Are you a fan of CBD and wonder if it’s safe to drive while using it? In other words: do you want to know if you’re allowed to participate in traffic if you use CBD? Then do read on! Please note though: the legal information in this article only concerns the situation in the Netherlands.
Nowadays CBD products are very much in the spotlight. This isn’t surprising, since many people use CBD oil or other products containing CBD on a daily basis. Most CBD products contain a very small percentage of THC. The effect of this is negligible: not enough to get stoned, at least. But now that the police uses the saliva test in the Netherlands, it could just happen that they find THC in your saliva, right? That could undoubtedly cause problems, so it’s a very justified question. So, what’s the deal? Can you drive if you’ve taken CBD? What happens if the police detects THC in your saliva? And is it wise to drive with CBD? Below you’ll find extensive answers to these questions.
You’re allowed to drive while using CBD
Yes! You are allowed to drive with CBD. Even if you use CBD with a small percentage of THC. The evidence is in the Dutch law: the Alcohol, Drugs and Drugs Decree in traffic. This law sets a limit value to THC. All other cannabinoids, such as CBD, are not mentioned and are therefore legal to use in traffic.
The limit value of the concentration of THC in your blood is set at 3.0 micrograms per litre. When you use a CBD product, you’ll never reach that limit. The concentration of THC in CBD products is simply too low. However, you must be careful with other cannabis products. If you like to smoke joints or use THC oil, you can exceed that limit because these cannabis products contain a lot of THC. For this reason, it’s also important to buy your CBD products only from reliable stores. Then you know for sure that it really is CBD and not another product with a lot of THC.
The saliva test and driving on CBD
The saliva tests that have been introduced react to very small amounts of THC. To be precise, the device already detects the THC at 15 nanograms (0.00000015 grams). This can lead to unpleasant situations. Because if the device detects THC, you have to go to the police station for a blood test. Fortunately, you don’t have to fear that you’ll easily end up at the police station. According to the police, the saliva test is only used in case of serious suspicion of drug use. So if you only use CBD, the chance is very small that such a situation occurs.
Are you being taken for a blood test? If you only use CBD products, then you’re safe. Because, as explained, you will only violate the law if they find more than 0.3 micrograms of THC per litre of blood. And you’ll never reach that if you only use CBD products. Nevertheless, it’s an unpleasant situation. But what if you also used products with a high THC content? Yes, then you might get busted. Even if it has been a long time since you used THC. THC piles up in fatty tissues, making it possible that the amount of THC in your blood rises. If you have used cannabis with a lot of THC daily or frequently, you can still have too much THC in your blood after a month. Therefore, there’s a lot of criticism of this current policy.
It’s not unwise to drive with CBD
Besides the fact that you’re allowed to drive with CBD, it’s also not unwise. CBD in no way affects your ability to safely participate in traffic. It has zero influence on your alertness, energy or judgment. So it’s as if you’re sober. In fact, you ARE sober. The small amount of THC in some CBD products is really totally negligible. You’ll never get stoned and it has no other (negative) effects that affect your driving skills.
Again: if you use cannabis products that do have a high THC content, this can negatively affect your ability to drive. So be careful with weed or hash and THC oil. And besides, as you have read before, this can be punishable. With this type of cannabis products you easily exceed the limit value THC that has been established in the law.
Author: Joris
References:
- http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0038936/2017-07-01
