[ladyknight]

April 2009:
What the DMV Policy Change Means For Patients

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a new policy on March 2, 2009 with regard to how it treats qualified medical marijuana patients. This policy change is the result of a lawsuit filed on November 19, 2008 by Americans for Safe Access (ASA). The DMV Driver Safety Procedure Manual was revised to include reference to medical marijuana, stating that "use of medicinal marijuana approved by a physician should be handled in the same manner as any other prescription medication which may affect safe driving." The manual states that the existence of medical marijuana use "does not, in itself, constitute grounds for a license withdrawal action." However, the policy change does not alter the fact that

PATIENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MEDICATE WHILE IN A MOVING VEHICLE

Even with a valid medical marijuana recommendation, law enforcement officers are still able to cite patients for driving under the influence if they find evidence that the patient was medicating in the vehicle, or medicated recently enough that they were still feeling the effects.
If a law enforcement officer asks you when you last medicated, you do not have to answer. It is up to the officer’s own judgment whether or not you were “under the influence” at the time of the incident. You have the right to tell the officer that you do not wish to discuss that with anyone but your doctor and simply leave it at that.