OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, introduced HB 3018, a targeted fix to an oversight created in last year’s DUI statute amendment, SB 54, which established a new “aggravated DUI” classification.

While SB 54 aimed to strengthen impaired?driving enforcement, it also removed the long?standing two?hour window for blood testing involving Schedule I substances. This change unintentionally created a legal conundrum for licensed medical marijuana patients, because THC can remain detectable in the bloodstream for up to 30 days.

With no legally defined blood?content threshold for marijuana impairment in Oklahoma, the absence of a time limit meant that lawful medical marijuana users could face DUI charges without any evidence of actual impairment.

HB 3018 addresses this gap by:

• Removing marijuana, marijuana derivatives, and cannabinoids from the blood?testing provisions of the aggravated DUI statute
• Preserving all field sobriety testing tools used by law enforcement to identify real?time impairment
• Ensuring that Oklahoma’s DUI laws remain fair, enforceable, and focused on safety, rather than penalizing lawful medical marijuana use

Fugate emphasized that the bill is a practical correction to ensure the law functions as intended.

“This issue was brought to my attention by a constituent, and I’m grateful for their help in identifying the problem,” he said. “HB 3018 ensures that our DUI laws target impaired drivers and not patients who are following Oklahoma’s medical marijuana laws.”

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