MADD Summit Final Report

continuous updates to changing laws, questions surrounding what is legal and what is not, liability for  seizures of “legal marijuana”, dealing with tourists who end up in emergency rooms, search and seizure  drug sniffs (recommend not training canines to sniff marijuana due to the possibility of legalization,  rendering those dogs useless), Carroll Doctrine, street dealers and taxation, prosecution issues, and  motivation of law enforcement to enforce. Chief Ticer also highlighted strategies utilized to meet the  challenges, including traffic safety law recommendations, ARIDE training post Academy, deployment of   Data‐Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS), development of a state agency Marijuana  Enforcement Division, building partnerships with the industry for the Colorado Task Force on Drug and  Impaired Driving, and influencing communities to opt out of licensed medical and recreational  businesses. A positive outcome has come through the proactive solution of training more officers in  ARIDE; this training is made possible by marijuana tax dollars.   Assistant Chief, Jeff Sass, Washington State Patrol, recalled that in Washington, fatal crashes due to  alcohol continue to decrease, but fatal crashes due to drugs have increased. Therefore, they require all  officers in their district to be trained in ARIDE. As a result, drug arrests have increased and alcohol to  drug arrest ratio has decreased. A challenge remains in that DUI processing with blood draws has  increased by an hour over the last decade while processing DUIs without blood draws only 26 minutes.  Further, since legalization of marijuana, DUI/DRE cases have significantly increased. Toxicology  turnaround time has significantly increased as the impact of legalization of marijuana has significantly  impacted state toxicology, which now tests for marijuana, alcohol, and seven other drugs.  Darrin Grondel, Director Washington Traffic Safety Commission, shared about State Highway Safety  Office grant funds available and about the Washington Traffic Safety Council which is funded primarily  by two federal grants. He presented the statistics in Washington that concur with the upward trend in  traffic fatalities, with impairment involved in 50% of them. As the legalization of marijuana approached,  they did not have robust data on hand to combat arguments for legalization, and he encouraged  attendees to gather this data before the legislation comes to their state. One data point that they have  captured as a result of marijuana legalization is the increase in daytime impaired drivers, and this is  necessitating more daytime resources for DUI/DUID stops. Grondel also explained the rise in THC levels,  and how marijuana use doubles crash risk as a result. Poly‐drug driving is also rising; however, the most  prevalent drugs found in arrests are still alcohol and marijuana. As other presenters also mentioned,  traffic enforcement can help reduce crime; Grondel shared that speeding was the #1 reason for the  traffic stops that resulted in intoxicated driving arrests. They are in the process of developing an  electronic DUI packet, and electronic search warrants, and they have over 30 officers who are now  phlebotomists. But the increase in blood draws has taken a toll on toxicology labs and increased wait  time.  Captain Teresa Bloom, Oregon State Police, oversees the DRE and DUI program in Oregon. She also  commented on how marijuana has impacted the police K9 unit, and the amount of marijuana being  carried across the border. She advised that when the marijuana legislation comes to other states,  beware that the cash flow promised through percentage of tax revenue will be slow coming.  Lieutenant Mike Iwai, also Oregon State Police, presented some challenges and recommendations based  on his experience in Oregon with legalized recreational marijuana, including keeping an accurate  numerical value for the number of DUI drug arrests; ordering toxicological exams on all DUI offenders— vehicle crashes and impaired driving arrests (even if the BAC is over the statutory level of .08); all DUI

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