Pubdate: Tue, 22 Apr 2014
Source: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (MI)
Copyright: 2014 Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kk1qVKJf
Website: http://www.livingstondaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4265
Author: Bill Laitner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

MICH. LAWMAKERS WEIGH SALIVA TESTS FOR MARIJUANA

Under a bill proposed in Lansing, Michigan could become the first
state to adopt a roadside saliva test that aims to tell police whether
a driver is impaired due to consuming pot.

Saliva testing is being pushed by a bipartisan group of Michigan
legislators and championed by the Michigan State Police. But
researchers who've studied the test method said results are
inconsistent and especially misleading when applied to regular users
of cannabis, such as the more than 100,000 Michiganders who are
allowed to use medical marijuana.

"We need to look to the future," said state Rep. Dan Lauwers, a
Republican from Brockway Township near Port Huron, who sponsored the
bill.

Los Angeles police are using the saliva tests in field trials, said
Don Targowski, a Santa Monica defense attorney who is active in
marijuana cases. The Los Angeles police seek to determine "if the
evidence from these tests is going to hold up in court," said
Targowski, who has offices in Grand Rapids as well as in suburban Los
Angeles.

Under Lauwers' proposal, motorists would not be arrested simply for
failing the saliva test but only after being pulled over for "erratic
driving," the lawmaker said. The saliva test would add confirming
evidence to justify an arrest, just as portable breath testers do in
cases of drunken drivers, Lauwers said.

But the two kinds of testing aren't comparable, said Brett Ginsburg,
an associate professor at the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio, where Ginsburg has studied marijuana testing
and cannabis pharmacology for 10 years.

"I don't know what the level (for impaired driving) is going to be on
the Michigan tests, but I suspect you'll effectively prohibit many
people from driving," especially those who use the drug frequently,
such as medical marijuana users, he said.

Saliva testing attempts to determine a subject's level of THC, the
psychoactive component of marijuana that presumably could affect
driving. But because THC affects the brain through the nervous system,
and because saliva is outside the nervous system, a saliva test is a
poor indicator of whether behavior might be impaired, Ginsburg said.

In contrast, alcohol "pretty much permeates the entire body, all at
once," so there's a strong and almost immediate correlation between
the blood level and behavior, he said. Michigan seems to be the first
state "to be moving forward and implementing a saliva test," he added.

At a hearing last week of the House Judiciary Committee, medical
marijuana advocates slammed saliva testing as a violation of their
right to use the drug freely under Michigan's medical marijuana law.
That had Lauwers saying afterward that he would support an amendment
to his testing proposal, House Bill 5385, that would waive the test
for motorists who could show police they possessed state medical
marijuana cards.

"Law enforcement wants to be able to use whatever new tools are
available," he said.

But more important than the saliva testing are other provisions of the
bill and a companion bill that would get repeat drugged-driving
violators off the road more quickly, Lauwers said. The bills would
create a statewide notification system for police of pending
drugged-driving cases -- similar to the notification that tells police
of pending violations by alcohol-impaired drivers, he said.

Medical marijuana users "absolutely want safe roads," said Robin
Schneider, legislative chairwoman with the Detroit-based National
Patients Rights Association, an advocacy group for medical marijuana.

"We just think that, because the science isn't perfected, they might
want to hold off on using these tests until we know they're accurate,"
said Schneider, who testified against the bill.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D