Answer Addiction

Tag: Driving Under the Influence

  • Sobriety Court Offers DUI Offenders A Second Chance

    Sobriety Court Offers DUI Offenders A Second Chance

    Since it was established in 2011, 438 people have completed the Denver County Sobriety Court program.

    In Denver County, Colorado, DUI offenders have a second option other than jail.

    Participants in Denver County Sobriety Court, like Lei-Linne Radlein, recognize that they have a problem and want to get help. The mom-of-three had two DUIs in less than 30 days. Radlein spent three months in jail, and agreed to participate in the local Sobriety Court.

    Her program involved random alcohol testing, therapy (“trying to identify the root cause of the problem”), classes and community service. She graduated in 18 months. (The program generally runs from 14-24 months.)

    Radlein was one of 15 participants who graduated from the Sobriety Court program on Monday (Oct. 15). “I now have hope,” she told CBS Denver.

    Since it was established in 2011, the Denver County Sobriety Court has seen 438 people complete the program. Graduates are said to be 19 times less likely to reoffend than nonparticipants, according to CBS Denver.

    The program was designed to reduce repeat DUI offenses in Denver County. It is a voluntary program for misdemeanor offenders who agree to follow the program of treatment, supervision and staying sober.

    “The program allows participants the opportunity to learn about addiction, themselves, and how to live a sober life. This results in better, more productive lives for the participant and those around them,” the program’s description reads.

    Rules of the program are as follows:

    – Be honest with yourself and the Sobriety Court team

    – Complete all phases of the Sobriety Court program

    – Remain alcohol and substance free throughout the program

    – Submit to random alcohol and/or drug screening

    – Participate in treatment as determined by treatment assessment

    – Report for all scheduled court reviews

    – Meet with probation officer as scheduled.

    To graduate, participants must have 90 days of sobriety. Other requirements include having an aftercare plan, applying for jobs or schools and completing community service.

    Judge Brian T. Campbell, who in 2011 was tasked with implementing the new Sobriety Court, said he was “suspicious” of the program at first.

    But his opinion changed as he witnessed graduates come and go.

    “Now, four years later, I am a disciple. With the exception of the first four years of my judicial career, I have learned more in the last four years, changed more, grown more and become a better judge than at any other time in my 35-year career,” Campbell wrote in a 2015 op-ed in the Denver Post.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Marijuana-Involved Traffic Death Report Shows Mixed Results For Colorado

    Marijuana-Involved Traffic Death Report Shows Mixed Results For Colorado

    The number of fatal crashes in which the driver tested positive for cannabinoids rose from 75 in 2014 to 139 in 2017.

    A new report on traffic deaths involving marijuana in Colorado has presented what seems like contradictory information: the number of fatal vehicular accidents involving Centennial State drivers who tested positive for marijuana rose in 2017, but the number of such fatalities in which the driver could be considered legally impaired by marijuana experienced an even greater decline.

    The dichotomy between the results underscored, as Reason noted as one of the primary challenges of ascribing marijuana use with traffic fatalities: that THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis, can be detectable in the system for up to 30 days, depending on a number of factors, so drivers who test positive at the time of a crash may not be legally impaired.

    The CDOT study essentially summed up the conundrum by noting, “The presence of a cannabinoid does not necessarily indicate recent use of marijuana or impairment.”

    According to the CDOT report, the number of fatal crashes in which the driver tested positive for cannabinoids rose from 75 in 2014—when legal recreational sales began in Colorado—to 139 in 2017.

    However, the number of fatalities in which the active THC level in the driver’s blood concentration could be considered legally impaired—which by state law is five nanograms per milliliter or more—dropped sharply during the same time frame, from 19 “cannabis-involved fatalities” in 2014 and 2015, which rose to 52 in 2016 before dropping again to 35 in 2017.

    CDOT spokesperson Sam Cole said that the department regards the number of traffic deaths in which the driver was legally impaired to be the most accurate means of measuring how the drug is impacting road safety in Colorado. As the Colorado Springs Gazette noted, that would indicate that marijuana-related deaths as a whole were on the decline.

