{"id":128309,"date":"2024-04-15T04:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/?p=128309"},"modified":"2024-04-15T14:42:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T14:42:52","slug":"guest-author-april-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/guest-author-april-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Author \u2013 April 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Robert Hayes
\nProject Manager, Drug Evaluation and Classification Program \nWestern Region
\nInternational Association of Chiefs of Police<\/h4>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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420 and Impaired Driving: Then and Now<\/strong><\/p>

I first heard the phrase 420 when I was in high school, just shy of thirty-five years ago.\u00a0 I did not know what it meant and back then we did not have cell phones, Google, Wikipedia or instant access to the internet to do some quick research.\u00a0 It was either go to the library and break out an encyclopedia or ask a friend.\u00a0 I chose the latter and asked a friend.\u00a0 They told me 420 was a time to go smoke marijuana.\u00a0 It is reported that it started in California at San Rafael High School.\u00a0 Five students would meet at 4:20pm at a statue of Luis Pasteur.\u00a0 They would then go on a search for a marijuana crop.\u00a0 Today we have festivals on April 20 and an increased use of marijuana.\u00a0 There is also 710 which is the national smoking time (July 10) for dabs and oils.\u00a0 710 is \u201coil\u201d spelt upside down. <\/p>

If you told me back then that we would have states with medical marijuana and recreational marijuana dispensaries I would have laughed at you.\u00a0 If you would have told me there would be edibles, I would have replied that we already have them, and they are called \u201cmarijuana brownies.\u201d\u00a0 If you told me there would be gummy bears, wine, beer and almost any food that you can think of infused with THC I again would have laughed.\u00a0 And here is the kicker, if you would have told me there would be marijuana flower that can have THC levels well over 15% and dabs that can exceed 80%, I would have said no way. <\/p>

Well, look where we are after 35 years.\u00a0 Not only did all of the above occur but we have gone from people being primarily killed by alcohol impaired drivers to a large number of people being killed by drug impaired drivers which includes marijuana. <\/p>

I thought it would be interesting to review data which is available from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program. The DEC Program provides in-depth training for law enforcement officers to deter and identify drug impaired drivers. They are referred to as Drug Recognition Experts or DREs. When an impaired driver is arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants, and has a blood alcohol content below a .08%, a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) is called to conduct an evaluation on the suspect and determine what drug category or categories is impairing the suspect.\u00a0 One of those drug categories is Cannabis. <\/p>

When states started legalizing recreational marijuana use in 2015 the IACP had 1,480 certified DREs in the DEC Program and they conducted 28,295 drug evaluations.\u00a0 Of those, 10,880 of the evaluations conducted resulted in a DRE opinion of the subject being under the influence of Cannabis.\u00a0 In 2022, there were 1,445 certified DREs and they conducted 24,450 enforcement evaluations.\u00a0 Of those, 14,716 were opined to be under the influence of Cannabis.\u00a0 There is a definite trend with more people driving under the influence of Cannabis.\u00a0 Also in 2022, of the seven drug categories, marijuana was the most prevalent in twenty-four states. <\/p>

In the study titled, Changes in Traffic Crash Rates After Legalization of Marijuana<\/em> it found the following results.\u00a0 \u201cLegalization of the recreational use of marijuana was associated with a 6.5% increase in injury crash rates and a 2.3% increase in fatal crash rates, but the subsequent onset of retail marijuana sales did not elicit additional substantial changes. Thus, the combined effect of legalization and retail sales was a 5.8% increase in injury crash rates and a 4.1% increase in fatal crash rates. Across states, the effects on injury crash rates ranged from a 7% decrease to an 18% increase. The effects on fatal crash rates ranged from a 10% decrease to a 4% increase.\u201d <\/p>

So, thirty-five years later 420 still exists.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Hopefully through education and enforcement efforts we can reduce the number of people that are killed or injured by an impaired driver. We still have a lot of work to do, but with the assistance and contributions from organizations, such as MADD, we can make a difference.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Hayes Project Manager, Drug Evaluation and Classification Program Western Region International Association of Chiefs of Police 420 and Impaired Driving: Then and Now I first heard the phrase 420… Continue reading Guest Author \u2013 April 2024<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":774,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-author","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Author \u2013 April 2024 - MADD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/guest-author-april-2024\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Author \u2013 April 2024 - 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