Pubdate: Wed, 09 Aug 2017
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2017 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Lauren Feiner

DRIVING WHILE STONED? STATE OFFICIALS URGE CAUTION ON MARIJUANA USE

With marijuana now legal in Massachusetts, federal, and state
officials are launching a new campaign to remind users that driving
while high remains illegal.

With marijuana now legal in Massachusetts, federal, and state
officials are launching a new campaign to remind users that driving
while high remains illegal.

With a motto of "Drive high? The crash is on you," the campaign will
feature billboards, radio, and TV ads targeted at drivers between the
ages of 18 and 49, but is particularly aimed at younger people,
officials from Massachusetts and federal transportation and safety
agencies said Tuesday.

The goal is to remind drivers that not only is driving under the
influence of marijuana illegal, but dangerous, too, as it can impairs
judgment and reaction time on the road.

The ads contrast driving while under the influence of marijuana with
activities that can be done legally while high: One of the TV ads
shows a young man at a backyard barbecue fruitlessly trying to light a
grill that doesn't have any fuel. While grilling high is legal, the ad
says, driving to get the propane you forgot is not.

The ads aren't intended to demonize cannibis users, said Arthur
Kinsman, the Region 1 administrator of the US National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration.

"But in the same way that if you have a couple beers you should think
twice about driving... we're trying to start a positive conversation
to get cannibis users to think, 'I may not be able to judge how
impaired I am,'" he said.

A new ad campaign warns Massachusetts marijuana users that driving
under the influence is still illegal-and dangerous.
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MAP posted-by: Matt