LEGAL POT WILL INCREASE CRASHES, DEATHS, ARRESTS

Q: Hi, Monty.

I'd be interested in what you (law enforcement in general or you
specifically) see happening if marijuana is made legal by the voters
in November.

Are there any scientific standards for DUI with pot similar to blood
alcohol levels? Is there anything besides smell that an officer might
suspect pot DUI? (Consider that it may be ingested without smoking, as
in cookies, etc.) Are there any field sobriety tests for pot? Are
there any field "intoxilyzers" for pot? Do you know of any studies
done with respect to accident stats while on pot? Do you know of any
studies on the effect of pot on driving skills? Slowed reaction times,
restricted depth perception, field of vision, etc.? Any studies as to
the effect on a person suffering trauma, as in an auto accident?

Cheers.

A: Impairment as a result of being under the influence of alcohol is
no different from being under the influence of marijuana or any other
controlled substance or illegal drug. The fact that something has
altered a driver's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely is the
concern.

With alcohol, law enforcement has been provided with scientific
apparatuses that can measure the percentage of your blood that
contains alcohol, and the state has established a specific number,
0.08 percent, as a guideline. The measurement is very simple and can
be done within seconds and virtually anywhere.

When testing for substances contained in a person's blood or urine,
such as marijuana, here in California a blood-urine test is required.
Through this test, law enforcement is able to obtain a percentage or
measured amount of marijuana in the person's blood. As you can
imagine, the results of this blood-urine test is not immediate and
available to the officer to take into consideration at the time of a
field sobriety test.

Field sobriety tests are designed to measure a person's motor skills
and aid the officer in establishing a person's level of intoxication,
regardless if it is alcohol, marijuana or a mix of the two. Officers
are trained to look for objective symptoms of intoxication and narrow
their focus to specific intoxicants.

The absence of an odor of alcohol does not mean that the person did
not consume alcohol, but that may lead the officer to ask a different
series of questions or check for other symptoms. If you are attempting
to learn what specific field sobriety test applies to a person
suspected of being under the influence of marijuana as opposed to
alcohol, I can only hope that you never have to experience them.

I have read scores of studies as they pertain to marijuana impairing a
person's ability to drive. There are similar studies pertaining to
alcohol, paint fumes, mushrooms, cocaine and pretty much everything
else, and I question why people use them. The bottom line is that
people take these drugs and drink alcohol to change something -- and
it is this change that takes place and how it affects your ability to
drive a vehicle that is the concern.

My first thought when it comes to the possibility of legalizing
marijuana is how it will increase the number of crashes, injuries,
deaths and arrests. There is no question that this will happen; it's
just going to be how much more will it happen?

I have no doubt that should marijuana be legalized, the scientific
community will be there to provide a measuring device that law
enforcement can use in the field. I know there are already some tests
that can be administered in the field, but I'm not certain that they
can detect anything more than the presence of marijuana, as compared
with a specific amount. Marijuana stays in your system much longer
than alcohol does. So you may not be impaired, but it still shows up
in your system. This may not seem like much of an issue. But in those
cases where a driver has been involved in a fatal or injury crash, is
unable to perform a field sobriety test and his blood test comes back
showing he had marijuana in his system, there are going to be issues.

There are established and accepted levels of marijuana in a person's
blood that already are taken into consideration by the courts.

But marijuana, just like alcohol, affects people differently. That is
why a field sobriety test is given and a preliminary alcohol screening
device is just a portion of this testing procedure.

As you may have guessed by this point, I am not a marijuana supporter
when it comes to allowing it to be accessible to anyone and most
importantly to anyone who is going to be operating a vehicle.

If you are one of those folks who have a medical issue and marijuana
truly is the only thing that keeps you from suffering, stay in the
comfort of your own home when you are not feeling well and do what you
are legally entitled to do. But, please don't think that while you are
feeling no pain as a result of this that you can go out and enjoy the
ride, at least not from the driver's seat.

Monty Hight is a retired CHP officer.