Texas Marijuana DWI Lawyer

How Do You Get Out of Jail After a Marijuana DWI Arrest?

A first marijuana DWI is charged as a misdemeanor DWI, so release usually comes quickly, often on a personal recognizance or low cash bond commonly between $500 and $2,500. Conditions can include no drug or alcohol use. If blood was drawn, the THC analysis can take weeks to return, which affects timing but not your release.

The 15-day license deadline still applies

If you refused a blood or breath test, the Texas Department of Public Safety can move to suspend your license through Administrative License Revocation, or ALR. You have 15 days from the notice to request a hearing or the suspension is automatic. The hearing also gives your lawyer an early, sworn look at the officer.

What Should You Do Right Now?

Marijuana cases turn on what officers saw and what the blood does or does not show. In order:

• Request your ALR hearing within 15 days of notice of suspension to protect your license and question the officer under oath early.
• Note when you last used, if at all, and whether you hold a Compassionate Use prescription. Timing is central, because THC lingers long after impairment ends.
• Write down innocent explanations for what the officer saw: allergies, contact lenses, fatigue, anxiety, or the legal hemp or CBD products you use.
• Stop talking about the arrest. Beyond identifying yourself, say nothing to officers or on social media.
• Call a lawyer with forensic training immediately. THC science is where these cases are won.

What Is a Marijuana DWI in Texas?

It is a DWI under Penal Code §49.04, charged when the State alleges that marijuana or THC caused you to lose the normal use of your mental or physical faculties. It is the same statute used for alcohol, applied through the loss-of-normal-use definition.

There is no legal THC limit

Texas sets no THC blood concentration that counts as intoxication. The State cannot point to a number the way it can with a 0.08 BAC. It has to prove actual impairment through observations, field sobriety tests, a Drug Recognition Expert evaluation, and toxicology that is far more ambiguous than alcohol testing.

A Compassionate Use prescription does not immunize you

Texas’s Compassionate Use Program allows low-THC cannabis for qualifying patients, but like any medication it does not create an absolute defense. The question remains whether you were impaired. The prescription is useful evidence, not a shield.

What Evidence Do Prosecutors Need to Convict You?

With no THC number to rely on, the State builds the case from soft and contestable evidence.

THC blood levels. Research consistently shows THC concentration does not track impairment the way BAC tracks alcohol. THC is fat-soluble, stored in tissue, and released slowly, so a regular user can show measurable THC for days or weeks after last use, long after any effect is gone. There is also no accepted retrograde extrapolation for THC.

The officer’s observations. Red eyes, dry mouth, elevated pulse, and pupil changes are commonly attributed to marijuana but are just as easily caused by allergies, contact lenses, fatigue, or anxiety.

A DRE evaluation, which is subjective and officer-dependent, and the odor of cannabis, which is now complicated because legal hemp smells the same as marijuana.

What Are the Penalties for a Marijuana DWI in Texas?

A marijuana DWI is charged under the same DWI statute as alcohol and carries the same ladder:

• First offense: Class B misdemeanor, up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000, with the same license suspension and superfine exposure as an alcohol DWI.
• With a prior, a child passenger, serious injury, or a death, the charge escalates exactly as an alcohol DWI does, up to intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter.

License suspension and a permanent record apply regardless of the intoxicant. A marijuana DWI is not treated as a lesser charge than an alcohol DWI.

Can You Fight a Marijuana DWI?

Yes, and these are often among the more defensible DWI cases because the science cuts against the State. Realistic outcomes include dismissal when the stop fails or the THC evidence cannot show impairment, reduction, and acquittal at trial. The recurring theme is that a THC level proves recent or past use, not impairment behind the wheel.

No lawyer can promise a result, and you should be wary of one who does. But a THC number, a DRE opinion, and a set of red-eyes observations are all things to be tested, not a verdict.

How Is a Marijuana DWI Different From Marijuana Possession?

They are different offenses. Marijuana possession, under the Health and Safety Code, is about having the substance itself, and it turns on the amount and the form. A marijuana DWI, under Penal Code §49.04, is about driving while impaired by it, and the amount you possessed is beside the point. You can face a possession charge with no driving involved, and a marijuana DWI with no usable marijuana found at all, if the State alleges impairment from earlier use.

Because the DWI turns on impairment rather than possession, the defenses are different too. For other drugged-driving cases, see our DUID page, and for the alcohol comparison, our first-offense DWI page.

How We Defend Marijuana DWI Cases

We separate THC presence from impairment

Managing Partner Deandra Grant holds a Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science and the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist designation, and devotes a chapter of The Texas DWI Manual to drugged driving. THC is lipophilic, stored in fat and released over time, so a blood level can reflect use days earlier rather than impairment at the wheel. We make that scientific point the center of the case.

