GOVERNMENT TARGETS TEEN DRIVERS ON POT

WASHINGTON - Many teen drivers believe it's less dangerous to drive
after smoking marijuana than after drinking alcohol, a perception the
government wants to change. "Driving sober means no alcohol, no
marijuana, no drugs," John Walters, the Bush administration's drug
policy director, said Thursday as he showed a new television ad aimed
at stopping teens from driving after smoking pot. Walters' office is
spending $10 million on the ad and other efforts to teach teens and
their parents about the danger of drugged driving.

There also are brochures that are being distributed in high schools
and state motor vehicle offices. Marijuana can affect concentration,
perception and reaction time up to 24 hours after it's smoked, Walters
said. Yet teens have gotten the message that it's a benign drug. In a
recent study, 30 percent of teens said "planning to drive" was a
reason not to drink.

But only 18 percent cited "planning to drive" as a reason not to take drugs.

The survey questioned 3,574 middle and high school students nationwide
in spring and was conducted for Students Against Destructive Decisions
and Liberty Mutual Insurance. A 2004 study of patients admitted to the
trauma unit at the University of Maryland found that 19 percent of
crash victims under 18 tested positive for marijuana. Allison Whitney,
25, a drug counselor and recovering addict from Atlanta, said she got
into several accidents as a teenager because she was smoking pot while
driving.

Sometimes she would get pulled over for swerving but police would let
her go when she didn't test positive for alcohol. Whitney said part of
the allure of marijuana for teens is that it's easy to hide. "You can
get high in less time than you can get drunk, and your parents won't
detect it," she said. Dr. Jeffrey Runge, the head of the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said states are training police
to recognize the effects of various drugs, but said more training is
needed.