Cautionary message about marijuana follows Iron Range man’s sentence for fatal crash

An Iron Range man has been sentenced to a term of nearly 3½ years after pleading guilty to causing a fatal two-vehicle crash while high on marijuana last fall in St. Louis County in northern Minnesota.

After David K. Medicine, 38, of Virginia, Minn., was sentenced Monday, St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki cautioned drivers that liberalized laws on recreational marijuana use in Minnesota do not make driving while high any less of a public safety concern.

“During a time when the possession of marijuana is increasingly legalized, this tragic accident is a reminder to everyone that marijuana does impair a person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle,” Maki said in a statement. “When a person chooses to operate a motor vehicle after ingesting marijuana, the safety of the community is put at risk.”

Medicine pleaded guilty in December to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash on Oct. 21 about 8 miles northeast of Virginia on Hwy. 169 that killed passenger Cathy M. Johnson, 61, of Tower, Minn.

Medicine was sentenced by District Judge Michelle Anderson. With credit for time spent in jail after his arrest, he is expected to serve nearly two years in prison and the balance of his term on supervised release.

At the time of the fatal crash, Medicine was driving with a revoked license, the criminal complaint said. And court records showed he was convicted of drunken driving in 2004.

According to the complaint, a pickup truck pulling a trailer had stopped on Hwy. 169, blocking both lanes and bringing northbound traffic to a standstill.

As a state trooper spoke with the pickup’s driver, the crash occurred to the south. The trooper saw a Dodge Ram pickup in the ditch with rear-end damage and a car with a damaged front-end several feet ahead of it.

Two troopers “noted a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside” the car, the complaint read, and Medicine acknowledged having two shots of alcohol about 90 minutes before the crash. A roadside preliminary breath test found Medicine’s blood alcohol content to be negligible.

Johnson was dead in the car’s back seat, and Medicine and front-seat car passenger Angela G. Buckanaga, 45, of Tower, suffered noncritical injuries. The Dodge Ram’s driver, 58-year-old Gregory J. Lenz of Embarrass, Minn., and his two passengers also survived the crash.

Medicine told a trooper at the scene that he was returning to the northbound lane after passing a vehicle when he saw the Dodge Ram stopped in the road. [Medicine] said “he tried to stop but couldn’t,” the complaint said.

His passengers estimated that Medicine was traveling 75 mph at the time of the crash and said the Dodge Ram’s emergency flashers were activated.

Buckanaga told a trooper that she and Medicine were smoking marijuana while driving from Tower to Virginia and while heading back to Tower. A trooper found two bags of marijuana, a grinder and a pipe in the car.

Drugged driving in Minnesota has spiked over the years, according to the state Department of Public Safety, accounting for nearly 16,000 driving while impaired incidents from 2018-2022, compared with about half as many in the preceding five years.

In January, the state rolled out a saliva-based roadside test for cannabis and other drugs to gauge whether the tool can accurately detect drug use. The state is trying two testing instruments this year as part of a pilot project required under Minnesota’s new recreational marijuana law.

In other states where marijuana is legal, law enforcement has used these roadside tests to help establish probable cause, similar to a preliminary breath test for alcohol.

During Minnesota’s pilot project period, test results may not be used as cause for arrest or as evidence in court. Also, officers must obtain a driver’s consent to administer the test.