Occupy Corporatism – by Susanne Posel
In 2014, Jeff Michael, associate administrator for research and program development for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told Congress that stoned drivers posed a threat to public safety on the roads and highways, but could not answer senators when asked “how many fatal crashes are caused by marijuana annually”.
Michael replied: “That’s difficult to say. We don’t have a precise estimate.”
Now that question has been answered by the NHTSA and Michael may not be happy with the results.
According to a “landmark” study conducted by the NHTSA, it was concluded “cannabis consumption was not associated with an increased probability of getting into an accident.”
Data from more than 3,000 drivers who were involved in car accidents during a 20 month period and 6,000 control drivers were part of the study .
Alcohol consumption was found to be “strongly correlated with crash risk” and the propensity toward car crashes was elevated to more than 12 times the normal probability.
However only 1.25% of drivers with active THC in their system have been involved in a car accident. Yet when factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity were taken into account, that percentage dropped to 1.05 and became insignificant to the study.
The researchers wrote: “This analysis shows that the significant increased risk of crash involvement associated with THC and illegal drugs…is not found after adjusting for these demographic variables. This finding suggests that these demographic variables may have co-varied with drug use and accounted for most of the increased crash risk. For example, if the THC-positive drivers were predominantly young males, their apparent crash risk may have been related to age and gender rather than use of THC.”
To explain this finding, the NHTSA stated: “Drug tests do not necessarily indicate current impairment, [since] detectable blood levels may persist beyond the impairing effects. [And] whereas the impairment effects for various concentration levels of alcohol in the blood or breath are well understood, there is little evidence available to link concentrations of other drugs to driver performance.”
The NHTSA study may have an effect on Colorado and Washington State where marijuana is legal and drivers may have THC in their system.
Currently there is a more lucrative answer being tested that would criminalize driving under the influence of THC.
A Washington State University (WSU) team of researchers have been “working to develop a breath test that could quickly determine whether a driver is under the influence of marijuana” regardless of its legal status for medical and recreational use within state borders.
Tests for the prototype device are scheduled to begin in 2015.
Herbert Hill, professor of chemistry for WSU commented: “existing technologies — including those already used by airport security and customs agents to detect drugs and explosives — can be re-purposed to test breath for THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana.”
Using an ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) device, Hill hopes to find success. The IMS is the same device used by the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) and US Customs to decipher if incoming or outbound passengers have explosives in their luggage or on their person.
Hill and his college Jessica Tufariello are developing a “handheld device that uses a technique called ion mobility spectrometry to detect THC in someone’s breath.”
In the state of Colorado, Amendment 64 states that “five nanograms of active THC-per-milliliter of blood as the legal limit a driver is deemed to be impaired.”
Hill admitted that his “breathalyzer” could not “pinpoint the level of THC in the body, but it will tell law enforcement that some active THC is present.”
The officer would then be allowed to decide whether to arrest” the suspect.
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) reported last year that “one-quarter of all blood samples taken from drivers in Washington – which legalized the nation’s second favorite smokable two years ago – turned up positive for pot.”
Senator Adam Kline told the press that this marijuana breath test could be the “forefront…of supplying this kind of science and the technology that’s based on it to police all over the country.”
A former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) “ co-invented a marijuana breathalyzer” earlier this year affectionately called the Cannabix Breathalyzer (CB) that “works in a similar way to a traditional breath analyzer police officers use to test drivers suspected of operating a vehicle while inebriated. The device, which is pending a patent and still has to undergo further field testing, could potentially detect if cannabis was use within the previous two hours.”
A study from 2011 claimed that there is “clear evidence that cannabis, like alcohol, impairs the psychomotor skills required for safe driving. Cannabis intoxication slows reaction time and impairs automated tasks such as tracking ability (staying within a lane) or monitoring the speedometer.”
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/home/nhtsa-study-confirms-driving-stoned-not-linked-car-crashes/
WELL f8ck, if I have to follow so many rules and at any moment a quisling cop might pull me over and execute various parts of my person, I might as well be stoned when I drive.
“Smoke ’em if ya got ’em!” 😆
I don;t know why all these things are being invented in the US as they have had them for years here.
I crashed a car once. Drunk as hell.
Never even scratched a fender smoked out.
btw, the LAST time I ever drove drunk.
Stupid.