Pubdate: Fri, 16 Oct 2015
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.dailynews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246
Author: Tom Lackey
Note: Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, is a retired CHP Officer 
who serves the 36th Assembly District, including Kern, San Bernardino 
and Los Angeles counties.

HOW CALIFORNIA'S NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW WILL MAKE ROADS SAFER

Next year, a ballot initiative will allow Californians to decide on 
legalizing recreational marijuana. While I am strongly opposed, there 
is a very real possibility that voters will approve the measure and 
follow what four other states have already done. State lawmakers must 
be prepared if this becomes the law of the land.

If California's experience legalizing recreational marijuana will be 
anything like Colorado's, we will have a very serious drug-impaired 
driving problem on our hands that inevitably will increase the number 
of fatal traffic accidents.

This month, the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
(RMHIDTA) released a report detailing the impact of legalizing 
recreational marijuana in Colorado and the roadway impacts were 
troubling. According to the study, the number of crash deaths related 
to marijuana increased by one-third in 2014 - the first year after 
legalization. It also found that approximately one in five of all 
motor vehicle crash-related deaths last year were marijuana-related - 
increasing from about one in 10 in 2009.

This year, I was part of crafting bipartisan legislation that was 
signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. It brings clear rules and 
regulations to medical marijuana, which has been allowed since 1996, 
but completely unregulated. Part of this new law includes a provision 
that will be an important step toward combating the problem of drugged driving.

A study will be conducted by UC San Diego to determine the nexus 
between marijuana consumption and driving skills. Armed with this 
research, we can use it to design scientifically validated field 
sobriety tests for marijuana and other tools to make people think 
twice about driving wheel stoned.

There are many parallels between drugged driving today and drunken 
driving in the 1980s. When I first became a CHP officer, drunken 
driving was not as strong of a priority for law enforcement and was 
even culturally acceptable. It took tragedy after tragedy to 
galvanize the government to make a concerted effort to crack down on 
drunken drivers and educate the public of its dangers. The result has 
been a decline in drunken driving, yet inversely the prevalence of 
drugged driving continues to grow.

California must start taking drug-impaired driving as seriously as 
drunken driving, particularly if voters decide to legalize marijuana. 
Other states like Colorado were caught flat-footed on roadway safety 
as recent statistics show an alarming increase in marijuana-related 
fatalities. It's time for California to become a national leader like 
we were on fighting drunken driving two decades ago. Better 
law-enforcement tools have made a real difference on reducing 
alcohol-related traffic deaths. We can do the same for marijuana and 
other drugs.

While additional research is a critical first step taken this year, 
we must begin to give officers new tools and enhanced training. Drug 
"breathalyzers" present an opportunity to overcome some of the 
current limitations to detecting stoned drivers on the road. A recent 
pilot program in Los Angeles using these devices has shown promising 
results. A problem with prosecuting drug DUI cases is that substances 
like marijuana can come up positive in blood tests weeks later. 
However, drug breathalyzers test for recent use exclusively. This 
tool, combined with drug-specific field sobriety tests demonstrating 
the person's ability to drive is impaired, will allow officers to get 
the dangerous drivers off the road.

The legalization of marijuana in 2016 is a potential reality. State 
officials must be prepared because it would be irresponsible for us 
to ignore the roadway threat it presents. California took its first 
step to prepare with the new medical marijuana laws passed this year, 
but clearly there is a lot more work to be done.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom