Pubdate: Fri, 12 Feb 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Noelle Phillips

DOWN IN ' 15: DRIVING WHILE HIGH

The State Patrol arrested fewer people than in 2014 for the pot charge.

The State Patrol arrested fewer people on allegations they were 
driving under the influence of marijuana last year than in the 
previous year, according a report released Thursday.

The report is the first glimpse at how the change in law is affecting 
highway safety, because the patrol did not keep statistics on the 
number of people accused of driving under the influence of marijuana 
prior to 2014, when recreational pot became legal.

In 2015, the second year the patrol kept statistics, 4,546 citations 
were issued for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Of those, 665 people-or nearly 15 percent-had marijuana in their 
systems when they were charged, according to State Patrol statistics.

Overall, the number of people cited for marijuana-related driving 
under the influence of drugs dropped 1.3 percent between 2014 and 
2015, the report said. In 2015, 665 impaired drivers had marijuana in 
their systems, compared with 674 in 2014.

The data do not include arrests made by local police and sheriff's 
departments. In Colorado, the legislature has decided that the legal 
limit for impairment by marijuana is 5 nanograms of THC in the blood. 
However, that is a presumption only and has been rejected in court.

Highway safety experts said they were not reading too much into the 
numbers. But others said it is a good indicator that Coloradans are 
getting the message about the dangers of stoned driving.

"It's not as much of a public danger as it wasmade out to be when 
recreational marijuana was first legalized," said Jay Tiftickjian, a 
Colorado DUI attorney who edited a textbook on marijuana and the law.

He believes government educational campaigns are working.

But Trooper Josh Lewis, a highway patrol spokesman, said his agency 
wants three to five years of data before drawing conclusions. One 
year of numbers is not enough to spot a trend.

"We'd certainly like to think education and enforcement action are 
making our roads safer, but until we have data for multiple years we 
simply don't know," Lewis said.

Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Cole said the 
report provides a valuable snapshot, but his agency also continues to 
evaluate data. So far, it doesn't have enough information to spot any 
trends related to drivers who are high.

For example, CDOT keeps statistics on drugged driving in fatal 
crashes. From 2013 to 2014, the number of drivers in fatalities who 
tested positive for cannabis rose to 83 from 44. However, researchers 
do not know if the pot's psychoactive effects had worn off before the 
crash or whether the driver was impaired because of it, Cole said.

CDOT also has surveyed residents about their attitudes toward 
marijuana and driving.

The results indicate marijuana use is rising in Colorado, but about 
half of the people surveyed did not understand the risks of driving 
while high, including that they could be charged with driving under 
the influence.

"What we know is too many people are driving high, and they need to 
know about the danger and they need to know the legal consequences of 
doing so," Cole said.

Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, and 
other states are looking to it for guidance as legalization becomes 
more widespread.

However, the state is playing catch-up when it comes to understanding 
the impact and what it means to be high while driving.

Last year, the State Patrol began testing five devices to help 
troopers detect whether drivers are too high to be behind the wheel.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom