Category Archives: Driving

Driving

Tragedy comes to teens who risk riding with stoned drivers

Driving with friends when they’re stoned

Read Part 1 and Part 2.   Many teens have heard “stoned is safer than drunk.” In the social media, the pot advocates claim to drive more carefully when high on pot.  Long-time pot users say ridiculous things which make young people think they’re immune to tragedy.  Smoking pot and driving is not safe, and it’s foolish to guess which risky behavior is more dangerous than another.

Too many teens take a risk by getting into the cars of friends or classmates who have been smoking pot.  Marijuana was a factor in the crash that killed Darion Wheeler, 18, Destinee Wheeler, 15, and Paul McEwan, 20.  It shocked a small Wyoming town when they died last March. Continue reading Tragedy comes to teens who risk riding with stoned drivers →

Driving

Time to get mad, change attitudes about stoned driving, part 2

Read Part I: Time to get mad about stoned driving.  The next step is to change attitudes about stoned driving.

Marijuana Policy Project promoted marijuana as an alternative to alcohol in the 2012 campaign to legalize pot in Colorado.  However, the recent Rocky Mountain HIDTA Report revealed the overlap between those who use marijuana and drink before driving.   It’s not a substitution, but an adjunct to alcohol.  The alcohol industry has been selling more since legalization. Continue reading Time to get mad, change attitudes about stoned driving, part 2 →

Driving, Drug Policy, Washington

The genius behind Washington’s marijuana ballot

Alison Holcomb designed I-502 and the state changed the terms

Alison Holcomb of the ACLU used her genius to write I-502, the 2012 ballot which legalized pot in Washington.  She addressed the public’s biggest concerns about accepting the legalization of marijuana, and wrote the ballot to appeal to non-users.  It was a brilliant tactic.  Soon after legalization, the state disregarded many of those terms.

I-502 had safeguards to prevent stoned driving, public smoking of marijuana, home grows and under-age usage.

Yet, passage of I-502 created many new victims. To a strong extent, the 5-nanogram allowance for THC in drivers is not protecting public health and safety.

Continue reading The genius behind Washington’s marijuana ballot →

Colorado, Driving

Time to Get Mad against Stoned Driving

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Driver, allegedly high on marijuana, killed father of four

Joseph Bresnyan, a 40-year-old father of four, was changing a flat tire along Interstate 80 near Sacramento on May 3.  A passing motorist drifted onto the shoulder of the highway,  struck him and killed him.   California Highway Patrol arrested the other driver on suspicion of driving under the influence and vehicular homicide.   He tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Californians approved pot legalization last November, but the impaired driver didn’t realize that driving after smoking is dangerous.  The public shares much of this ignorance and technology has not caught up with policy.   Law enforcement is scrambling to find good ways to test for and control stoned Continue reading Time to Get Mad against Stoned Driving →