"Clear head. Clear rules!" Demands for reasons of → Proportionality a science-based → insurance-relevant limit value in the amount of 3 [tooltip tip="nanograms (THC) per milliliter of sample volume. Concentration unit for very low concentrations (1 ng = 0.000.000.001 g)."]ng[/tooltip] [tooltip tip="Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, psychoactive main active ingredient of cannabis."]THC[/tooltip] per mL [tooltip tip="Concentrated blood sample. To generate, the solid blood components (cells and clotting factors) are removed from the whole blood sample by clotting."]Blood serum[/tooltip] and a → tolerance limit, which can be as high as 10 ng/mL. We also demand the abolition of the consideration of the non-psychoactive degradation product → THC-COOH. For better international comparability, we are also calling for the introduction of the → [tooltip tip="Blood sample with all original blood components."]Thoroughbred[/tooltip] system also in Germany, which would result in 1.5 as an insurance-relevant and up to 5 ng THC in mL whole blood as a tolerance level.
But how do other countries handle it, which already have science-based limits or at least analytical [tooltip tip="Qualitative test whether a substance is present in a sample. If the concentration of the substance is above the cut-off value, the detection is positive, below it negative."]detection[/tooltip]limits with significantly higher [tooltip tip="Concentration set by the forensic laboratory, above which the test result is considered positive because it is highly likely to be true-positive. The cut-off value is above the detection limit of the test method and represents a technical limit, whereas a "limit value" is a limit defined by law."]Cut-offs[/tooltip] have been introduced? All the following values are concentrations in blood serum for better comparability and have been calculated for this purpose (except for the value from Luxembourg) with the → Factor 2.0 converted from the full-blooded values given in the sources. In some countries, the values were not defined by law, but are only used as cut-offs by forensic laboratories. It must also be noted that the limits can be changed over time (here as of 2017).(47,53–57)
Low values: 2 ng
A limit of 2 ng/mL has been introduced in seven countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Pennsylvania (USA).
Medium values: up to 6 ng
The majority of countries adopted 4 to 6 ng/mL: UK, Poland, Switzerland (3 ng/mL + 30%), Czech Republic, Nevada and Ohio (both USA) with 4 ng/mL, and Netherlands and Portugal with 6 ng/mL.
High values: up to 18 ng
The highest cut-off values were established at 10 ng/mL in the U.S. States of Colorado, Washington, Maine and Montana. Canada and Norway are a special case. In Canada, 4 ng/mL was introduced as the lower limit and 10 ng/mL as the upper limit, each of which is punished differently if exceeded. Norway went even further and introduced in 2012, in addition to a lower (2.6 ng/mL) and an upper (6 ng/mL) value, a further value, which is punished there like exceeding a blood alcohol concentration of 1.2 per thousand. This is 18 ng THC per mL of blood serum!(56)
Our limits of 3 and up to 10 ng THC per mL blood serum are not out of line with international standards and are in line with Canada, which is progressive in cannabis policy. But Germany could also take an example from Norway. There, true science-based limits were introduced with the help of a panel of experts not only for THC but also for all other psychoactive substances.