, which are especially common among medical marijuana patients. In practice, Pelley says, the fact that a driver has a medical marijuana recommendation may be all it takes to start down a path that leads to probable cause, which in turn justifies a blood test that may result in an automatic conviction.