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:
- Establish a 5 ng/ml THC per se limit for marijuana-impaired driving, or
- Fund studies to determine what the legal blood level of THC should be.
The former will do more harm that good, since most marijuana-impaired drivers test below 5 ng/ml of THC, and that per se limit would effectively protect those impaired drivers from prosecution, and preventing their victims from seeing justice done.
The latter is a waste of money, since there is no level of THC, above which everyone is impaired, and below which no one is impaired. THC doesn’t impair blood. It only impairs the brain, and testing blood to learn what’s in the brain has been proven to be scientifically foolish.
We teamed up with Candace Lightner of We Save Lives to enlist the support of constituents in these states to stop this foolishness. The founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Candace has been at the forefront of citizen-driven highway safety campaigns. If this campaign is successful, we hope to do this annually.