On November 8th, 2016, Massachusetts citizens voted to legalize marijuana.  Having grown up in the liberal state of Massachusetts for the past 19 years, I always figured we would be some of the pioneers in the push for nationwide marijuana legalization.  What most people failed to consider was how much of an impact driving under the influence of marijuana would have, specifically surrounding new laws or lack thereof.  While watching my local news, I heard of a story about a man who was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana soon after it had been legalized.  It then went on to say that he was given a field sobriety test, which is normally used to test if a person is too intoxicated to drive.  People were angry and believed it was not a fair test because these two drugs effect the brain differently.  Scientists and authorities in the United States need to develop and adopt a new way of detecting if a person is too high to drive using a saliva test.  Having this test will take the guesswork out for police and will keep wrongly accused people from getting a DUI.

Across the states that have legalized marijuana there is no set device or rule on how to detect if a person is too high to drive.  Even if there was a device accepted in the United States, scientists and authorities cannot come to a consensus regarding a legal limit of THC in the body to be able to detect if a person is too high to drive.  Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the chemical in marijuana that makes people feel a euphoric high (DNewsChannel).  States where marijuana has been legalized either use a field sobriety test conducted by a police officer or use a blood or urine test to tell if a person is too high to drive once they have been pulled over.  The problem with a field sobriety test is that it was originally created to tell if a person was drunk, not high.  This test could make a person appear more high than they actually are and get them in trouble, or it could potentially set a criminal free if it makes them seem less high.  Also, there is a lot of responsibility on the officer conducting the test because the results weigh heavily on the officer’s interpretation.  

When a person consumes marijuana, it passes quickly through the bloodstream and is absorbed in the fatty tissue of the brain (Papafotiou).  Only a small amount of THC is left in the bloodstream.  This is called metabolized THC and it can remain in the system for up to 30 days.  Active THC is the chemical that enters the bloodstream and is quickly absorbed into the brains fatty tissue, leaving the bloodstream.  It remains in the system only for a few hours after ingesting marijuana; it is what makes a person feel high.  The problem with using a blood test to detect for marijuana consumption is that it does not differentiate between active and metabolized THC.  Therefore, a person could have used marijuana two weeks ago yet their blood test would come back positive because the metabolized THC remains in their bloodstream (DNewsChannel).

Blood test results have proven to be problematic in many cases: in September of 2016, a woman in Colorado, where marijuana has been legal since 2014, was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of marijuana.  The woman admitted to being a regular marijuana user, but insisted she had not consumed marijuana that day and was simply on her way to work.   She was given blood test which revealed that she supposedly had 5 times Colorado’s legal limit of THC in her bloodstream.  Still, the woman claimed innocence.  Eventually she was put in front of a jury who gave her a lesser charge.  However, this all could have been avoided if there was an easier way to test if the woman was in fact high at the time of the arrest (Markus).  There have been several cases like this woman’s story across the country because of the way the human body metabolizes the THC in marijuana.

A blood test is effective for testing alcohol because it metabolizes at a linear rate in the body, but marijuana is treated differently in the body so it is unfair to use the same test (DNewsChannel).  After prohibition there was a similar problem with not having an easy way to tell if a person was too drunk to drive.  Once the alcohol breathalyzer was invented it solved this issue by creating a set legal limit of blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, of .08.  If the test revealed the person had a BAC of .08 or higher they were arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence.  The hope is that once the United States creates something similar to a breathalyzer but for marijuana, law makers will create a legal THC limit and this whole issue of needing a way to detect for active marijuana will be a thing of the past.  

A problem with using field sobriety testing for marijuana use is that there is no science behind failing the test and proving a person is high.  Lawyers in Massachusetts are trying to get rid of field sobriety tests for marijuana.  Since they are claiming there is no science behind it, people who were arrested under this pretense could have been wrongly accused.  While people are starting to agree with the fact that field sobriety tests are not a good way to determine if a person is high, police officers are at a dead end.  If they will not be able to use this method, there is no other way they can test if a person is too high to drive on the scene.  A blood or urine test cannot be done on the side of the road, so this makes a lot more work for everyone involved.  It is easy to see that both sides of this equation, the officer and person involved, would benefit greatly from a new roadside device to test for THC in the body (Smith).    

Police officers across the globe are struggling to adjust to the legalization of marijuana just as much as the citizens.  They are being put under the spotlight for using field sobriety tests and perhaps wrongfully accusing someone of being high.  A Canadian article, “Doobs of Hazard”, shows the struggles of a police department that mimic the issues in the United States.  In order to give these marijuana sobriety tests, the officer conducting it needs to be a “drug recognition expert (DRE) an officer specially trained to detect and identify substances a driver has taken, thus establishing legal grounds to demand a urine or blood sample” (Gillis).  There are several problems with this.  First off, these Canadian officers need to be trained to become drug recognition experts in a 2 week program in Jacksonville, FL, which costs a lot of money and time for the department.  Because of the time and money it takes, this department only has a couple DRE’s.  So if the drug recognition expert is either not on duty or busy working, other officers are technically not qualified to demand blood or urine samples or properly conduct a field sobriety test.  If an officer who is not a DRE arrests someone for being high on marijuana while driving their testimony is often not very useful in court.  This leads to a small percentage of drugged driving charges because it is so hard to prove, especially with all the police’s restrictions.

