THICK SMOKE AND FOGGY MIRRORS IN TRYING TO SET POT BLOOD-LEVEL LIMITS

Now that Colorado is all grown up about how it's handling the medical
marijuana issue, it's obvious it will years before the smoke clears on
how to handle laws prohibiting intoxicated drivers from getting behind
the wheel.

This is tough stuff. Who knew when Colorado voters signed onto making
the state one of the first to allow for the medicinal use of marijuana
that it would come to House Bill 1261?

That measure by Boulder Democrat state Rep. Claire Levy seeks to set a
blood-level limit for the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, that
has made it so sought after by tens of thousands of Coloradans seeking
relief from pain, a way to end nausea, find an appetite or just get
high. Currently, the bill is suggesting that anyone driving a car with
a THC blood level of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood be considered
intoxicated and charged with driving under the influence. It's much
like the system used to snag drunk drivers.

But alcohol is not marijuana, and the science behind what Levy is
trying to do is at best murky and most likely irrelevant to what she
and her supporters are trying to accomplish: keeping people stoned out
of their brains from getting behind the wheel of a car.

What science does know about marijuana is that is has a much more
varied effect on people than does alcohol. And the "intoxicating"
effect itself is unlike that of alcohol. More to the point, there
absolutely is no reliable research making it clear that the 5 ng/ml
limit is anything but arbitrary and meaningless.

Since this is medication the state is dealing with, it would be
ground-breaking to set blood-level limits on this drug, when much more
powerful and intoxicating drugs such as Demerol, Vicodin and Valium
have no set limits.

While this all may be good practice for how the state might handle
regulating marijuana as a recreational substance, just like alcohol,
it's obvious state lawmakers have no business trying to legislate this
as a medical issue. Colorado already makes it illegal to drive
impaired under the influence of any drug or substance, and there are a
bevy of laws making it illegal to drive in a reckless or careless manner.

Lawmakers must either wait for credible research to allow for
blood-level limits, or find a more scientific way to determine
intoxication, but HB 1261 needs to be parked.