Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 2014
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/aeNtfDqb
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Website: http://www.cincinnati.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/86
Author: Julie Carr Smyth, Associated Press

SHOULD YOU LOSE LICENSE FOR POT POSSESSION?

COLUMBUS - Ohio lawmakers are taking early steps toward lifting 
Ohio's driving penalties for marijuana possession.

A resolution up for a committee vote today declares the Legislature's 
opposition to a 1990 federal law that requires a six-month suspension 
or revocation of a driver's license after a drug offense conviction. 
That's the case even when the violation is a misdemeanor unrelated to 
driving, such as being caught with a small amount of marijuana.

Passage of the resolution is the ammunition Gov. John Kasich needs to 
request federal clearance for Ohio to opt out of the law, as all but 
16 states have already done. Followup legislation would be introduced 
once federal approval is granted to change Ohio's possession law.

Sponsoring state Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, testified 
that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation is required under what's 
called the Drug Offender's Driving Privileges Suspension Act to 
withhold 8 percent of Ohio's highway-related funds - unless the state 
enforces the law or its governor submits written certifications that 
he and the state Legislature both are opposed to it.

Seitz, who testifies again today, noted that the Kasich 
administration signaled interest in erasing the driving penalties for 
pot possession under an earlier collateral sanctions bill.

"They and I recognize that the automatic suspension of driving 
privileges for conduct having nothing to do with driving or proof of 
financial responsibility is a form of collateral sanction that leads 
to more joblessness, more driving under suspension, and more 
incarceration, and has led to scant impact on reducing the use of 
drugs," he said. "It is just the sort of kneejerk, feel-good policy 
we have come to expect from the federal government, which cannot put 
its own house in order but gladly tries to interfere with the states' 
own prerogatives."

Versions of the Ohio resolution have already cleared both chambers of 
the Legislature by wide, bipartisan margins. This week's House action 
is needed to unify separate proposals, one that cleared the Ohio 
House 92-0 in November, and another that cleared the Ohio Senate 27-5 
earlier this month. Earlier Legislatures mistakenly thought the 
opt-out window had passed and did not act.

Seitz said the Ohio Judicial Conference also supports the resolution.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom