Stoned Drivers

Attached an article http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-na-pot-drivers-20110703,0,7871314.story entitled "Stoned driving is uncharted territory" which was initially published in the Los Angeles Times highlighting the problem of impaired driving, especially as it pertains to the legal and illegal use of marijuana. The most recent assessment by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, based on random roadside checks, found that 16.3% of all drivers nationwide at night were on various legal and illegal impairing drugs, half them high on marijuana. The article clearly points out that "As the medical marijuana movement has gained speed — one-third of the states now allow such sales — federal officials are pursuing scientific research into the impairing effects of the drug. The issue is compounded by the lack of a national standard on the amount of the drug that drivers should be allowed to have in their blood. While 13 states have adopted zero-tolerance laws, 35 states including California have no formal standard, and instead rely on the judgment of police to determine impairment. Even the most cautious approach of zero tolerance is fraught with complex medical issues about whether residual low levels of marijuana can impair a driver days after the drug is smoked. Marijuana advocates say some state and federal officials are trying to make it impossible for individuals to use marijuana and drive legally for days or weeks afterward."
Several studies are underway to determine if marijuana can impair drivers and increases the risk for car crashes. A $6-million study in Virginia Beach, Va., is attempting to remove any doubt that users of pot and other drugs are more likely to crash. Teams of federal researchers go to accident scenes and ask drivers to voluntarily provide samples of their blood. They later return to the same location, at the same time and on the same day of the week, asking two random motorists not involved in crashes for a blood sample. The project aims to collect 7,500 blood samples to show whether drivers with specific blood levels of drugs are more likely to crash than those without the drugs, said John Lacey, a researcher at the nonprofit Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. In other projects, test subjects are being given marijuana to smoke and then examined under high-powered scanners or put in advanced driving simulators to gauge how it affects their brains and their ability to drive.
But questions remain: Does it mean that there is no amount of marijuana that a person can consume and drive safely immediately afterward? Can we determine whether it is possible to set limits on "safe" marijuana use with, or without, a combination of other substances such as alcohol? An open discussion is indicated to reach an evidence-based answer.

Yours
Bernd