    And while Cole reiterated the study’s assertion that the presence of THC does not necessarily indicate impairment, he told the Denver Westword, “Marijuana and driving is still a huge problem in Colorado. About 10% of our fatalities involve a driver who was at or above the legal limit for active THC, and we need to get that number way down. Any fatality above zero is one fatality too many.”

    Henny Lasley, co-founder of Smart Colorado, a non-profit that formed after the passage of Colorado’s recreational marijuana law, essentially echoed statements by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which noted, “The science of impairment is lacking.”

    What concerned Lasley in the report was an increase in the number of traffic fatalities involving drivers with more than one substance in their systems; drivers that tested positive for cannabis, alcohol and any other drug tripled from eight in 2016 to 25 in 2017.

    “The combination is very concerning,” she said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lyft Offers Incentives To Stop Drugged Driving In Massachusetts

    Lyft Offers Incentives To Stop Drugged Driving In Massachusetts

    Lyft has pledged $50,000 in fares to keep stoned drivers off the roads of Massachusetts.

    Popular ride-sharing service Lyft is encouraging people to drive cannabis-free with a special fare credit offer, according to High Times.

    Law enforcement in Massachusetts believe there could be a greater potential for drug-related accidents since cannabis has become legal in the state, so the state has teamed with Lyft to help educate the public on the dangers of driving high.

    Jennifer Queally, undersecretary of the Office of Public Safety and Security in Massachusetts, became concerned when she noticed an increase in people driving stoned in Colorado.

    “It’s not uncommon to hear people say, ‘I drive better when I’m high,’” Queally explains. “[But] if you are high or stoned, you are not a safe driver. And you are a danger to everyone on the road.”

    At the same time, ride-sharing companies like Lyft see a potential business boom. Just as Lyft and Uber are giving potential drunk drivers everywhere a safe ride home, the general manager of Lyft in New England told High Times, “We want to make sure residents can consume marijuana and not think twice about how they’re going to get home responsibly.”

    To help promote cannabis-free driving, Lyft has partnered with the Massachusetts Chief of Police Association, as well as the Cannabis Reform Coalition, to pledge $50,000 in Lyft fares to keep high drivers off the road. And if you make a pledge on social media not to drive high, you can get $4.20 in Lyft ride fare credit.

    As WBUR reports, there is also a new public service campaign that has been launched in Massachusetts called “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.”

    In the commercial, several actors tell the audience, “There are roads. Ones you take and one’s you don’t. There are laws. There are rules. And there’s you. You driving. You drunk driving. You driving high. You stoned and driving. You spinning. You crashing. You arrested. You killing… There are roads. And then there are just dead ends.”

    The commercial ends with a title card telling the audience, “Drunk? Stoned? Driving? Don’t.”

    According to a study released this year by the Governors Highway Safety Association, the rates of people driving high has increased 16% in the last 10 years. In 44% of fatal car crashes in 2016, 38% of the drivers tested positive for marijuana, with 16% of the drivers testing positive for opioids, and 4% testing positive for both.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • World's First Marijuana "Breathalyzer" Is On The Way But Will It Work?

    World's First Marijuana "Breathalyzer" Is On The Way But Will It Work?

    The breath analysis test can reportedly detect THC and alcohol.

    A breathalyzer that can determine whether a driver has smoked marijuana might be rolling out in cities as soon as this fall, according to Newsweek.

    The Oakland, California-based company, Hound Labs, says it has developed the world’s first marijuana breath analysis test, which could be leveraged by police departments in all the same ways alcohol breathalyzers are.

    With more and more states legalizing weed, law enforcement officials have become worried about individuals driving when they’re high, Newsweek noted.

    Unfortunately, police officers don’t have an accurate roadside test to tell if a driver has consumed weed. That’s why the marijuana breathalyzer could be a game-changer, says Hound Labs CEO Mike Lynn.

