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Mr Wood Goes to Washington

Like most sensible people, I try to avoid Washington DC.  But NHTSA’s Call to Action meeting on March 15, 2018 compelled me to succumb with a surprising result.  The meeting was called by Heidi King, NHTSA’s new Deputy Administrator (NHTSA does not yet have an Administrator) to begin a national dialogue on how to combat drug-impaired driving.  I had the opportunity to meet Ms. King and Candace Lightner of We Save Lives  for dinner … READ MORE

Recommended Drugged Driving Initiatives

Drugged driving is a complex problem that invites simplistic solutions like, “Why doesn’t ‘science’ determine an impairment level for each drug so we can deal with them like we do alcohol?”  We’ve long believed that solving our drugged driving problem requires a number of separate initiatives to deal with the various aspects of the problem.  See, for example, our “Principles of DUID Victim Voices” tab on this website.

Recently we’ve partnered with We Save Lives … READ MORE

Another politician bought?

DUID Victim Voices has focused only on drugged driving, leaving the issue of legalizing impairing drugs like marijuana to others.  After all, drugged driving is a serious problem regardless of whether or not marijuana is legalized.  Legalization just makes it harder for states to deal responsibly with DUID.

However, we do step into the marijuana legalization issue when politicians do or say stupid things, convincing us that they may have been bought by, or at … READ MORE

Pueblo West HS

February 12th Ed Wood of DUID Victim Voices presented Driving Under the Influence of Drugs to Mr. Tony Pechek’s classes at Pueblo West High School.  The presentation DUID-Pueblo-West-HS is now available to the public.… READ MORE

Vermont’s mockery

Vermont’s legislature wants to be the first in the nation to legalize marijuana via legislative action, rather than the ballot box.   Governor Phil Scott has pushed back based on concerns about making the drug available to children, and the effect legalization would have on highway safety.  

The bill now before the legislature, H-511 is intended to alleviate those concerns, but resoundingly fails to do so.

Penalties have been added for adults providing marijuana … READ MORE

FactCheck.org is Drinking the Kool-Aid

Until this month we felt that fact checking sites were immune to the ignorance and bias evident in media reporting of drugged-driving facts.  Our experience with FactCheck.org and their subsidiary SciCheck has proven to us that they too are “drinking the Kool-Aid.”

December 14th SciCheck took AG Jeff Sessions to task for errors he made in a June 22nd private Q&A with interns at the DOJ.  Fair enough, Sessions’ statement was flawed, but … READ MORE

Lies, Damns Lies and Statistics

The marijuana lobby’s media spokesmen Westword and Merry Jane were quick to laud trauma surgeon Jayson Aydelotte’s August 2017 report from the University of Texas – Austin. The report in the American Journal of Public Health studied fatal vehicle crashes in several states. They found that in Colorado and Washington – states where selling weed online for recreational use is allowed – fatal crashes were not statistically different from similar states without recreational marijuana.… READ MORE

Colorado is out of touch with reality

Colorado’s Governor Hickenlooper, known for his “shading of the truth” when it comes to the effects of marijuana commercialization and legalization, is at it again.  This time in a video published November 22nd by MicMedia, an internet news feed favored by millennials.   

Hickenlooper claimed that there has been no spike in overall marijuana use, even though licensed sales of marijuana more than doubled between 2014 and 2016 (74 tons vs. 168 tons).  

He … READ MORE

Colorado’s folly

On our August 29 post, we charged Colorado’s Governor Hickenlooper and Attorney General Cynthia Coffman with cherrypicking data to refute US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ claims that Colorado was in violation of parts of the 2013 Cole Memorandum.  This week we sent a letter to AG Sessions critiquing the Hickenlooper/Coffman response.

We pointed out that whereas Sessions was concerned with the results of marijuana legalization in Colorado, Hickenlooper and Coffman responded, in part, with several … READ MORE

Fire Larry Wolk!

Dr. Larry Wolk is Governor Hickenlooper’s appointed Chief Medical Officer and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).  A Canadian talk show’s interview with Wolk was reported by Canada’s CBC News on October 23, 2017.  If the report is true, Hickenlooper should immediately replace Wolk with someone more responsible.  According to the report, Wolk advised Canadians asking about the impact of marijuana legalization in Colorado, “We haven’t experienced any significant … READ MORE