by Travis Mateer
I like understanding systems, especially as I’m being actively chewed up by one, so I’m going to continue testing a theory of mine by using myself as a guinea pig, and part of that theory entails WHY the police officer in my Marijuana DUI case appears to be have been quite lazy, at best, in his failure to collect ALL the evidence necessary to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that I was impaired on the day he pulled me over for having only one operational headlight.
That’s right, what began as a poverty infraction (I was homeless at the time, and couldn’t afford to buy a new headlight on my dishwasher salary) turned into a full song and dance, with me doing all the dancing, while my arresting officer’s rap music awaited me after I was put into handcuffs and taken to jail.
Why was I arrested? I was arrested because I refused their final demand, which was to give them my blood after I had already given them my breath and saliva in the form of a new saliva testing kit police officers are using in the field. More on that later.
If the arresting officer wanted to have a strong case, which means strong, quality evidence, then he would have gotten a warrant and taken me to the hospital to force me to give up my blood, but that’s not what happened. Instead, we bumped along to his choice of music, which, though triggering at the time, has turned into one of my favorite parts of telling this story, which I do every chance I get.
A few years ago NBC covered the new challenges arising, state by state, as Cannabis gets legalized. Here’s some relevant information ANYONE puffing “legally” in Montana should consider:
Blood THC levels typically peak quickly after smoking cannabis, reaching upward of 100 nanograms per milliliter of blood within 15 minutes of smoking it. Then, THC levels drop rapidly to less than 2 nanograms per milliliter of blood after about four hour. It takes around eight hours to reach similarly low concentrations of THC after taking an edible.
A 2019 study led by Dr. Jeff Brubacher, an associate professor in the department of emergency medicine at the University of British Columbia, found that THC concentrations below 5 nanograms per milliliter did not appear to increase the risk of car accidents. Levels above 5 nanograms per milliliter, however, were associated with an increased risk. In Canada, where recreational marijuana was legalized in October 2018, the cutoff for THC is 2 nanograms per milliliter.
Here in Montana, I believe it’s the 5 nanogram limit we are dealing with, so if the city wants to prosecute me for impaired driving, then getting into the specifics about WHEN I may have puffed, and how long I waited until getting behind the wheel, is going to be a part of my trial.
Unlike my last trial, I’m definitely taking the stand for THIS one, and that’s because I’m curious to see how the Montana judicial system is truly GRAPPLING with drug DUIs (emphasis mine):
Officers are not testing for drugs in many cases, unless the amount of alcohol is below the legal limit during a traffic stop.
Officials say that means drugged driving is probably under reported.
“When we talk about DUIs, the first thing people think about is drinking and driving. We have to keep in mind that impairment can come from any type of mood-altering substance,” said Missoula County Justice of the Peace Judge Holloway.
Here’s another gap when it comes to drugged driving, troopers can’t get a rapid measure in the field of how high someone is, similar to what a breathalyzer does for alcohol.
Instead, a suspect’s blood must be tested in a lab, like the state crime lab in Missoula, and when the result comes back there isn’t a statutory benchmark for more severe punishment the “higher” a driver is.
“We do have an issue here, and I think collectively as a community, if we all use accountability and educational aspects of things and really get to the root of substance abuse, we can do better as a community,” said Judge Holloway. Trooper Philip Smart offers this advice to help save lives; “Don’t do drugs. Slow down, wear your seat belt.”
How long was it after I fell asleep after my dishwashing shift? That’s one question I’ll be answering from the stand, under oath. It’s certainly going to be embarrassing to explain how, as a homeless person, I would sometimes clock out but NOT leave my place of work, but I’m willing to get into those specifics if it exposes what’s going on here.
And what IS potentially going on here?
First, this DUI case was used as leverage in a separate legal matter, which raised the legal eyebrows of my inexperienced Public Defender. I said no to THAT offer, then I said no to the next offer of pleading guilty to reckless driving. My latest offer is CARELESS driving, which is a significant downgrade, and, I’ll admit, tempting, but here’s why I’m still going to say SHOVE IT to the city prosecutors.
Part of the police officer’s laziness in failing to obtain a warrant to get my blood, I suspect, is because FEAR makes it easy for prosecutors to coerce plea deals, and cops know this. To get more paranoid in my assessment, if the legal system simply wanted more leverage to use against me in the broader lawfare attempt to shut down my citizen journalism, then this was a relatively easy way to try and achieve that.
There’s also the fact I had planned, last spring, to use my box-truck asset in order to side-gig before it became a more necessary place for me to live inside for four months. Not having a valid driver’s license for six months–which is what happens when you JUST SAY NO to vampires and their demands for blood–is another financial drag for a struggling creator scraping by after biting all those important hands that feed artists so that they can control narratives.
Pleading guilty to careless driving is allowing city prosecutors to control more of my narrative, and I’m not going to let them do that, so get ready to give me another trial, Chief Keithi, and make sure that clerk recorder is ready to spell ALL the words I’m fixin’ to speak in regards to what my arrest experience was like, and why I think the body fluid test being used in every DUI case is utter bullshit.
If you’d like to contribute any digital dollars to my local citizen journalism, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) still has some financial room left for you contributions. Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!