Pubdate: Wed, 30 Dec 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Authors: Noelle Phillips and Elizabeth Hernandez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving)

MARIJUANA AND DRIVING

In Colorado and Nationwide, There's Still a Lot to Learn About 
Combining the Two

Three years after Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, 
little is known about whether the state's roads are less safe - and 
law enforcement efforts remain largely focused on alcohol, not pot.

One glaring example: A Coloradan who pleads guilty to driving under 
the influence of marijuana is required to install a device on his 
car's ignition to measure the alcohol in his breath.

"Basically, I could continue to smoke as much weed as I wanted, and 
the DMV would be none the wiser," said Colin McCallin, a Denver 
defense attorney who specializes in DUI laws.

 From a lack of statistics to laws that haven't been updated to 
disagreements over how to measure whether a person is stoned, there 
is a lot to be discussed and learned about marijuana and driving.

"There's a lot of gray area," McCallin said.

In Colorado, DUI laws don't distinguish between drivers who are drunk 
on booze, high on pot or even reeling from oxycodone.

Because Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational 
marijuana, it has been expected to be a leader in highway 
enforcement. But there is work to do here and around the country, 
multiple experts on impaired driving said.

The entire system is based on catching drunken drivers. It has been 
developed and tweaked for decades by law enforcement, researchers, 
lawmakers and attorneys.

Colorado police officers spend 24 hours during their basic training 
academy learning how to detect and test for drunken drivers.

And the state keeps extensive data on alcohol-related arrests, 
collisions and fatalities.

But the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2014 introduced a 
whole new set of questions. Among those are how an edible affects 
driving compared with smoking weed and whether a regular user can 
smoke more than a novice and still be in more control of a car.

It's too early to tell how legalization has affected road safety.

The Colorado State Patrol started measuring marijuana-related traffic 
citations in 2014, said Sgt. Rob Madden, a spokesman. That year will 
serve as the baseline for years to come.

"Statistically speaking, you need more than two years of data, and we 
don't even have two years yet," Madden said.

Recreational pot sales have been legal in Washington since July 2014. 
Washington State Patrol officers separate DUI charges into alcohol 
and drug categories. From there, the department's crime lab will 
categorize the drug - whether it is pot, prescription pills or others 
- - based on the request from the officer.

Although Colorado law enforcement does test for different drug 
categories, the charge falls under a general DUI category. Madden 
said this is because there are many labs in Colorado that do 
toxicology testing depending on the law enforcement agency, whereas 
Washington uses a central lab that makes data easier to track and collect.

In marijuana-specific cases, the Washington department can test 
whether the THC in the driver's system was active or whether it had 
been metabolized.

"But the courts are going to consider everything," said Sgt. Paul 
Cagle of the Washington State Patrol. "They're going to look at 
things like driving and other indicators the officer discovered 
during the investigation."

Because of the way Washington law enforcement officials test for 
intoxication, the state is able to keep more in-depth statistics on 
impaired driving.

The state's report on the involvement of marijuana in fatal crashes 
between 2010 and 2014 shows an increase in the number of drivers 
involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for THC. But the report 
also notes that more information is needed to draw conclusions about 
the impact of legalized recreational marijuana in the state.

The Colorado legislature has determined that the legal limit for 
impairment by marijuana is 5 nanograms of THC in the blood. But that 
limit is a presumption only, unlike the blood-alcohol limit that 
affirms a driver is drunk if blood-alcohol concentration is more than 
0.08 percent.

That pot standard already has been rejected by a jury in at least one 
case involving a medical marijuana patient.

Melanie Brinegar was pulled over in early 2015 for having an expired 
license plate. The officer smelled marijuana, and Brinegar, who works 
in a dispensary, admitted to using it for medical purposes.

A blood test found she had 19 nanograms in her system, a fact she and 
her attorney, McCallin, did not dispute. Police also asked Brinegar 
to perform two sets of roadside sobriety tests.

McCallin and Brinegar were able to convince the jury that Brinegar 
was not impaired because she was a regular user and a better driver 
after smoking because she was in less pain. She was acquitted of 
driving under the influence and driving while ability impaired.

"I don't know if that defense is going to work for a typical 
recreational case," McCallin said.

McCallin also criticized the roadside sobriety tests police use to 
determine if a person is too stoned to drive.

"All of the maneuvers were developed in the 1970s for alcohol 
impairment," he said. "We're seeing law enforcement using those same 
maneuvers for a completely different drug."

Police are working to catch up, too.

"Law enforcement is learning right alongside the public in a lot of 
this," Madden said.

The Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Department of 
Transportation are getting more police officers trained as Drug 
Recognition Experts, a certification that helps them understand how 
various drugs impact drivers.

Statewide, there are 229 officers certified as Drug Recognition 
Experts, and 63 are state troopers, said Glenn Davis, CDOT's highway 
safety manager.

Thus far, law enforcement measures marijuana impairment through a blood test.

But a California startup is developing a hand-held breath test device 
for marijuana impairment that has piqued the interest of Colorado law 
enforcement and legislators.

Mike Lynn of Hound Labs Inc. stands at the intersection of people who 
want more answers regarding pot and driving.

Lynn also is an Oakland, Calif., emergency room doctor, a reserve 
deputy sheriff and a clinical faculty member at the University of 
California-San Francisco.

Lynn was treating patients involved in marijuana-related traffic 
collisions and hearing his colleagues at the sheriff's office voice 
frustrations over people driving while high.

"I had this perspective where I was seeing it on all fronts," Lynn said.

His research shows a breath test can detect recent marijuana usage accurately.

"If somebody has it in their breath, you know they smoked within the 
last two to three hours," Lynn said.

But Hound Labs has focused on tests for those who have smoked pot, 
not those who have eaten it. That's next on the list for development.

"We think the similar technology with some modifications will be able 
to detect edibles, as well, but we're going to have to explore it," he said.

Scientists also are trying to determine how marijuana affects driving 
performance. There's not a lot of research available.

Andrew Spurgin worked on a 2015 study at the University of Iowa's 
National Advanced Driving Simulator that found those who smoked 
marijuana before driving weaved more in their lane.

"We didn't find an increased number of people weaving outside their 
lane, per se," Spurgin said. "Really, what this points to is a 
decrease of control in ability to be very accurate in how you steer your car."

The study did not add other road hazards, such as drivers slamming 
their brakes or deer jumping in front of cars.

"What would happen in a situation where everything hits the fan and 
you have to do some thinking and some fast acting?" Spurgin said. 
"That's one of the many questions still to be explored in the 
research going forward."

Although there is a steep learning curve, Colorado highway officials 
are more aggressive in their enforcement and in delivering the 
message that driving high is a bad idea, Davis said.

CDOT created a car that fills with smoke as if people are toking 
inside. It draws attention. And once the smoke clears, a message 
appears warning that stoned drivers will be charged with DUI.

The car is parked at festivals and other big events.

Officials want people to understand that driving after smoking weed 
is just as dangerous as driving after drinking, Davis said.

"We don't take a position if you smoke or not," he said. "Driving 
impaired by anything is still bad."

As legalization spreads across the country, the federal government 
needs to get involved in setting standards, Davis said. For now, 
though, Colorado is the leader in figuring out how to prevent stoned 
driving and how to deal with those who do, he said.

"People for years are going to look to Colorado and ask, 'What have 
you guys learned?' " Davis said. "We're trying to get a handle on it 
so it doesn't become a problem."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom