We can put a man on the moon, but, so far, the human race has failed to figure out how to accurately gauge stoned driving. This is one of the most baffling aspects of the marijuana debate. Taking into account all of the marvels of modern medicine and technology, there hasn\u2019t been a single genius out there with the ability to devise a system that allows us to determine whether a motorist is impaired or if they have trace amounts of cannabinoids in their system.<\/p>\n
Several companies have emerged throughout the years,\u00a0claiming to have broken through this barrier<\/a>, but nothing substantial has come to fruition. This is unfortunate, considering that nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use. And most recently, Canada passed legislation to end prohibition nationwide.<\/p>\n Still, the issue of stoned driving continues to be dealt with through drug recognition expert (DRE) evaluations and tests of the various bodily fluids \u2014 all proven ineffective for establishing cannabis impairment.<\/p>\n In an effort to remedy this conundrum, researchers from the University of California, San Diego have partnered with the California Highway Patrol in hopes of establishing a boundary \u00a0\u2014 a timeline, if you will \u2014 between the consumption of cannabis and that point in which a person is considered \u201ctoo high to drive.\u201d The study, which was authorized by the state legislature, is calling on members of the public to participate.<\/p>\n Researchers say they want to get to the bottom of the question: \u201cIf you smoked this morning are you impaired throughout the day? Are you impaired for a couple of hours? Or are you not impaired?\u201d Tom Marcotte, co-Director of the CMCR,\u00a0told<\/a> ABC15.<\/p>\n Although marijuana is being taxed and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol in some states, it is a completely different beast than booze. Drunk driving can be policed easily with the use of a breathalyzer. This roadside test can determine, within seconds, how much alcohol is coursing through a person\u2019s veins. But because of the way cannabis metabolizes in the body, it is impossible to measure\u00a0THC<\/a>\u00a0impairment in the same way. This is the reason it is\u00a0difficult to prosecute high driving cases<\/a>\u00a0in legal states. It is simply too difficult to prove that a driver was impaired behind the wheel.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know when it\u2019s been smoked, as opposed to somebody with alcohol in their system,\u201d California\u00a0defense attorney Robert Shatzco\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0KRON4.<\/p>\n The latest study into the anomaly of stoned driving, which is said to be the largest of its kind, will focus less on the numbers and more on real-life effects. Researchers plan to recruit nearly 200 healthy test subjects to take part in a driving simulation, which will include field sobriety tests, iPad-based performance assessments and a series of drug tests. All of the participants will be required to smoke cannabis of various potencies. Some will get higher doses of THC, while others may not get any THC at all, says Marcotte.<\/p>\n Anyone interested in taking part in this paid exploration into stoned driving can\u00a0apply here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, without a proper device to test drivers for cannabis impairment, studies like these will do very little to solve the problem. Without a uniform testing method \u2014 like a cannabis breathalyzer \u2014 experts say law enforcement will continue to harass innocent motorists. Because while some of the roadside testing methods \u201cmay have some correlation with recent cannabis use, many of these indicators may also be triggered by subjects who have not used cannabis at all,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Paul Armentano, deputy director at NORML.<\/p>\n But an accurate test could be on the horizon.<\/p>\n Hound Labs, which announced in 2015 that it had created a breath test that would actually allow law enforcement to \u201cdetermine if an individual is impaired from recent marijuana use,\u201d\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0it is on the verge of launching a device that will solve this controversial issue. The company\u2019s Hound Breathalyzer, which picks up on alcohol impairment, as well, is said to \u201cconfidently determine recent marijuana use,\u201d \u201cregardless of how marijuana was consumed.\u201d It also claims the test does not detect past cannabis consumption.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, are you concerned about stoned driving?<\/p>\n The post California Needs Your Help Studying Stoned Driving<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
We can put a man on the moon, but, so far, the human race has failed to figure out how to accurately gauge stoned driving. This is one of the most baffling aspects of the marijuana debate. Taking into account all of the marvels of modern medicine and technology, thereContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[159,148,50,4964,4965,90,4939,146,2111,4136,420],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27870,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27869\/revisions\/27870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: California Needs Your Help Studying Stoned Driving<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"