If Massachusetts does omit the traditional field sobriety tests for marijuana use, they would face the same problems as Canada.  Since there is still no easy way to test for marijuana adopted in the United States yet, they would have to send officers to become DRE certified, which would be costly and time consuming just as it is in Canada.  Also, if Massachusetts lawyers make a good enough case and do get rid of field sobriety tests, other states are likely to follow.  This could end up costing the entire nation a lot of time and money.  During this that police are being trained, some people who should get a DUI will walk free, while others will be wrongly accused.  

The “Doobs of Hazard” article also mentions a new German made roadside drug test called Drug Wipe.  It is similar to a breathalyzer except it uses the person’s saliva.  The device is a small plastic test cassette.  Each device is meant for single use only.  After an officer uses a Drug Wipe device it should be discarded, or kept for evidence if it returns a positive result.  The way the saliva test works is the officer asks the person to move their tongue against their mouth three times.  Then, the officer asks them to stick their tongue out and the officer wipes the device on the persons tongue until enough saliva is collected so that the pads on the device go from pink to yellow.  After the saliva is collected, the officer clicks the two sides of the device together to activate the test.  The results will be ready in eight minutes, though it can be as quick as only three minutes for positive results to show.  Above the area where the results will show there is a chart of boxes.  Each box contains an acronym for one of the drugs this device can test for.  A negative result will show one line under each of the three categories; these are the control lines.  If any other lines show up under the control lines, it means a positive result for the corresponding drug on the chart above the lines.  If no lines show up, including the control lines, it means the test did not work and the test should be redone using a new device.  Drug Wipe also tests for cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and methamphetamines like ecstasy (Drug Wipe).  This test has shown to be over 95% accurate (Gillis).  

The main difference between Drug Wipe and blood or urine tests is that it tests active THC.  This is also its main benefit over other tests.  It does not test for metabolized THC like blood tests which can remain in the bloodstream for weeks after marijuana consumption.  It also needs a very small amount of saliva in order to work (Drug Wipe).  This test is being used in a few countries in Europe and currently has a lab in the United States.  In the United States lab, they have shown the device is nearly 100% accurate and in several trials.  This test is easy to administer, inexpensive, and gives rapid results.  As long as it keeps up with its accuracy there are essentially no reasons not to adopt Drug Wipe in America and any other country that has legalized marijuana.  There are also 2 more saliva tests being tested across the globe (Gillis).  If the United States adopted Drug Wipe as an accurate way to test for THC levels it would make the lives of police officers much easier.  

People often fail to realize the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana.  Just because it has been legalized in several states does not mean it is safe to drive after a person has smoked marijuana.  A deadly incident occurred in Suffolk County, MA.  A man who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and marijuana crashed his car into an airport shuttle, killing two people on the bus.  It can be just as dangerous as driving drunk and combining the two makes it even worse.  Since there is no breathalyzer type test for marijuana in the United States, people tend to take it less seriously thank alcohol.  However, marijuana negatively effects peripheral vision, motor control, balance, and time perception, making it dangerous when combined with getting behind the wheel (Rumball).  District Attorney Daniel Conley said, “Massachusetts has neither an established impairment level nor an efficient means to test for one. Policymakers should be aware of this knowledge gap and take steps to bridge it if we expect to identify and prevent THC impairment among drivers” (Tiernan).  This goes for all states that have legalized marijuana.  Citizens should have been educated on the dangers of driving high and how laws would change to accommodate for marijuana before they voted to legalize it.  In Washington state deadly car accidents due to driving under the influence of marijuana went from 8% in 2013 to 17% in 2014.  Colorado’s fatal accidents related to marijuana nearly tripled in 10 years.   Clearly it is a nationwide trend in those states that have legalized marijuana.  Chris Rumball, M.D., wrote in his article, “We must create a scientifically sound and fair approach toward drug-impaired driving, and develop appropriate standards and penalties to enforce any new laws.”  If drivers knew that a police officer could easily test if they were too high to drive, perhaps less of them would be on the road endangering themselves and others.   

Should Drug Wipe or a test like it be accepted in the United States, it would improve the lives of citizens and police officers.  It would eliminate the need for costly drug recognition expert training and give people the peace of mind of knowing there will not be any guess work from police officers.  Hopefully this device will also keep high drivers off the road knowing the police can easily prove they are high.  Of course, there will most likely always be people that drive under the influence of some kind of drug, but this will make catching them much easier.  However, there is still the issue of setting a legal limit of THC in the bloodstream, but having this device would force lawmakers to create one.  I believe that before continuing to legalize marijuana in more states, the Unites States should adopt Drug Wipe.  Overall a test like Drug Wipe could radically change the way marijuana is dealt with in regards to driving while high.  It would solve a lot of problems including limiting the amount of wrongly convicted victims and take the stress off of police officers.
