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California "Green Lab" Volunteers Smoke Cannabis in Front of the Police

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 15 2018, @06:17PM   
from the where-do-I-sign-up? dept.

takyon writes:

Volunteers get high to help California police spot pot users

Even though recreational marijuana is legal in California, most people probably wouldn't be comfortable smoking around police officers. But that's exactly what Edson Villegas volunteered to do, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Villegas took part in a "green lab" to help officers, prosecutors and toxicologists identify signs of impairment as drugged driving becomes a growing problem on roads.

"Approximately 75 percent of the DUI arrests that I make nowadays are drug impaired -- more specifically to cannabis than alcohol," said Glendale Police Officer Bryan Duncan.

The volunteer users took field sobriety tests at the beginning of the evening, then went into a tent and smoked marijuana. When they went back and took the same field sobriety tests, officers could see if there were any changes in their mental or physical abilities.

See also: Girl Scout sells more than 300 boxes of cookies at San Diego marijuana dispensary

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Original Submission

• Re:Can we do the science bit first? (Score: 3, Informative) by vux984 on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:57PM

  by vux984 (5045) on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:57PM (#638459)

  They've done quite a bit of the science bit.

  n the Drug and Alcohol Dependence study, within-lane weaving began to occur once the person's blood levels reached about 13 micrograms of THC per liter of blood. In fact, people with that level of THC had the same level of impairment as people with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent, which is the legal limit for alcohol in many states.

  The study also found that marijuana and alcohol had an additive effect on impairment, and people frequently consume the two together, so legal drug limits should account for these additive effects, the study found.

  https://www.livescience.com/51450-driving-on-marijuana-alcohol-dangerous.html [livescience.com]

  Yes, I cherry picked a quote that highlights the dangerous part; and it directly answers the question you raised.

  But do read the linked article. Its not pushing an agenda - it notes that at low levels of impairment marijuana users can compensate for the impairment, and it suggests current marijuana limits are too low. But there is pretty good science behind prohibiting it past a certain threshold.

  Parent

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