Twenty-eight-year-old Larry Nye, of Covelo, was convicted last week of driving under the influence of marijuana. Nye is the first person in Mendocino County to be convicted, or even tried, for driving under the influence of cannabis. Nye’s breakthrough jury trial took two days and earned Nye five years of probation, 15 days in jail and $2,410 in fines and fees, plus a two-year suspension of his driver’s license. Prosecutor Brian Newman conceded that stoner determinations are much more difficult than alcohol tests. “We do not have the same type of science with THC,” said Newman. “Some think that it is OK to use marijuana and drive. The truth is that it is capable of impairing a person of driving as much as any other drug,” he said. According to Newman, Nye was spotted smoking marijuana as he drove his pickup north on Highway 101 near Ukiah where he was described as “all over the road.” It was the dope, the jury decided, that put Nye’s vehicle all over the road. The CHP said Nye was so loaded he didn’t see the arresting officer’s overhead lights. Fifteen miles later, when Nye became aware that he was the object of intense law enforcement attention, he screeched to a broadside halt just south of Willits.
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