MARIJUANA LESSER OF TWO EVILS?

SUMMIT COUNTY - In a perfect world, drivers would only share the road with
sober people. But, given a choice between driving among those under the
influence of alcohol or marijuana, which is the greater evil?

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drunk drivers pose a far
greater threat. The study shows marijuana's adverse effect on drivers is
"relatively small" compared to alcohol and even some medicinal drugs.

Conducted by the department's National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, the study concluded that there are many more deadly
substances than marijuana.

"Marijuana impairment represents a real, but secondary, safety risk," it
reads. "THC is not a profoundly impairing drug. Of the many psychotropic
drugs, licit and illicit, that are available and used by people who
subsequently drive, marijuana may well be among the least harmful."

The study didn't look into the adverse effects on drivers of marijuana and
alcohol taken together.

High Country DUIDs

Summit County police officers say they make a fair number of driving under
the influence of drug (DUID) arrests; most of those arrested are using
marijuana.

"Some people say it makes me drive better because I'm not so hyper," said
Sheriff Joe Morales."But it's still an intoxicant, and it's still illegal.
It definitely doesn't enhance your awareness."

If a driver is only using drugs and not alcohol, the presence of those
substances don't show up on the breath tests typically given to suspected
drunk drivers.

"A lot of times, you'll get somebody who looks intoxicated, but on a breath
test, it shows all zeros," Morales said. "Then, we have to do a blood or
urine test."

"It is difficult to detect," agreed an undercover agent for the Summit
County Drug Task Force. "There are certain indicators to look for - the odor
in their vehicle or on their person, bloodshot, dilated eyes.

"When driving, they may go too fast or too slow, they may be weaving, or
there may be failure to dim bright lights or use turn signals," he added.

Sometimes, he said, an officer becomes suspicious simply because the driver
appears unconcerned that he's been pulled over.

The agent said he's never seen an accident he can attribute to marijuana
use.

"But again, it's difficult to detect, so if someone was in an accident and
high on marijuana and we didn't have any of the indicators, we may never
know," he said. "That's the problem."

Silverthorne police Sgt. John Minor said his department has seen an increase
in DUID arrests.

"That's mainly because of heightened awareness and heightened levels of
training within the officer ranks," he said.

This year, Silverthorne will send an officer to a drug recognition expert
school for training specifically on such issues.

Of the DUID arrests made in Silverthorne, marijuana users are the most
common violators, Minor said, though methamphetamine abusers are not
uncommon.

"But we're certainly seeing a lot more different kinds of drugs," he said.
"Heroin seems to be making a comeback.

"There are also certain prescription drugs that you cannot be under the
influence of and drive," he pointed out. "They induce drowsiness, lack of
awareness, slow down your reaction time - all critical things while you're
driving."

Like the drug task force agent, Minor said marijuana's presence is often
hard to perceive.

"A lot of times, if they're under the influence of alcohol and narcotics,
they just get charged with DUI," he said. "Very rarely do we test for both.
It's hard to say, if they're under the influence of alcohol and marijuana,
what they're most under the influence of."

Colorado State Patrol trooper Eric Westphal has arrested about 10 people for
DUID during his 18 months patrolling the area. All of those people have been
using marijuana.

"About a-third of the time, you can smell it," he said. "The rest of the
time, it will show up in (poorly performed) roadsides, or we'll find a joint
or something in the vehicle."

U.S. DOT study

Curiously, the U.S. Department of Transportation study on marijuana and
driving shows THC appears to affect drivers in dramatically different ways
than alcohol.

"After alcohol, there was a tendency towards faster driving, and after THC,
slower," the study shows. "Our city driving study showed that drivers who
drank alcohol over-estimated their performance quality, whereas those who
smoked marijuana under-estimated it. This evidence suggests that alcohol
encourages risky driving, whereas THC encourages greater caution."

Monitors of the study drivers found that their subjects were well aware of
THC's affects, and concentrated on compensating for them. But that
concentration sometimes came at the expense of other things.

"Less capacity would be left for simultaneously performing another task,
such as conversing with passengers, using a car telephone, or handling
emergency situations," according to the study.

Another problem the study found occurred when THC-influenced drivers faced
routine driving.

"If the driving task is very monotonous and the demand is low, wandering
attention may result in negligent monitoring with disastrous results," it
read. "(This) strongly suggests that drivers under the influence of THC
would be unusually susceptible to attentional deficits during prolonged and
monotonous driving."