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Colorado Cannabis Advocacy Group Tests Impaired Driving

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Since 2013, Colorado has experienced a steady increase in the amount of car crashes involving drivers with cannabis in their systems. The legal limit in Colorado is five nanograms of THC per millimeter in the blood system. The caveat, however, is that arrests are often based on perceived impairment—even if the driver has a valid medical prescription—and the legal limit is often considered too low by users. Figuring out how to accurately test drivers for impairment is a major obstacle for the state, as well as the entire country, but one advocate group is attempting to find a way to determine the differences between a driver who recently consumed cannabis, and one who consumed cannabis days or even weeks before.

In an effort to obtain real-time data on cannabis’s impact on drivers, Cannabis Clinicians Colorado, a non-profit advocacy group, held a public research event on Sunday where study participants soberly completed a series of questionnaires, before taking part in field sobriety tests after smoking cannabis. Blood and saliva samples were retrieved before and after testing. Event attendees were also educated on the dangers of impaired driving and other cannabis related concerns.

Martha Montemayor, director of the CCC, told Colorado’s NBC news 9 her organization is against impaired driving. “We don’t want recreational users driving high,” Montemayor told NBC news 9. “We need a better idea of what stoned driving looks like so we can tell people when not to drive.”

The University of Colorado is testing the samples and aiding in research, however, Montemayor told NBC news 9 the results won’t be available until October. The results may shed light on an effective legal limit as Montemayor told NBC news 9 that five nanograms of THC was “pulled out of the air” without any scientific backing. All testing at the event was recorded and the CCC is hopeful the footage will aid law enforcement officers in detecting who is truly too impaired to drive.

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