Full Notification

The attached photos depict something that is all too common in our community: Drugs and driving. Collision Investigator Officer Vernon Trujillo arrested someone sitting behind the steering wheel of a parked car, with what appeared to be a small pharmacy of Marijuana products. The arrestee and his youthful passenger were smoking out in a residential neighborhood when they were contacted by Police.

The main smoker provided Officer Trujillo with his "Marijuana Card" pursuant to Proposition 215 which CA voters passed several years ago. Due to the quantity in question, he was not arrested for possession of Marijuana. However, he was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (providing said minor with Marijuana), cited and released.

Officer Trujillo could not legally prove the element of driving in this case.

This is a reminder that possessing a "Medical Marijuana Card" does not relieve drivers of the laws relating to DUI driving, and Simi Valley Police will aggressively enforce all peripheral laws related to impairment, driving and the safety and welfare of our public.

The Simi Valley Police Traffic Unit would like to see our collisions involving impaired drivers significantly decrease. To this end, we will be utilizing a partnership with the CA Office of Traffic Safety to have extra officers on the streets specifically trained to detect and arrest drug and alcohol impaired drivers.