OWI – Marijuana

Marijuana – Operating While Intoxicated – OWI Pot – In Iowa, you can be convicted of OWI if you have THC in your body.

If you operate a motor vehicle while a detectable amount of a controlled substance is found in your blood or urine, you can be convicted of OWI. Iowa adopted the national standard for determining detectable levels of controlled substances. At present, the standards only exist for the carboxy THC metabolite urine and not for THC in blood. You can be found guilty of OWI in Iowa if THC is present in your body at the time of operation of a motor vehicle.

If an officer suspects you of being under the influence of marijuana, he/she will have you perform some tests to check your coordination. They will look at your tongue, check your eyes. At some point, the officer will request a urine sample. If the test comes back positive for THC in your urine, you can expect to be charged with OWI.

Actual impairment is not an element of OWI by THC content. THC can be found your body weeks after cannabis use, therefore, it is possible for you to be convicted of OWI by THC content weeks after you last used marijuana.

Head’s Up

If you have been charged with OWI by marijuana, don’t keep using. When you appear in court, you may be questioned about on-going use. If you lie, the judge may tell you to drop a urine sample. If it comes up hot, you may go to the cross-bars motel. Furthermore, the judge may put you on probation and you will be required to drop urine tests.

You must obtain a substance abuse evaluation. Click on the Substance Abuse Evaluation link to learn more about where to get this done.