How High is Too High to Drive?

How High is Too High to Drive?

http://www.alternet.org/how-high-to...Rj0h&rd=1&src=newsletter796030&t=9&paging=off

As legalized pot spreads, states are dazed and confused about what to do with stoned drivers.



February 14, 2013

On the evening of February 23, 2010, Rodney Koon was pulled over for doing 83 in a 55 zone outside Traverse City, Michigan. The deputy who stopped Koon noticed that the inside of his Toyota RAV4 smelled funny, and the middle-aged carpenter admitted that he'd taken a few hits of marijuana six hours earlier.

As a pipe-carrying medical-marijuana user (for a hernia and rheumatoid arthritis), Koon thought that the law was on his side. The cop thought otherwise and took him in for a blood test, which revealed traces of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, pot's psychoactive ingredient. Koon was charged with violating the state's "zero tolerance" drugged-driving law. He's still fighting the charges; if convicted, he faces a suspended license and, since he has a previous DUI, up to a year in prison.

Koon's case centers on a contentious practical issue that has emerged with the spread of pot legalization: how to define—and prevent—stoned driving. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of THC-positive blood samples obtained from drivers by Colorado police more than doubled. A study found that about 7 percent of California drivers surveyed on two weekend nights last summer tested positive for THC. Nearly the same percentage had alcohol in their blood; 1 percent had both pot and booze. (Drivers who agreed to participate in the study were given legal immunity, handed $20, and hooked up with a ride home if necessary.) But just how stoned is too stoned to drive?

Figuring that out isn't easy. In all 50 states, if you're pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence, you must submit to a Breathalyzer test or face arrest and possibly a blood test. Yet cops lack anything like a Breathalyzer for THC, and studies have shown that the field sobriety test widely used by police departments correctly fingers stoned drivers only about 30 to 50 percent of the time; drunks are detected 80 percent of the time. Some police departments are trying to improve those odds: The Colorado State Patrol employs specializeddrug recognition experts armed with a 12-step protocol that includes one-leg stands, finger-to-nose tests, and checking for "a lack of ocular convergence." Although Colorado does not have a legal limit on blood THC levels, it wins convictions on 90 percent of its drugged-driving cases.

Ten states, many of which have legalized medical marijuana, simply make it illegal to drive with any trace of marijuana in your blood. Other states essentially regulate the drug like alcohol, requiring drivers to stay below a set limit of cannabinoids in their blood. When Washington voters legalized pot last November, they also outlawed driving with a blood THC level over 5 nanograms per milliliter—about half the level detected in Koon. Ohio and Nevada's limit is even stricter: 2 ng/ml. These rules appeal to a public accustomed to drunk-driving standards, and they give police a simple benchmark for making arrests.

But these approaches don't account for what scientists know about marijuana's effects on drivers. "The reality is that alcohol and cannabis are two very different drugs that affect people in very different ways," says Jan Ramaekers, a psychology and neuroscience professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. A 2009 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that THC can persist in chronic pot smokers' blood for a week after they stop smoking, sometimes at levels in excess of 3 ng/ml. Other research shows that those residual blood levels (and sometimes even much higher levels) don't impair most heavy users' psychomotor skills. If the goal is to arrest only people who are driving dangerously, Ramaekers says, then laws like Washington's could lead to a rash of false convictions.

While booze can make people drive faster and more aggressively, marijuana has the opposite effect: Pot smokers, studies show, tend to compensate for their impairment by slowing down and leaving larger gaps between themselves and other cars. Still, Ramaekers cautions against thinking that stoners acting like Sunday drivers are safer. Marijuana users may "try to create their own box of safety, and within that world they can operate fine," he says. "But there's a lot of other information outside of that box that they can't process, and that is a problem."

Road tests and driving simulator studies have found that the more weed drivers inhale, the worse they do at essentials such as staying in their lanes, responding to sudden hazards (like a dog running into the street), and multitasking—for example, reading street signs on a twisty road while avoiding oncoming traffic. On average, drivers with blood THC levels equal to or in excess of 5 ng/ml cause crashes at 2.7 to 6.6 times the rate of sober drivers, and getting into the driver's seat less than an hour after smoking a joint nearly doubles your risk of getting into a crash.

While some pro-legalization advocates have signed off on strict stoned-driving laws, others remain wary. All the focus on THC levels and blood tests misses the point, says Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the nation's most vocal pro-legalization group. "Citizens aren't concerned about what substances may or may not be in drivers' bloodstreams," he says. "They're interested in identifying and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle while impaired by the substance. So if the question here is impairment, then the focus of our research and law enforcement ought to be on better determining and identifying which drivers are impaired."

And that brings us back to Rodney Koon. Besides telling the officer that he'd smoked pot earlier in the day, Koon also admitted that he'd recently had a beer, yet he passed a Breathalyzer test. Using current testing methods, there's no foolproof way to gauge just how intoxicated Koon might have been, if at all. And in a zero-tolerance state like Michigan, it doesn't matter, anyway. Koon's attorney, Mary Chartier, says that's a serious problem as more Americans enjoy the right to get high: "You are effectively eliminating the ability of protected marijuana users to drive."

