In 2012, Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved a change to the state constitution that allowed the sale and personal consumption of marijuana for recreational use. Sales began in 2014. Since then, the state has issued more than 2,900 marijuana business licenses, 481 of which went to retail dispensaries. As a result, as one news outlet noted, Colorado has more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks, McDonald’s and 7-Eleven locations combined.
But while it is legal to use, it is still illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana. Tragically, far too many drivers seem to be ignoring that and are putting lives at risk by smoking and driving. If he was injured in a car accident due to a drunk driver, a personal injury attorney can help.
Fatal accidents on the rise
According to an analysis by The Denver Post, the number of drivers involved in fatal car accidents who later test positive for marijuana has increased each year since legalization. Higher levels of the drug are also showing up in drivers who have tested positive. Last year, in an extreme example, a driver tested 22 times the legal limit for marijuana.
Between 2013 and 2016, Colorado saw a 40 percent increase in the number of traffic fatalities overall, reaching 880 last year, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The data also reveals that alcohol-related deaths have been on the rise, reaching 17 percent. However, the number of drivers testing positive for marijuana has increased nearly 150 percent and now accounts for 10 percent of all fatal car accidents.
While officials are quick to point out that this dramatic increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths cannot be conclusively linked to legalization, the numbers are troubling.
“Unlike alcohol, THC [the active ingredient in marijuana] it can remain detectable in the bloodstream for days or weeks, when any impairment wears off in a matter of hours,” Taylor West, former deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told The Denver Post. “So all those numbers really What they tell us is that since legal adult sales began, more people are using cannabis and then at some point… driving a car.”
proof is a problem
That is the problem facing state and local governments. Cannabis use is skyrocketing, but law enforcement officials are still struggling to find a way to definitively test drivers. There is no marijuana breathalyzer or blood test that police can use to test drivers. There are tests that check for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, but there is no universally accepted standard for who is actually affected, despite frantic efforts by scientists to establish one.
Colorado uses a THC blood test that police can use to reveal what’s known as “suspected” impairment. The allowable inference is stated at five nanograms of THC per milliliter. Alcohol breaks down quickly in the body, making it easy to test. THC, on the other hand, can remain in the body much longer. In fact, heavy users who then abstain from marijuana can still test positive a month or more later.
At least two private companies are investigating breath detection devices, but scientists estimate they are months or years away from reaching the market. As a result, Colorado has begun training its officers on what to look for during traffic stops to decide if a driver is impaired.