    “We are trying to make the establishment of impairment around marijuana rational and to balance fairness and safety,” he noted, explaining that the device will detect THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. 

    Unlike alcohol, however, timing is crucial when it comes to measuring marijuana impairment. With alcohol, a driver is considered impaired with a blood-alcohol level of 0.8; with marijuana, it’s not so clear-cut. Many experts agree that there is a two-hour window during which the full effects of THC will show up.

    “When you find THC in breath, you can be pretty darn sure that somebody smoked pot in the last couple of hours,” Lynn said. “And we don’t want to have people driving during that time period or, frankly, at a work site in a construction zone.” (In addition to THC, the device can detect alcohol, too.)

    For many law enforcement officials, the device couldn’t come at a better time. Right now, THC can only be detected through blood tests—and even then, it remains in the system much longer than other substances.

    “Unlike alcohol, THC can remain detectable in the blood stream for days or weeks, when any impairment wears off in a matter of hours,” said Taylor West, former director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. “So [what] all those numbers really tell us is that, since legal adult-use sales began, a larger number of people are consuming cannabis and then, at some point… [are] driving a car.” The new device would help police zero in on the drivers who are truly putting themselves and others at risk.

    Some critics remain skeptical that devices like the breathalyzer or Canada’s saliva-testing device will work at all. For one, new research has revealed that THC levels “don’t line up in a straightforward way with how impaired people are,” Live Science reported.

    Toxicologist Marilyn Huestis argues that the largest problem isn’t determining how far over the line someone has gone with marijuana so much as where that line even exists.

    “I used to be someone who thought [that] if we could just get a good limit, that would work,” she said. “But [with] all the work on chronic, frequent users, we realized there’s no one number that’s going to distinguish impairment.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Device To Test Drivers For Cannabis Impairment Approved In Canada

    Device To Test Drivers For Cannabis Impairment Approved In Canada

    After legalizing cannabis in June, Canada’s government is cracking down on drugged driving.

    Our neighbor to the north has settled on a method that law enforcement officers will use to test motorists for cannabis impairment.

    Canada became the first major economy, and the second country in the world after Uruguay, to legalize cannabis this past June. With legal sales to begin on October 17, it appears that Canada won’t have to wait for a reliable test that can detect cannabis impairment in motorists.

    Immediately following the decision to legalize (with Bill C-45), Canada made major changes to its impaired driving laws with Bill C-46, High Times noted.

    This included the use of roadside drug tests, but now, the government has approved a specific device for the job—the Dräger DrugTest 5000, a roadside saliva drug test device that analyzes a mouth swab for the presence of THC.

    The device was approved by Canada’s Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, following a review of its effectiveness by an independent panel of traffic safety experts and toxicologists.

    According to the Los Angeles Times, the device—already in use in Germany and the UK—tests for the presence of cannabis, cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, amphetamine, methadone and benzodiazepines, but does not measure the level of intoxication.

    Gauging if someone is “high” on cannabis is more complex than testing for alcohol intoxication. It’s uniquely difficult to test for impairment from cannabis because THC can remain in a person’s system for weeks, therefore its presence does not necessarily indicate that a person is impaired.

    This has presented a challenge as more federal and local governments choose to legalize cannabis in some form.

    While the Dräger device does not specify impairment, neither does Bill C-46, which gives police officers broad discretion when it comes to motorists who come up positive for THC. They are allowed to charge a driver with drug-impaired driving “based solely on the presence of THC,” High Times reported.

    However, officers will still need “reasonable grounds of suspected drug activity” to administer a drug test on a driver.

    The Canadian government will continue to invest in improving drug testing to counteract drugged driving. According to High Times, the national government has allotted $81 million over five years to purchase drug-testing devices and toward training police officers on how to use them.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Massive Study On Driving High To Take Place In California

    Massive Study On Driving High To Take Place In California

    The study aims to give law enforcement more accurate parameters in which to determine a driver’s intoxication level after using marijuana.