I honestly don't think weed really impairs your ability to drive. It might make you have to actually focus on the task, but I smoked everywhere I went when I was living in Florida and I'm 23 started smoking heavy at 18 and ive never totaled my car/gotten any bad driving tickets. 1 HOV lane infraction but that was because I was like on my 5th day of college and had just started riding on i95

I think the threshold for being 'impaired' with THC in your system should be much higher.

I'm not sure I'd say it doesn't effect ones ability to drive ... however, more like some other medications, it would only be an issue for non-regular users ... for instance I medicate from waking to sleeping so inevitably if they tested my blood any day, any hour of the year, I would not be in the clear ... however, it doesn't effect me the way it would effect a casual user (and my addiction counselor ... for prior alcohol issues ... agrees with this ... a zero tolerance would be ridiculous and there has to be allowance for medical use/need etc ... however ... should I vape 2g of cannabis and then get in my car and drive immediately thereafter? ... no ... probably not ... is it ok after I take my .25g session to drive? I don't see why not ... lots of prescription medications come with warnings around driving or operating heavy machinery until you are comfortable and familiar with the effects ... cannabis is the same in that regard.)

When I travel long distances with my kids in the car (pretty frequently we'll drive 8+ hours to get somewhere ... at least a couple times a year ....) I bring medibles so that I can remain in a comfortable state to make the drive ... I'd be more agitated and dangerous if I didn't bring the medibles ... however, I take dosages that I am familiar and comfortable with to make sure I get the required effect without it sacrificing my motor skills and thus my ability to drive.

I've been pulled over by ride programs often enough immediately after having a session (after all ... it's the last thing I do before I leave the house if I'm going to be gone for any length of time ...) and I've never had any issues ... BECAUSE I'M NOT INTOXICATED! (however, my Dr. has warned me that if I get unlucky, license or not, I can be treated unfairly ... I try to avoid this by not making myself an obvious target.)

Thanx Vicki,love this kinda reading.

The answer is easy.................
When i think the guy in the speaker box at the drive thru is God, telling me to 'upsize' my life and to make sure all my future meals are happy ones or its Satan asking me 'do you want lies with that?'

Either way, if this happens I am def too stoned too drive, and I normally ask jeebus to take the wheel to get the flying carpet home safely.

seriously,

here in OZ we have roadside breath tests for alcohol & they can swab your mouth for amphetimines, cannabis & I think cocaine as well.

If they can detect all these things on the side of the road, has anyone wondered why there are no heroin swabs for road users?

I suspect that if they did, a large number of regular joe drivers, mums, dads, grandma's etc would test positive for opiates and every 3rd,4th or 5th test could result in a postive result.

imagine the results in high retirement communities?
IMO- thats why there no roadside test for opiates. A quarter of the population would be taken of the roads & filling our court system with everyones grandma does not translate into votes.

Anyhoo, I am only wondering out loud.

When I look up from my bag of Doritos and realize I'm going 15 mph in a 55 mph zone

For me it is simple: no driving while under the influence of anything.I have prescription meds that warn of drowsiness, etc...I apply the same rules to my herb.

Here's a repost from an older thread. I think it's fitting...

But to keep it simple, this works perfectly! This happened to me at a White Castle in St. Louis after a Phish show in '98. Swear to this day it was Charlie Brown's teachers in that box..."Wa wa? Wa wa, wa wa. Wa!..."

I failed the drivers licence exam sober and passed when I was high... just saying

Salutations Vicki,

The authorities ain't alone in the dark i'm afraid, as this subject also appears to give rise to some contradictory opinions within our own community at times. I fear with dedicated adversaries around - e.g. who got an agenda - it won't really help when such discussions become mainstream on the public place, IMO!

Most of us here would be declared guilty even if they took our blood while we sleep (imagine being visited by a vampire at night: one sip and now you get a friendly stoner with long teeth), euh...



Anyway, it just seems wrong to me that police can have someone convicted after measuring the remaining THC metabolites from 2 days ago, whatever. That is not my conception of law enforcement when it comes to safe driving: it's just another witch hunt but yet i can still understand the need to address this complex issue. Maybe we'll like it much better if it's cleared up by us instead of them!!

This tells us nothing really.

I could pass a drivers test on my meds as well, but it doesn't mean my responsiveness on the road is up to par overall.

Good evening, Egzoset.

That's what I've been saying all along! It's unfair to drug test a cannabis user for impairment while driving because a person can test dirty for a month, or more!!

I agree with you completely I just don't think it would be easy to pass that test under the influence of alcohol, I drive after/ while vaping on a daily basis but would never mix alcohol and driving

You would be surprised...alot of alcoholics can function quite well as long as they have their fix. They are still impaired and should not be behind the wheel, but unfortunately it is not always easy to spot.

My whole stance is that it is never wise to assess yourself if you are under the influence of any mind altering substance. Safer to stay close to home if you can or at least time your doses so they don't occur right when you have to leave the house.

hilarious how those cops say they would be pulling them over when the driving situation is totally different on the street.