DUID Victim Network
Many states are considering legislation to deal with their drugged driving problem. The good news is that they recognize the problem. The bad news is that many of them don’t understand it. Particularly legislators in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Legislators in these states have proposed bills that would either:
Jacob Sullum, a pro-pot writer for Reason and Fortune magazines, is at it again.
This time, he claims that marijuana’s impact on crash risk has been greatly exaggerated, based upon Rogeberg and Elvik’s (R&E) paper, soon to be published in the journal Addiction. Sullum, in his typical snarky style, writes that there’s not much evidence of a surge in traffic fatalities due to marijuana-impairment in Colorado or Washington. This shouldn’t be a surprise, … READ MORE
Two recent research reports explain why blood tests are ineffective for determining driving impairment by marijuana, and why impairment-based DUI per se blood level limits for marijuana are useless.
Rebecca Hartman’s team (R.L. Hartman et al. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.06.015 ) led the groundbreaking Iowa driving simulator study that showed, “During drive blood THC ≥8.2 ?g/L increased SDLP similar to notably-impairing alcohol concentrations.” She followed up with a report in Clinical Chemistry this year (R.L. Hartman et al. … READ MORE
Noelle Phillips and Elizabeth Hernandez got some things right in their Denver Post article, “State still not sure whether legal pot made roads less safe.” The article was generally well done and reasonably accurate.
Colorado’s DUI law, which has a single definition of DUI irrespective of cause was correctly cited as a prime reason that Colorado is woefully behind in attempting to understand the impact of marijuana on road safety. If you find yourself … READ MORE
Forbes Magazine has joined the Denver Post, the Los Angeles Times and other rags that spread misinformation about drugged driving. Jacob Sullum’s Colorado’s Prosecutors Complain They Have To Prove DUID Defendants Were Actually Impaired was the most recent in his series of inept DUID reports published by Forbes.
Sullum, like many others, confuses the misdemeanors DUI and DUI per se. Although they may carry identical sentences, they are distinct charges. Proof of impairment … READ MORE