Readers respond

My recent column that mentioned driving while buzzed on marijuana prompted lots of email.

Here’s one: “You’re obviously one of those ancient “we hate marijuana” people. It doesn’t impair driving. Join the real world.”

And then there was this heartfelt confession which I feel compelled to share (and for the record, I don’t oppose MJ across the board, I just don’t want people driving doped up):

“I am a retired research chemist. From ages 21 to 38 I smoked marijuana nearly every day; usually in the evening to relax and feel high.

At age 38, I drove for fun on country roads I was familiar with while smoking marijuana. I got very stoned and was enjoying the wonderful scenery as I drove. On my way home, coming down a steep hill on a state highway, ahead of me I could see the entrance to the interstate highway I was heading for. That entrance was beyond an intersection with a second state highway — an intersection I had to cross. There were safety signs and blinking red lights and a stop sign. The sheer number of these warnings confused me. I headed straight for the interstate entrance as if the intersection did not exist, at full highway speed. I collided with a car moving legitimately on the road I should not have crossed without first stopping. The collision was violent, destroying both cars and turning the car I had struck onto its roof.

“There was a hand hanging out of the window of the car …(I had struck). I believed I had killed someone. The police arrived. The man … had only minor injuries.

I feel like the luckiest man in the world. That was the end of my marijuana habit. I quit without health consequences and with very little craving for more.

The bottom line: I do not believe in criminalizing marijuana for that serves little purpose. But there should be in place a means to enforce DWI legislation. We need fact-based information of what amount of THC or marijuana impairs driving and ways to determine what amount a driver has in his body. Legalizing before this is in place will lead to many automobile collisions, injuries and deaths.”

As it has in Colorado where I live.