We challenge the hemp-odor stop

Since hemp became legal in Texas, the smell of cannabis no longer distinguishes a legal product from marijuana. We challenge searches and detentions justified by odor alone, because that odor is now consistent with entirely lawful conduct.

We offer the innocent explanation for the observations

Red eyes, a dry mouth, an elevated pulse, and dilated pupils have many causes, allergies, contacts, fatigue, anxiety, medication. We give the jury the explanations the officer left out.

We dismantle the DRE evaluation

The DRE protocol is subjective and depends on the officer’s interpretation. We examine the training, the documented observations, and whether any of it was confirmed by toxicology.

We start with the stop

Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 38.23, evidence from an unlawful stop is suppressible. If the stop or the search fails, the rest may fall with it.

Do You Really Need a Lawyer for a Marijuana DWI?

A marijuana DWI carries the same jail exposure, license suspension, and permanent record as an alcohol DWI, but the evidence is weaker and more scientific. People plead to these cases believing a positive THC test is proof, when in fact it usually is not proof of impairment at all. A quick plea throws away a strong defense.

The value of counsel here is the ability to explain the THC science to a prosecutor and a jury, challenge the hemp-odor stop, and turn a positive test into the non-event it often is. That is a forensic argument, not a legal formality.

How Long Does a Marijuana DWI Case Take?

Most marijuana DWI cases run roughly 9 to 24 months, sometimes longer because THC blood analysis takes time to return. The case moves through arrest and bond, the ALR hearing within weeks, then discovery, the lab work, expert review, and any motions before a plea, dismissal, or trial.

Slower is often better. The time it takes to get and analyze the THC results is exactly when the presence-versus-impairment defense takes shape. We keep you updated at each step.

How Much Does a Marijuana DWI Defense Cost?

The fee depends on the county, the complexity of the toxicology, whether an independent expert is needed, and whether the case resolves before trial. We quote a flat fee after a free consultation, so you know the investment up front.

Weigh it against what a DWI conviction costs over time: the fine, the superfine, higher insurance, and a permanent record, all from a charge that the science often does not support.

How Marijuana DWI Cases Move Through North and Central Texas Courts

A first or second marijuana DWI is a misdemeanor heard in the county criminal courts and a felony-level case in the district courts. In Dallas County both run through the Frank Crowley Courts Building, Tarrant County cases through the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center; and Collin, Denton, Rockwall, and McLennan County cases through their respective county courts. The THC lab report is an early and important fight wherever the case sits.

We appear in these courthouses every week. See our courthouse guides for what to expect at each one.

What Are the Long-Term Effects of a Marijuana DWI?

Your record. A marijuana DWI conviction is a DWI on your permanent record, a misdemeanor on a first offense and a felony at higher levels, and it cannot be expunged once final.

Your license and insurance. The same suspension and insurance consequences apply as in an alcohol DWI, including the SR-22 requirement.

Professional and federal consequences. Because marijuana remains federally controlled, a marijuana-related conviction can carry extra weight in professional licensing, federal employment, and security clearances.

Future charges. The conviction counts as a prior for any future DWI, alcohol or drug, raising the stakes on the next case. That permanence is the strongest reason to fight it now.

Marijuana DWI FAQs

Can I get a DWI if I have a medical marijuana prescription?

Yes. A Compassionate Use prescription explains the THC in your system but does not bar a DWI. The charge turns on whether you were impaired, not on whether your use was lawful.

Does a positive THC blood test prove I was high while driving?

No. THC is stored in fat and released slowly, so a regular user can test positive for days or weeks after use. A positive result shows past or recent use, not impairment at the moment you were driving.

Can an officer search my car just because they smell marijuana?

It is increasingly contested. Now that hemp is legal and smells identical to marijuana, odor alone is a weaker basis for a search, and we challenge stops and searches justified by smell alone.

Is there a legal THC limit like the 0.08 for alcohol?

No. Texas has no per se THC limit. Without a number, the State must prove actual impairment, which is much harder than pointing to a breath result.

What if my red eyes were from something other than marijuana?

That is often the point. Allergies, contacts, fatigue, and anxiety all cause the signs officers attribute to marijuana, and presenting those explanations is a core part of the defense.

Can the State use retrograde extrapolation to estimate my THC while driving?

No. Unlike alcohol, THC has no accepted retrograde extrapolation, so the State cannot reliably work backward from a later blood level to your THC at the time of driving.

Talk to a Lawyer Who Understands THC Science

A marijuana DWI usually rests on a THC level that proves use, not impairment. Deandra Grant Law makes that distinction the center of the defense, challenges the hemp-odor stop, and offers the explanations the officer ignored, with the science this firm was built on. We have offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Rockwall, and Waco, with more than 30 years in North and Central Texas courts.

Call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation. Available 24/7. No cost, no obligation.

Reviewed by Deandra Grant, Managing Partner, ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist with an MS in Pharmaceutical Science.