    As marijuana gains legal status in more states, one of the central concerns among legal, law enforcement and medical professionals remains how cannabis use may impact driving.

    Studies vary as to whether driving under the influence of alcohol or pot presents more of a danger, which has prompted institutions like the University of California-San Diego to seek hard data on the subject.

    As High Times has reported, the school’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) is currently recruiting individuals to participate in its hands-on study of cannabis’ impact on driving, which requires them to ingest smokeable marijuana before using the center’s driving simulator.

    The goal is to provide both police and laboratories with more accurate parameters on which to determine a driver’s intoxication level after using marijuana.

    The study, which according to High Times, is the largest of its kind to date, requires potential candidates to make an initial appointment with researchers to determine eligibility.

    If accepted, the participant is paid $50, and returns for a full day assessment, during which they are given a joint to smoke; the study involves a variety of joints rolled on the site, as High Times indicates, and with varying amounts of THC, including ones with none of the psychoactive agent at all.

    Participants then use the center’s driving simulator and complete iPad-based performance assessments, which focus on memory, attention and motor skills. A field sobriety test is then given before blood and saliva samples are collected from them. Once all the data has been obtained, participants are paid an additional $180.

    The goal of the study is not to determine if one’s driving can be impaired by using marijuana, but rather, to determine the duration and level of impairment.

    “If you smoked this morning, are you impaired throughout the day?” said Tom Marcotte, co-director of the CMCR. “Are you impaired for a couple of hours? Or are you not impaired? We’re trying to answer that.”

    Ultimately, the researchers hope to improve field sobriety tests for marijuana use, which in their current form are used by law enforcement but considered unreliable in regard to determining THC levels in breath or fluid samples. In some cases, field sobriety tests cannot be used as evidence to determine whether a driver was impaired while behind the wheel.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vince Vaughn Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI

    Vince Vaughn Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI

    The actor and his passenger were arrested at a DUI checkpoint in Manhattan Beach, California.

    Actor Vince Vaughn has been arrested for what would be his first DUI offense, TMZ reports.

    Early Sunday morning (June 10), the 48-year-old actor and a passenger were passing through a DUI checkpoint a little after midnight outside of Los Angeles, according to Manhattan Beach police.

    CNN reported that the Old School actor was arrested for driving under the influence and for resisting, delaying or obstructing officers. Vaughn’s male passenger was also arrested on charges of obstructing officers and public intoxication.

    However, Sgt. Tim Zins of Manhattan Beach police clarified that the arrests were not spurred by “fighting with officers, but more of delaying the investigation” by initially refusing to exit their vehicle. “There was no officer use of force or anything like that,” said Zins.

    Both men posted bail from Manhattan Beach Jail later Sunday morning.

    Earlier in the week, Manhattan Beach police had posted on Facebook informing locals about the DUI checkpoint, which ran from Saturday evening to early Sunday morning: “The intent of the checkpoint is to encourage sober designated drivers. By publicizing these educational and enforcement efforts, the Manhattan Beach Police Department believes that drinking and driving while unlicensed will be reduced.”

    According to TMZ, this would be Vaughn’s first DUI offense, if he is charged.

    The last time the Wedding Crashers actor made headlines for drunken behavior was in 2001. Vaughn was in Wilmington, North Carolina while filming Domestic Disturbance, when he got into a bar brawl with some local men at the Firebelly Lounge, the Associated Press reported at the time.

    Co-star Steve Buscemi, who was also involved, was taken to the emergency room for multiple stab wounds, according to Entertainment Weekly. He was later flown to New York to see a plastic surgeon before he could return to set.

    Vaughn and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg were arrested. According to the Guardian, two local men allegedly picked a fight with the men when one of their girlfriend began talking to Vaughn.

    Police said the brawlers “refused to disperse, so they all got pepper spray. In all, there were about ten involved when we got there, but the four kept fighting. Normally, we don’t have any problems there.”

    View the original article at thefix.com