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
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday February 15 2018, @10:55PM (1 child)
It's the same problem with alcohol: it affects people differently. Two different people drinking three beers can exhibit completely opposite effects. One may be vomiting drunk while the other is stone cold sober asking for more. Many variables come into play such as hydration levels, stomach contents and hunger, as well as tolerance. I've drank near lethal amounts with a stomach full of Domino's pizza (oh to be 25 again) and walked out the bar like nothing happened. Then there was that time I had a stomach bug, had bad diarrhea and went out only to drink five drinks, vomited on myself and blacked out. Same with weed. A veteran smoker might burn through a joint and be a little tipsy while a n00b would pass out cold. And there are n00bs who have natural tolerances for marijuana as well. I once smoked wax with a friend who didn't smoke at all (wax is highly concentrated marijuana extract). I passed out while he was laughing his ass off. Different strokes for different folks. So the best answer to policing is take an average and say at this level, most people are impaired and that's that. Sucks but the law of averages applies. And I'm fine with that as there are too many people out there who can't make proper decisions.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Friday February 16 2018, @11:37PM
So maybe it's best to just forget about the substances, and just punish those who are not driving safely?