Pubdate: Mon, 06 Jun 2016
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2016 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Todd A. Griffith
Note: Todd A. Griffith was a forensic scientist for more than 45 
years, including 20 years as director of the Arizona Department of 
Public Safety Crime Laboratory System.

LEGAL POT MEANS MORE CRASHES, DEATHS

In my profession, I have seen too much death, injury and damage 
caused by individuals driving under the influence of alcohol and 
other drugs. Marijuana is the most prevalent drug causing impairment 
after alcohol. It contributes substantially to DUI carnage even 
though statistics indicate only about 8 percent of the population 
regularly uses marijuana.

This can only mean that Arizona will also face major increases in 
death and injury from marijuana DUI crashes if marijuana becomes a 
legal recreational drug here.

That legal marijuana will substantially increase impaired driving is 
not an opinion; it is demonstrated by facts from Colorado and 
Washington, where marijuana is legal.

In Colorado, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 92 percent 
from just after marijuana was commercialized there - a rate nearly 12 
times higher than the increase in all traffic deaths.

In Washington state, it was recently reported that fatalities among 
drivers using marijuana have doubled since legalization there.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that if marijuana is 
legalized in Arizona, death and injury due to marijuana-impaired 
drivers would not also increase along those same trajectories.

The damage inflicted on families is tremendous, but it isn't the only 
impact. There's also financial damage. Alcohol-related crashes caused 
an economic loss of more than $521 million in Arizona in 2014, 
according to Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts.

The additional DUI crashes that would result from increasing 
marijuana will add many more millions in economic loss.

Marijuana advocates routinely argue that marijuana is safer than 
alcohol. They're wrong.

Marijuana affects cognitive functions just as alcohol does. It 
impairs drivers through distortion of time and distance, loss of 
coordination, increased reaction times and inability to maintain 
lateral travel.

Also, this argument implies that people would switch from alcohol to 
marijuana because it is "safer." That wasn't the experience in 
Colorado, where alcohol DUI deaths remained relatively constant while 
marijuana DUI deaths rose 92 percent. And alcohol sales have gone up 
since legalization in Colorado, not down.

In addition, Arizona statistics show that marijuana and alcohol 
routinely appear together in DUI drivers. Legalization of marijuana 
will only encourage greater use of both impairing substances. There 
are now entrepreneurs in marijuana-legalized states who are planning 
to sell alcohol infused with marijuana.

The pairing of marijuana and alcohol is particularly disturbing, 
because when combined they interact to impair driving to a greater 
degree than each individually.

Legalized marijuana will result in huge increases in DUI crashes, 
deaths and costs to the citizens of Arizona. However, there is a 
final concern that makes the situation more dire.

The marijuana-legalization initiative not only legalizes marijuana 
but protects marijuana-impaired drivers from prosecution. It 
expressly prohibits the state from prosecuting impaired drivers based 
solely on a per se impairment level for marijuana, such as Arizona's 
0.08 blood alcohol level.

Why would any voter wish to support a marijuana-legalization 
initiative that protects drivers stoned on marijuana and will cause 
huge increases in DUI marijuana vehicular crashes and deaths?

I do not want to pass these terrible impacts on to Arizona's citizens 
and future generations. I urge Arizonans to resoundingly defeat this initiative.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom