{"id":1227,"date":"2021-05-07T16:35:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T20:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2025-11-27T10:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:52:12","slug":"how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/","title":{"rendered":"When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively evaluate their level impairment. So, after consuming marijuana medically or recreationally, how can a marijuana user make a safe decision about driving?<\/p>\n<p>This uncertainty is what makes marijuana-related DUI charges in Michigan so complicated. You may feel fine to drive, but under the law, it\u2019s not how you feel\u2014it\u2019s how your behavior is perceived and how well you can perform critical driving tasks. Unlike alcohol, where we have clear BAC limits, marijuana impairment is subjective and varies from person to person. That means two people could consume the same amount of cannabis, and one could be legally impaired while the other may not be\u2014yet both could be arrested depending on how they appear during a traffic stop.<\/p>\n<p>Before we get to that question, let\u2019s do a quick review of Michigan\u2019s OWI laws as it relates to drugs. In Michigan, you can be charged (and potentially convicted) if you are either impaired or intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, or any combination thereof.\u00a0 Specifically, Michigan\u2019s OWI law references impairment or intoxication caused by alcohol, controlled substance or \u201cother intoxicating substance.\u201d <em>See<\/em> Michigan Compiled Laws Sec. 257.625.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana?\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively evaluate their level impairment. So, after consuming marijuana medically or recreationally, how can a marijuana user make a safe decision about driving? This uncertainty is what makes marijuana-related [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,25,10,21,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-evidence","category-dui","category-dui-defense","category-dui-drug-charges","category-dui-trials"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana? &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 7, 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively &#8212; May 7, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana? &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 7, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively &#8212; May 7, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Barone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana? &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 7, 2021","description":"It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively &#8212; May 7, 2021","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana? &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 7, 2021","twitter_description":"It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. Even worse, there is no way for a marijuana user to objectively &#8212; May 7, 2021","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick Barone","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/","url":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/how-long-should-a-marijuana-user-wait-before-safely-operating-a-car\/","name":"When Can You Drive After Using Marijuana? &#8212; Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; May 7, 2021","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-05-07T20:35:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-27T14:52:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/da00f897e195cfccca02fe556b53136f"},"description":"It can be difficult for a marijuana user to subjectively assess their level of impairment. 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