The magazine “profil” reported on Saturday that Leonore Gewessler (Greens) in the Ministry of Transport is considering a THC limit at the wheel. According to this, there should also be a limit for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the future – similar to the 0.5 per mille limit for drinking and driving.
THC is the main active ingredient in drugs such as hashish and marijuana that are illegal in Austria. If the effect has already subsided after the consumption of such drugs, THC can still be detected in the body even after days. The report quotes the long-standing head of toxicology at Vienna General Hospital, Rainer Schmid: “Anyone who consumes a joint per week instead of a glass of wine is potentially losing their driver’s license every time they drive because of the breakdown products of THC in the body.” The ministry says that according to the impairment principle, a distinction must be made between consumption, which may have taken place days ago, and acute inability to drive.
They are currently examining the procedures that are already being used in other EU countries. In Germany the limit is one nanogram of THC in the blood, in other countries it is two and three, in the Czech Republic it is four and in the Netherlands it is six.
However, THC is not only present in intoxicating products, but also – in minimal amounts – in legal cannabidiol products, such as CBD drops, used to calm the nerves. These are “more and more arriving in the middle class,” says Rainer Schmidbauer, head of the Institute for Drug Prevention in Linz. Here, too, THC can be detected in the body during a traffic check – “although these drops are in no way psychoactive”. (wm)
Source: Nachrichten
