Los Angeles Lawmakers Want to Establish a Drugged Driving Task Force
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Los Angeles lawmakers believe that now is the time to implement a drugged driving task force to adapt to the rollout of recreational cannabis. Under the California Highway Patrol, the proposed task force would develop methods to identify drivers who are under the influence of THC or prescription drugs. Assembly Bill 6 would require the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to appoint and serve as chair of a drugged driving task force.
The legislation was proposed by the California Police Chiefs Association and introduced by Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), who happens to be a retired CHP sergeant. “The bill, AB-6, is a reasonable approach forward to address our fight against drugged driving,” Lackey told the Los Angeles Times. “The urgency of this should be very clear to all of us.”
The task force would consist of law enforcement agents, a prosecutor, a physician, a drug researcher, a defense attorney and representatives of the cannabis industry. The bill was supported unanimously by The Assembly Public Safety Committee after hearing an emotional testimony from an incident involving a drugged driver.
We can look at other recreational states to speculate how California will move forward with drugged driving enforcement. The Colorado Task Force on Drunk & Impaired Driving (CTFDID) has been around since 2006. In Colorado, law enforcement officers are routinely trained to detect drug impairment. In addition to that, many officers have received training in Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE). There is also a force of full-time Drug Recognition Experts (DRE). DRE’s in Colorado routinely administer a 12-step process in order to determine if an individual is impaired by THC. Interestingly enough, DRE’s were originally developed right here in Los Angeles in the early ’70s. LAPD officers are also instructed through Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) Training. You can presume that California’s drugged driving task force to roughly resemble how it is done in Colorado.
