CHP: Efforts needed on drugged drivers
Nearly five years after California voters legalized cannabis, a new state report is recommending a series of changes to better track and test for drivers impaired by marijuana and other drugs.
Those recommendations from the California Highway Patrol’s Impaired Driving Task Force are expected to trigger a series of new and revived bills in the state Legislature over the coming months.
The CHP report calls for the state to start collecting and publishing data on the number of drivers arrested or involved in accidents with cannabis and other drugs in their system. There’s
currently no central collection point for such data and no statewide standards for the few city or county agencies that gather such data on their own.
The report also recommends additional research, training and public education campaigns about drugged driving.
The report does not call for establishing a flat measurement for cannabis impairment, as with the established legal threshold of 0.08% blood alcohol content. Six states have adopted such “per se” limits on the amount of active THC allowed in the blood before drivers can be considered impaired, but the CHP report says current scientific research does not support such limits. That’s because signs of cannabis use can turn up in blood tests long after the drug’s mind-altering affects have worn off, with many factors affecting how quickly the body metabolizes the drug.
Cannabis and civil rights advocates said blocking a “per se” limit was a top priority when they agreed to join the CHP’s task force. So they consider it a big win that the diverse group, which included law enforcement officers, researchers, addiction doctors and road safety advocates, agreed on that issue.
“You really can’t determine marijuana impairment by chemical testing, which is the method that has been promoted and has been used in some other states,” said Dale Gieringer, director of the cannabis advocacy group Cal NORML, which had two members on the task force. “Yes you can determine whether someone has used in the last few days, but that doesn’t really tell you anything about impairment.”
With blood concentration tests thrown out, that leaves California reliant for now on field sobriety tests. If an officer sees signs of impaired driving during a roadside check, and a blood test shows that person has any amount of cannabis in their system, they can be charged with driving under the influence.
Fewer than 3% of the state’s more than 78,000 sworn officers are trained as Drug Recognition Evaluators, a 152-hour training program that helps officers identify drivers impaired by different types of drugs. The CHP report calls for increasing the number of DRE-trained officers statewide to 7% over the next five years.
Technology might also help officers better recognize drug impairment. Gieringer showed task force members the now-defunct My Canary cellphone app, which measured a user’s memory, tracking, reaction time and balance. And Nicholas Lovrich, a former Washington State University public policy professor, presented the DRUID app, which similarly tracks skills such as reaction time, decision making and hand-eye coordination.
The CHP report calls for further studies on how these types of programs might work in the field. It also calls for more research on saliva tests, which have been used in some pilot programs and pitched in California for nearly five years.
Gieringer’s group argues that marijuana isn’t a significant driving hazard to begin with. He cites as evidence several academic studies that haven’t shown an increase in fatal crashes in states that have legalized marijuana. But Gieringer also acknowledges that statistics on the number of drivers impaired by drugs in California is “abysmal.”
A state-funded study in the works at UC San Diego’s Center for Medical Cannabis Research since 2016 could help shed light on the question of how cannabis impacts drivers.
Researchers had 180 volunteers smoke marijuana and then participate in driving simulations. Those volunteers also were asked to complete tasks on an iPad, which could become a cannabis field sobriety tool. In addition, they underwent blood, breath and saliva tests at regular intervals.
Those UCSD researchers recently finished analyzing data from the project, which spokesman Scott LaFee said was delayed by COVID-19. They’ve submitted those results to scientific journals and are waiting to hear if they’re accepted for publication.
The DMV also is planning a first-of-its-kind study, specially sanctioned by Assembly Bill 127, that will let participants consume marijuana and then drive on a track at the CHP Academy. Officers and driving instructors will observe driving behaviors and do saliva and blood tests to measure impairment.
Along with supporting such research, the CHP report calls for boosting related data by giving local toxicology labs funds so they can add staff and buy equipment needed to test blood samples for a range
of drugs. The task force also recommends California consider a requirement for coroners and medical examiners to perform drug and alcohol testing for all fatally injured drivers, passengers and pedestrians involved in traffic crashes.
State Sen. Pat Bates, RLaguna Niguel, proposed such a mandate in 2019. Her Senate Bill 283 didn’t make it out of committee that year. But her office said she’s considering reintroducing the bill next year in light of the CHP report.
The report also calls for training cannabis retailers about the dangers of driving while high, just as bartenders are trained to recognize people who have had too much to drink. It calls for warning consumers about drugged driving, including incorporating such information into ads and into DMW traffic school curriculum. And it calls for training for medical personnel and criminal justice officers on these topics.
The CHP also is getting ready to award nearly $27 million in grants, paid by cannabis taxes, to local law enforcement agencies and toxicology labs to fund drugged-driving education, prevention and enforcement programs.
The CHP received 46 grant applications by its February deadline. The agency expects to award the money in late May, with projects beginning in July.