The legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois Jan. 1 will make for some changes for Oswego police officers, including how to handle those driving under its influence, Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner said.
Officers will continue to enforce cases of those driving under the influence of marijuana, Burgner said, but he expects the number of those cases to jump with the start of the new year.
“We handle them now, they are just far less,” Burgner said. “Of about 45 DUIs we had in 2018, three of them were drug-related.”
Under the new state law beginning Jan. 1, adults 21 years old and older can possess and use recreational marijuana. Smoking in public places is prohibited and marijuana being transported in a vehicle must be in a sealed, child-resistant container and inaccessible during driving.
The case of a driver who is impaired due to marijuana takes longer to process than that of a drunk driver, he said.
“There potentially will be a blood draw process that will extend the time, and where it occurs will dictate how long it will take,” Burgner said. “With an alcohol-related DUI, we have those tools in the field. We can use portable breath-testers to help us determine alcohol levels. With cannabis-related DUIs it will extend that time out.”
An alcohol-related DUI can take an estimated four hours to process, he said.
“We feel it will jump up to five to six hours (with marijuana) depending on where we take them for a blood draw if that is going to be part of the scenario,” he said. “There will be an increase in the amount of time for an officer to work through a DUI that is cannabis related. Those are the cards we were dealt with. The overall law is going to cause us some manpower issues.”
The police department is looking into potential partnerships with people trained to draw blood to reduce the amount of time or need to go to a hospital to get a blood sample.
“We are looking at bringing the process on site, through partnerships either with the fire department or a phlebotomist,” he said. “The law allows police officers to become the phlebotomist. That’s probably my last resort.”
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.