Gagan Singh rolled a “fat blunt” before he hit the slopes at Lake Tahoe on a sunny Wednesday morning.
By the end of the day, he needed a refill, so he drove to Reno and stopped at one of the local medical marijuana dispensaries. With his Patagonia jacket and bleached-blond man-bun, Singh was eager to head to his hotel and smoke.
The only reason he wouldn’t be smoking while driving to the hotel was because he believes Nevada cops are stricter than the ones in the Bay Area.
“Yeah, I roll my blunts while I’m driving. I smoke while I’m driving,” said Singh, 26, who owns a logistics business and a “party bus” in Oakland, Calif. “I don’t get high after two blunts. I just get tired and lazy.”
Among states with legal recreational marijuana, Nevada has the strictest limit on how much of the chemical THC can be in the bloodstream — the weed equivalent of blood-alcohol content — before the driver is considered impaired. Nevada’s limit is even lower than the federal standard for Department of Transportation employees.
But catching drugged drivers has become more complicated since recreational marijuana became legal in January across the state.
No real-time, accurate test exists. Officers have no accurate Breathalyzer test; blood, urine and saliva tests exist but are imperfect.
On top of that, no scientific evidence backs up that a specific amount of marijuana in a person’s system means impairment. That means that limits for marijuana similar to those for alcohol use can be problematic.
“You have people that are just baked, they have that Spicoli persona and yet they ace the driving test. You have others who are totally sober and they flunk that blood test,” said Chris Halsor, a former Colorado prosecutor currently serving as Nevada’s temporary traffic safety resource prosecutor.
Nevada law says that anyone with 2 nanograms of marijuana in their system while driving is impaired.
Critics of the limit point out that it’s so low that people who have smoked marijuana in the distant past but are not impaired could be convicted of DUI under the current law.
However, advocates of the limit point out that driving under the influence cases involving marijuana are already difficult to prove and a limit is necessary.
Despite the inconsistencies, states must adapt, Halsor said. It’s an issue every state that legalizes marijuana faces, finding varying solutions.
Law enforcement officials who want to keep the state’s set limit say that it is necessary if marijuana DUI cases are going to be successfully prosecuted.
“You have to set a standard somewhere,” said Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks.
Hicks was against legalization from the beginning and worries because drunken driving already is the most commonly prosecuted charge in Washoe County.
While most drunken-driving cases never reach his desk because they’re misdemeanors and handled at a lower level, Hicks sees the worst cases. Nevada already has a history of tragic driving under the influence cases in which one of the people involved tested positive for marijuana.
In 2004, Anna Marie Jackson was convicted of having marijuana in her system when she pulled in front of a motorcycle officer, causing the death of 55-year-old Officer Mike Scofield. A scholarship fund was set up in the name of Scofield, a husband, father of four and a 25-year veteran of the Reno Police Department.
Last year, a jury found 25-year-old Nicole Cote guilty of two counts of a DUI causing substantial bodily harm and two counts of reckless driving causing substantial bodily harm.
Cote was traveling at more than 60 mph when she rammed into a vehicle with two young men, both of whom were seriously injured. One of the victims, 19-year-old Blaze Brucato, went into a coma and spent 19 months relearning to walk and talk.
At the trial, his father testified that Brucato, who was serving in the Nevada National Guard and wanted to become an Air Force pilot, still must use a wheelchair and is unable to speak coherently.
Cote, who called 911 and said she was worried about her new car, had a .066 blood alcohol level and had 6 nanograms of marijuana in her system.
In March, Mario Cortez was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he killed a couple while driving with a blood alcohol content of .202 and five times the legal limit of marijuana in his blood.
The crash killed Mario and Erlinda Guansing, who were in their 70s. The couple planned to retire to spend time with family in Canada and in the Philippines. They moved to the United States 12 years ago after they retired from their jobs in electrical engineering and banking. They were working to support relatives pursuing higher education and to send money back to their church in the Philippines.
“Every one of these victims has a heavy story. I wish I could implant them in people’s minds,” Hicks said. “DUIs transcend all demographics. It can be a grandma, a college student, or a five-time felon.”
It’s hard to compare the data for marijuana DUIs to DUIs caused by alcohol.
That’s because agencies have not been separating alcohol DUIs from other DUIs, and officers have not been consistently checking for controlled substances other than alcohol unless the accident is fatal. It also is not uncommon for DUI cases that involve marijuana to also involve alcohol, which leads some pot advocates to say that alcohol is far greater a concern when it comes to road safety.
credit: rgj.com
