Medical marijuana has been legal in California for 10 years, and many activists are pushing for a recreational bill to pass. This leaves officers with the problem of determining whether someone is illegally driving under the influence of marijuana.
Jeff Rosen, district attorney in Santa Clara County, is fighting to pass legislation that will create a standardized legal limit for stoned drivers. According to the Denver Post, the proposed bill would require police officers to prove that a driver is impaired, as well as test for the active ingredient THC in the bloodstream.
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With alcohol it is far easier to determine if a driver is impaired because the substance passes through a person’s body faster, leaving almost no trace when the person is sober. With marijuana, a person may be sober while traces of the active ingredient still remain in the blood.
A survey was released this week by the American Automobile Association’s Traffic Safety Foundation that analyzed DUID arrest data. It concluded that there is no way to accurately check for marijuana impairment from a blood test.
The AAA Foundation recommends that states implement legislation allowing officers to give impairment tests checking for known side effects of marijuana. Such as red eyes or eyelid tremor, followed by a blood test to confirm there is THC in the system.
The struggle to measure intoxication remains, but without a standardized legal limit it is difficult for prosecutors to convict stoned drivers. To read more about the debate, check out the full story.
Collegian Green Report Blogger Capelli D’Angelo can be reached online at blogs@collegian.com.
Duncan20903 • May 30, 2016 at 12:45 pm
A couple of interesting statistics were released at the end of January. In 2015 reported sales of cannabis in Colorado came up $4 million short of $1 billion. That means the State collected $135 million in gross tax revenue. Total gross revenue reported increased by just under 42.5%. That percentage is in dollars, but the average retail price of State authorized cannabis in 2015 was significantly lower than in 2014. Of course that means that the quantity of cannabis distributed was more than a 42.5% increase year over year.
Duncan20903 • May 30, 2016 at 12:46 pm
For 2015 the Colorado State Patrol reports that rather than increasing
by just under 42.5 percent, the total number of drivers arrested by the
CSP for being both cannabis addled and under the influence of another
substance of impairment fell by 1.3 percent from 674 to 665. Drivers
arrested solely for being cannabis addled also did not increase by just
under 42.5 percent, but declined just under 2% from 354 to 347.
The
total number of DUI arrests made by the CSP was just under 22% higher
in 2014 than in 2015. Total arrests declined by exactly 1000 from 5,546
in 2014 to 4,546 in 2015. Where did those 1000 drunk drivers go? Are 20+
percentage reductions in the number of DUIs year over year commonplace?
Anywhere in the world?