Drunken driving laws by state 2011

The penalities for first-offense drunken driving vary by state. Here’s a rundown of the laws in all 50 states (BAC refers to blood alcohol content):
Alabama: Deferral programs for those who plead guilty. If program is successful, charges are dropped. In cases of conviction, probation and drug/alcohol monitoring are ordered.
Alaska: Mandatory 72 hours in jail.
Arizona: Mandatory 24 hours for first-time offense under 0.15% BAC (additional jail time for higher offenses).
Arkansas: One day jail time by statute, often served at time of arrest or community service is counted.
California: No jail time on first offense. Community service ordered for BAC above 0.15%.
Colorado: Five days of jail time, suspended in lieu of treatment and community service in cases where BAC is below 0.20%.
Connecticut: No jail time or fines unless the driver injures or kills someone. Conviction expunged after one year if driver completes alcohol education program.
Delaware: Drivers with BAC under 0.15% enroll in first-time offenders program. Upon completion, the conviction is erased.
Florida: No jail time in case of guilty pleas. Up to 50 hours of community service in lieu of incarceration.
Georgia: Mandatory one day in jail.
Hawaii: No minimum jail time. Up to five days in jail, but community service in lieu of jail time is the norm.
Idaho: Five days of jail time, converted to one day served for arrest and four days of community service.
Illinois: No jail time. Community service ordered in cases of high BAC or driving with child in the car.
Indiana: No jail time. Fines and fees.
Iowa: Mandatory 48 hours in jail or DUI weekend program.
Kansas: Mandatory 48 hours in jail, sometimes substituted with 100 hours of community service.
Kentucky: No jail time unless the BAC is greater than 0.15%, which results in four-day jail sentence. Mandatory alcohol education program.
Louisiana: Mandatory two days of jail time, but community service allowed in lieu of incarceration.
Maine: No jail time, but 48 hours of community service for BAC higher than 0.15% or if driver was exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 miles per hour.
Massachusetts: No jail time, but alcohol education program is mandatory.
Maryland: No minimum jail time; maximum time is one year. Mandatory community service in lieu of incarceration.
Michigan: Up to 93 days in jail. Typical sentence is one day, with court-ordered probation and community service.
Minnesota: Up to 60 days jail time, usually substituted with community service, fines and fees.
Mississippi: No minimum, but no more than two days in jail on first offense. Mandatory alcohol assessment.
Missouri: No minimum, up to six months in jail. Usually probation and community service in lieu of incarceration.
Montana: Six months of jail time, suspended after 24 hours in jail on first-time offense.
Nebraska: No jail time. Alcohol assessment program for those under BAC of 0.15%. BAC over 0.15% results in two days of jail time or 120 hours community service.
Nevada: Two days in jail or 96 hours of community service.
New Hampshire: No jail time, but mandatory 20-hour Driver Intervention Program.
New Jersey: Mandatory 12 hours in jail, usually credited as time served following arrest.
New Mexico: One year probation and 24 hours community service.
New York: No minimum jail time. It is a four-year felony if driving drunk with a child in the car, even for first-time offenders.
North Carolina: One day in jail, usually substituted with community service.
North Dakota: Fines and mandatory alcohol evaluation.
Oklahoma: Five days in jail, often suspended to community service as part of a plea bargain.
Ohio: No jail time, but three-day mandatory treatment program.
Oregon: No jail time. Typical sentence is a diversion program that, if completed, results in the charge being dropped.
Pennsylvania: Probation for first-time offender, without verdict, which avoids conviction and jail time.
Rhode Island: No jail time. Ten to 60 hours of community service for BAC of 0.08% to 0.10%. Additional community service for higher levels.
South Carolina: 48 hours of community service for BAC under 0.10%, 72 hours for BAC from 0.10% to 0.16%, and 30 days of community service for 0.16% and above.
South Dakota: No mandatory jail time.
Texas: Mandatory 72 hours of jail time, suspended for time served in exchange for one year probation and 24 to 40 hours of community service.
Tennessee: Mandatory two days in jail.
Utah: Mandatory 48 hours in jail, which can be substituted with community service or electronic tether at home.
Vermont: No minimum jail time. Community service in lieu of incarceration.
Virginia: No minimum jail time. Five days in jail if BAC is greater than 0.15% or a child is in the car.
Washington: Mandatory one day in jail or 15 days at home on electronic tether.
Washington, D.C.: Five days in jail if BAC is higher than 0.15%.
West Virginia: Two day in jail if BAC is higher than 0.15% or a child is in the car.
Wisconsin: No jail time since it is a civil matter on first arrest. Second offense is a mandatory five days in jail, but electronic tether is allowed.
Wyoming: No minimum but up to six months in jail. Fines in lieu of jail time.
Staff research by L.L. Brasier

