WESTFIELD – Medical marijuana may be legal, but driving under its influence is still a crime.
Police received a call at 12:38 p.m. Monday afternoon for an accident on Shaker Road near Shaker Heights.
Westfield Police Officer Matthew Schultze ordered a vehicle to stop, but the car failed to stop, and instead went up on a lawn and struck a mailbox, according to police logs.
The 2004 Hyundai, driven by John A. Ritchie, also ran into a stone wall, adjacent to Quentin Epaul’s driveway at 191 Shaker Road, causing stones to scatter across the front yard, Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe said.
Ritchie showed officers his medical marijuana card and said he had just taken the medication an hour before the accident, said McCabe.
Ritchie, 24, of Westfield, was released on his personal recognizance after being arraigned in Westfield District Court Tuesday on charges of of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license and marked lanes violation.
“Marijuana smoking or eating marijuana makes it more difficult to respond to sights and sounds. This makes you dangerous as a driver. It lowers your ability to handle a quick series of tasks,” according to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Driver’s Manual released in April 2015.
While recent changes to Massachusetts law have decriminalized certain aspects of possession or use of marijuana, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana is still illegal, according to Chapter 2 in the manual, “Keeping Your License.”
“Don’t medicate and drive: Wait at least four hours after ingesting or smoking marijuana before getting behind the wheel,” according to a blog on the Bradford Publishing Company’s Website, touted as Colorado’s trusted source for legal information since 1881.”‘An Act for the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana’ passed as Chapter 369 of the Acts of 2012. According to this law, there should be no punishment for qualifying patients, physicians and health care professionals, personal caregivers for patients, or medical marijuana treatment center agents for the medical use of marijuana, as defined in the law,” the Mass Driver’s Manual states.
“It is very important for all drivers of any age to note that operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana remains a criminal offense, regardless of whether he/she had the right to use medicinal marijuana, or whether he/she possessed an ounce or less of marijuana at the time of the stop,” the manual, found at massrmv.com, states.
Ritchie will be back in Westfield District Court for a pretrial hearing on December 9.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected],
