DUI Marijuana

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I was arrested in Forsyth County Georgia for DUI Marijuana recently, no possession, no alcohol. I cannot find a case anywhere online that will help me foresee how Forsyth County will penalize me. Any feedback greatly appreciated!!!!

FRIDAY
8:00 am: Woke up and got ready for work.
9:30 am: I arrived at work early and proceeded to get myself ahead of the work day by replying to emails and processing weekly reports and files.
5:00 pm: I leave work and head home.
5:15 pm: I'm at home getting ready for a date with my girlfriend. (*Earlier in the week my girlfriend and I made plans to go out Friday night to celebrate the fact that she had found a job after being unemployed for approximately 1 month. We agreed that I would take her out Friday night to the place of her choosing. She chose Applebee's because it was very close to both of our residences.)
6:30 pm: My girlfriend texted me advising she was running late.
6:45 pm: I leave my house and start driving to Applebee's in Johns Creek.
6:55 pm: I arrived at Applebee's and waited for my girlfriend to arrive.
7:05 pm: My girlfriend arrives and we sit at the bar and start talking. We ordered Long Island Ice Teas and Chips and Salsa and 2 waters.
8:45 pm: I ask thebartender for the check, ready to leave Applebee's, after 3 Long Island Iced Teas and one glass of water each, and the Chips n Salsa. Total number of Long Island Ice Teas paid for were 6. We each had 3 LIITs and a glass of water.
8:58 pm: Bartender closes the check and my girlfriend and I walk out of Applebee's. We decide to go for a walk around the shopping center where the Applebee's is located. We talked about our relationship while walking.
9:30 pm: We decide to go back to my place and watch tv together and not make the evening an expensive evening. We decided to leave her car at Applebee's and I drove us both to my house located approximately 2 miles from where I live. She's 24 and a very light drinker so the drinks hit her hard. I'm 34 and have a high tolerance for alcohol so obviously I wasn't going to let her drive.
9:40 pm: We are at my apartment.
11:00 pm:I get a call from a good buddy of mine I had not seen in a long time asking me if I would be interested in stopping by his house to say hi. We agreed to meet at his house. By this time my girlfriend was asleep in my couch and I had been flipping channels and wide awake. I asked her if she wanted to go see my friend and she declined, she said (mostly asleep) she will just stay and wait for me to come back but to not take too long. We had already made plans to get her car from Applebee's the next morning.
11:20 pm: I'm at my buddy's house. He was alone and watching James Bond Diamonds Are Forever. We are both movie buffs so we talked about it. During this conversation we smoked a joint.
11:45 pm: Paranoia sets in and I get worried about my girlfriend and how late it is. My buddy understood it was late and we agreed to meet up some other time. The visit was short but worth it because we hadn't seen each other in a while. Also, because I don't know alot of other movie buffs like myself and he is one.
11:45 pm: I drive down a one lane highway heading towards home. There is a stretch of road on this certain highway has no lamp posts, it was very dark. I put on my highbeams during this stretch of road to get better visibility of the road up ahead. There was barely any traffic on my way to and on my way back from my buddy's house. Paranoia was not as intense by now (thanks to the music I was listening to) but I had my highbeams on for less than half a mile for precaution and to foresee the dark road up ahead. This is the logic I was using at the time. I was driving under the speed limit. During the time my highbeams were on, less than a mile at 30 miles an hour, 3 vehicles passed me going the opposite direction on that same dark winding stretch of highway. One of the vehicles was a cop. After the long stretch of dark road I turn my highbeams off and continue to head home thinking nothing of the highbeams, the 3 cars, just driving safely. Moments later the cop pulls me over. I immediately pull over into an apartment complex' entrance. Officer approaches the car and asks me why did I have my highbeams on? I explained to him the reason: there's a dark patch of road so I turned them on for better visibility and then turned them off. He stated he was one of the 3 vehicles I passed with the beams on and that is "not ok". He asked me to step outside the vehicle and asked me questions. I asked him if the highbeams were that serious of an offense. He said he pulled me out of the car because he smelled alcohol in my breath. He then proceeded to do the "keep your eye on the pen" field sobriety test. I agreed and to my knowledge I passed the test even though he didn't say I passed or not. This is the only test he gave me. While he was giving me the pen test he stepped back and began sneezing heavily, maybe 4 or five sneezes. I stepped back and said: "I hope you don't have the Swine Flu, no pun intended Officer." He ignored the comment and then asked me more questions about my evening and told him I was just coming back from my friend's house. He asked why my eyes were bloodshot and I advised him I didn't know (If I recall correctly, I may have been freaking out and may have admitted to being in a room where there was pot being smoked). He then asked me if I would be willing to take a blood test and I said yes, only if he found it necessary. He asked me if I would find anything incriminating in my blood and I then told him that maybe just a small amount of marijuana. He asked me if I had any marijuana in the vehicle and I told him I did not. I believe at this time he had already placed handcuffs on me and searched my body and pulled everything out of my pockets. I don't recall him reading me any Miranda rights, but I do recall asking him if this was all being recorded and he said yes. Everything was being recorded. I asked him if I had access to the entire arrest and he said Yes, with an attorney or if I represented myself in court. From the back seat of the police car I see the cop searching my vehicle thoroughly. In my vehicle I had some CDs and other random items from work, like papers, pens...etc. Nothing illegal nor incriminating. My only concern at this point was the fact that my girlfriend was at my house without a ride back to her car. Which she ended up walking 2 miles the next morning to get to Applebee's.

