Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:  Thom Marshall
Cited: Dr. Grinspoon http://www.marijuana-uses.com/ http://www.rxmarihuana.com/
Mark Greer http://www.DrugSense.org/
Bookmark: Links to over 50 Thom Marshall columns:
http://www.mapinc.org/authors/marshall+thom

TEST FOR ABILITY, NOT FOR DRUG USE

Someone made a mistake on the machine delivering the air mixture to
David Atkinson of Kemah, 260 feet below, quickly ending his career as
a deep-sea diver and almost ending his life.

Atkinson, 40, managed to make it back to the surface and, after
spending a couple of hours in the decompression chamber, thought he
was going to be OK.

But he had sucked down too much water, he said, and within a couple of
weeks developed respiratory problems that prohibit his working again
as a diver.

If he hadn't made it back up, he said, everyone involved in the
operation on that offshore oil rig would have been tested for drugs.

Since he had, however, and since he thought at the time he was going
to be OK, no testing was done.

Still, Atkinson believes the incident occurred "because people I
counted on were stoned."

Evidence of use lingers He said there are many jobs and activities
that people are not legally permitted to perform if under the
influence of alcohol or any other substance that can impair judgment
or performance.

Atkinson fears that if it becomes legal to use marijuana, it will
render invalid the testing methods currently used.

That is because, unlike alcohol, evidence of marijuana lingers in the
system long after its effect has worn off, so if a person tests
positive after an accident, he said, "There is no way to know if it
was used on the weekend `on my own time' or shortly before."

Marijuana often is taken onto offshore rigs by those who work there,
Atkinson said, and he said he knows of people who died "because of
marijuana use on the job. I know alcohol kills also, but it's not as
easily carried or concealed in many situations."

He said he smoked marijuana in high school and has many friends who
smoke it now. "Find a way to keep it off the job, and I'm all for
recreational use," he said.

I forwarded Atkinson's e-mail to Dr. Lester Grinspoon in the
department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

He has been studying cannabis since 1967 and has written several books
about marijuana and other drugs. On his Web site (www.marijuana-uses.com),
Grinspoon identifies himself as among "the more than 70 million
Americans who have used cannabis -- and possibly among the more than
10 million who use it regularly."

Grinspoon said there is no foolproof method to detect incompetence to
drive an automobile or operate other machinery. He said future drugs
will pose similar problems to marijuana in that a person may test
positive long after the drug exerts any influence on abilities to
operate equipment.

The technology is available "It seems to me that the only sensible
approach is to develop a system that prevents the operator from
turning on the particular machine if he fails a `capacity to operate'
test," Grinspoon said. "This would mean fitting every automobile and
complex machine with a computer-generated battery of simple, quick
tests of reflexes and cognition.

"Failure of this test would indicate impairment that would make it
impossible to arm the ignition. The impairment might be the result of
alcohol, another drug or Alzheimer's disease. In any event, the
impaired operator would not be able to start his machine. It is now
technologically possible to develop such ignition links."

I also contacted Mark Greer, executive director of the
California-based organization DrugSense (www.drugsense.org), "a
nonprofit drug-policy information resource."

Greer said that rather than drug testing of individuals, he "would
much rather see a method of impairment analysis developed to determine
competency to operate machinery or provide public transportation, for
example. This would also identify people who are tired, upset, ill or
otherwise unable to work safely."

He cited studies that "suggested that cannabis users are more cautious
than individuals who have consumed nothing and are significantly safer
than those who have consumed alcohol."

Existing drug laws did not prevent Atkinson's mishap, Greer said, and
in fact those laws created a black market that cannot be controlled or
regulated.

His organization "neither endorses or condones drug use, especially on
the job," he said, adding: "The best ways to reduce potential harms
associated with drug use are public education and a legal market,
which can implement sensible regulation."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake