Duluth Police Department Says it’s Prepared for Marijuana Legalization

DULUTH, Minn. — “The big concern for us is the driving component of this, but we know people have utilized marijuana in the past while they were driving, even before it was legal to possess it,” said Chief Mike Ceynowa, Duluth Police Department.

August 1st, Minnesota officially becomes the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over.

Ceynowa says it’ll be business as usually for his officers when it comes to the new marijuana law, but he cautions users to stay away from getting behind the wheel.

Chief Ceynowa says if you drive high expect a DWI. He says consequences of driving under the influence of marijuana are similar to drinking and driving.

Although at this time the department does not have tools available to perform an on-site field tests like a breathalyzer with alcohol.

“Unfortunately there’s not a presumptive test like there is with alcohol, we don’t have a preliminary breath test for marijuana, we also don’t have a threshold of what high really looks like, so those observations, that documentations about driving conduct and their behaviors is much more importations,” said Ceynowa.

While possessing marijuana will be legal in your vehicle officers will treat a driver’s behavior the same as any other substance that can influence one’s ability to drive. Ceynowa says be safe and be smart.

“Be responsible, just like if you’re going to use and consume alcohol have a plan for how you’re going to get home safely, how you’re going to transport that in your vehicle, just like an open container of alcohol, it cannot be somewhere where an occupant of that vehicle can get to it,” said Ceynowa.

Ceynowa says Duluth Police Officers are trained in standard field sobriety testing.

The department also has officers trained in drug recognition abilities.