US CO: OPED: No: Current State Law and Public Awareness Are Enough

1/30/2012

NO: CURRENT STATE LAW AND PUBLIC AWARENESS ARE ENOUGH

Health and safety are two top priorities for the Medical Marijuana Industry Group. MMIG strongly supports Colorado's current law which makes it a crime to drive while being impaired "to the slightest degree." The current law has an extremely successful 90 percent conviction rate.

During the 2011 legislative session, the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice ( CCJJ ) endorsed a 5 nanogram/ml "per se" limit for drivers. After that bill was defeated, the Drug Policy Task Force ( part of the CCJJ ) created a workgroup to revisit the issue and study ways to improve public safety.

I was privileged to be one of eight voting member of this workgroup; other members included law enforcement representatives, a district attorney and a drug counselor. Last summer, the workgroup met about 10 times, and interviewed the leading national and international experts on the issue. In the end, the workgroup unanimously agreed that there needed to be 1 ) a strong public education campaign highlighting the dangers of drugged driving; 2 ) increased data collection; 3 ) more drug recognition experts trained in identifying drugged drivers; and 4 ) more research. The CCJJ did not renew its attempt to pursue a 5 nanogram bill this year. As a workgroup member, I saw a near consensus of research demonstrating that drivers with 5 nanograms of THC in their blood are often unimpaired. This is in part because unlike alcohol, THC remains in the blood long after impairment has dissipated.

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