resource:  Detroit Free Press | freep.com

States Set Out to Define How High is Too High to Drive

In a dozen medi-pot states, there is a zero-tolerance policy for driving under the influence of any illegal drug, despite medical marijuana being legal in those states, thus the dichotomy that will not likely be resolved with any swift solutions. Many states utilize “per se” laws that have trended towards drivers facing criminal prosecution when any amount of an illegal drug – or even a metabolite – is detected (metabolites are molecules that serve other functions and often don’t even intoxicate).

 

Not surprisingly, medi-pot friendly Colorado is seeking to actually define a legal amount of THC in the bloodstream of a driver; Colorado House Bill 11-1261 would set the technical limit of detection at five nanograms per milliliter of blood (one nanogram is equal to one billionth of a gram). In Ohio and Nevada, only two nanograms of THC are permitted in drivers. In Washington State, House Bill 1648 (HB 1648) would allow a driver to have up to eight nanograms of THC per milliliter.

 

But are even eight nanograms still too low to be held as the legal standard defining drugged driving under the influence of marijuana? Perhaps, as an international study on driving on marijuana issued in 2005 posited, drivers do not pose a crash risk until there are between 10 to 20 nanograms of THC in the bloodstream. 18 to 20 nanograms were determined to be the marijuana intoxication equivalent of the blood-alcohol content of .08, which is the legal limit for driving while drinking in the majority of U.S states.

 

But is driving under the influence of 20 nanograms of THC – or even more – dangerous? Consider that in our 2009 coverage we looked at a report entitled “Marijuana and Actual Driving Performance,” released by the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in November 1993. The report flat out states marijuana is involved “much less often” than alcohol in vehicular accidents. And in the majority of cases where marijuana was involved in a crash, it’s no surprise to find the driver had been consuming alcohol as well. Included among the eye-opening conclusions of the study: “There is no evidence that marijuana, in current consumption patters, contributes substantially to the rate of vehicular accidents in America.”

  

A study released in May 1998 by Adelaide University (in Southern Australia) found drivers who drank alcohol overestimated their performance quality, whereas those who smoked marijuana underestimated it. The evidence suggested alcohol encourages risky driving whereas pot actually promotes cautious and contemplative driving. Interestingly, the South Australian government made it difficult to obtain copies of the report in the months that followed, due to the controversy generated by the study’s pro-pot implications.

 

Defense attorney George Bianchi told the Seattle Weekly that while it’s hard for prosecutors to prove someone was actually stoned while driving based on THC blood levels, police still arrest many people on suspicion of driving while high on pot. Bianchi supports HB 1648 and thinks eight nanograms are “reasonable” and more importantly, it would prevent prosecutors from introducing carboxy-THC levels in court, a non-psychoactive metabolite in cannabis. In 2010 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the cannabis metabolite 11-carboxy-THC is not a Schedule 1 substance in a case involving a driver who killed a legally intoxicated pedestrian.

 

Conversely, DUI defense attorney Diego Vargas said he opposes HB 1648’s attempting to define the THC nanogram limit of detection due to the wide range of variables that influence driving under the influence of marijuana and the obstacles in attempting to determine just how stoned – or stone-cold sober – a given driver was at the time of arrest.
resource; HIGHTIMES.COM