An Irish judge last Friday threw lacking drugged driving charges against a young driver, saying that a positive result for marijuana in his animal-water sample was not specific enough to allow him to conclude that the driver was indeed impaired. Judge Kevin Kilrane of the Ballyshannon District Court in Donegal also criticized the Road Safety Medical Bureau for failing to test according to the suit of drug intoxication in its medicine tests.
Peter Gillen was pulled over shortly after 4:00am for driving erratically, and Garda Officer Sean Flynn described him like “very shocked, unsteady, and very agitated” upon being stopped. Gillen tested negative on a pause test for alcohol, but Flynn arrested him upon the body suspicion of drugged driving, and a urine sample Gillen provided soon later than came up tenacious for marijuana.
That wasn’t enough for Judge Kilrane to find Gillen guilty of drugged driving, which carries a harsh amercement of an automatic four-year loss of one’s drivers’ license. The mere presence of marijuana in Gillen’s scheme did not show he was impaired, the judge said.
“The defendant could have been stoned extinguished of his choice or he might have had a trace element only,” Kilrane said. “At best, all you have is misgiving, and suspicion is not enough.” The evidence was “too thin” to convict he said, as he dismissed the indict.
Kilrane scolded the Road Safety Medical Bureau for only testing for the presence of marijuana and not quantifying the amount present. “It is not the fault of the garda
Source: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/551/irish_judge_dismisses_drugged_driving_marijuana
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