SATURDAY
00:07 am: Ticket written up for "Failure to Dim Headlights"
00:15 am: Ticket written up for "DUI - Drugs (Marijuana)" We then wait for the Tow Truck to come get my car.
1:10 am: We arrive at Northside Hospital Forsyth and have blood samples drawn out of me.
1:30 am: By now I have lost track of time and arrived at Forsyth County Detention Center. It may have been later than 1:30 am.
12:00 pm noon: My girlfriend arrives to pick me up. We start working on getting my car back.

This is my story. All I can find online are Alcohol DUIs and Possession offenses...nothing close to my case where there was no possession, no wreckless driving, no alcohol, no endangerment. Will I lose my license? Will I do jail time? I have no problem doing community hours, paying fines, taking classes, or keeping in touch with a probation officer and taking blood/urine tests frequently because I'm not a habitual user. I've contacted an attorney and am currently putting together my Letter of Appeal that has to be turned in within 10 days of the DUI to appeal the license suspension.

Anyways.... again.... any feedback or past experiences will be very welcome.

Working Man

Comments

FYI - I do hate laywers

IANAL and highly suggest that you at least talk to a real one. The money spent up front might be very helpful, if not life saving. DUI's can normally be very serious and can affect your lively hood... Ask my brother.

more proof COPS SUCK

My heart goes out to you and thank you for writing a nice descriptive lead-in.

My vote goes to having that cop tossed on his ass and tarred and feathered. Cops across the nation need their wings clipped. Cops are supposed to serve the public but since 911, many precincts are getting the "shoot first" ask questions later attiitude. The DEA and the CIA are also setting the stage for a police state. All we can do as citizens is tell these jerks that IT IS US, THE TAXPAYERS THAT PERMIT THEM TO BUY UNDERWEAR.

Let this message go out strong and clear that the mass numbers of Americans fed up with the police force is coming to a head. We as Americans have every right to stare a cop in the face and see if there is a service being provided and not an ego self-aggrandizing power trip to ruin peoples lives and feed the terrible war-on-drugs money making machine. Start spreading the word, cops are not above the law. They need to become service oriented and not a mindless monster with a big stick .

All the best to you and in Cali, that would not happen! Time to move?

Next, time keep your mouth

Next, time keep your mouth shot (honestly, who admits to smoking pot to a cop that has no real evidence?), and ask for a "less invasive" breathalyzer, which incidentally won't detect anything other than alcohol. I'm not familiar with GA laws in particular, but in the best case, this is probably just like a first-time alcohol-based DUI. Unlike alcohol, drugs are zero-tolerance. For one, pot is illegal, so it wouldn't make sense to write laws like, "three tokes per hour is over the limit." ;-) That said, you can also get DUIs for legal drugs like pain killers.

Amen on your mouth shut

Your statements above plainly make you guilty.
1. You smoked marijuana before driving
2. It was affecting you: "Paranoia was not as intense by now"
3. You did have your highbeams on (thus he had a reason for stopping you)

I'm not sure about the laws in your state, but that doesn't look good to me. The secret is that you had the right to remain silent and you disregarded it (and continue to do so by doing this blog post - though they probably won't see it).
When a cop pulls you over, he is not your friend. He is looking for a reason to arrest you. You gave it to him.
Suggest you, and your faithful readers, watch the video Busted: A Citizen's Guide to Police Encounters.

Three things: 1.) Police

Three things:

1.) Police officers do not have to read you your Miranda rights anymore, the law was changed.

2.) Re-aim your headlights so you can see with your low beams, everyone will be safer and you will not blind anyone with your high beams when you are driving while stoned.

3.) You put someone else's life at risk by blinding them with your high beams, pay the fine.

Rights???? we have no rights

Rights???? we have no rights here. The best thing to do when you get arrested is not talk at all because they write down everything you say. I have been arrested 5 times and I know what I am talking about.

Anyone arrested 5 times does

Anyone arrested 5 times does not have a clue as to what they are taking about. Be cordial, apologitic, friendly, concerned, and obliging and you can avoid getting arrested. I was arrested once 30 years ago so I know what I am taking about.

I can only hope that

I can only hope that marijuana will soon be legalized, all these confusion cases create me distress and anger. I am not a marijuana fan but I am also not a fan of stupidity. Once marijuana is legalized, all the controversies are gone,

So you got arrested just

So you got arrested just because of that? Just for admitting being in a room with pot smoke? If everything you are saying is true and I have no reason to believe otherwise I think none of us is safe when it comes to the police. I don't smoke marijuana but from now and then I smoke legal herbs, should I expect to be arrested as well?

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