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Roadside Sobriety Testing Increases Support For Taxing, Regulating Marijuana, Study Says
03.01.07|NORML|Weekly News Bulletin

Public support for legalizing cannabis would increase significantly if a roadside field sobriety test were widely available to detect drivers' impaired by pot, according to survey data published in the Harm Reduction Journal.

Investigators at the University of Albany, State University of New York, analyzed national polling data of 1,002 registered voters regarding their attitudes toward taxing and regulating cannabis. Respondents were first asked, "Do you agree or disagree that marijuana should be legally taxed and regulated like liquor, tobacco, and gambling?" Respondents were then asked, "If police had a roadside impairment test for marijuana like the one they use for alcohol, would you support or oppose marijuana being legally taxed and regulated like liquor, tobacco, and gambling?" The NORML Foundation commissioned Zogby International to conduct the poll.

Thirty-six percent of respondents said they supported legalizing marijuana when initially polled. Public support for taxing and regulating pot jumped to 44 percent with the additional provision of roadside impairment tests. (Investigators noted, however, that this increased support was not uniformly from those who had previously disagreed with the question.)

"With the widespread use of roadside impairment tests, many voters may alter their perceptions regarding the legalization and regulation of cannabis," authors concluded. "Campaigns that educate registered voters about the existence of roadside impairment tests for cannabis have the potential to increase support for reform."

Although police and drug recognition experts in some states have modified Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST) to assess whether drivers may also be under the influence of cannabis, such testing is not yet widely available.

NORML Advisory Board Member Mitch Earleywine, who co-authored the study, said that behavioral testing, such as modified roadside sobriety tests, are preferable to bodily fluid testing for cannabis. The latter tests, though far more widely utilized, are invasive and typically focus on past use rather than evidence of current impairment, Earleywine said.

According to previous studies of on-road crash data, past use of cannabis (as indicated by the presence of marijuana metabolites in the urine) is not associated with an elevated risk of accident. By contrast, drivers who test positive for THC in the blood above 5 ng/ml (indicating recent use of pot) are typically associated with an elevated risk of accident compared to drivers who test negative for cannabis and/or test positive for levels of THC in the blood below 5 ng/ml.

A case-control study published last month in the Canadian Journal of Public Health reported that US drivers involved in fatal crashes who had trace levels of cannabis in their blood or urine were less likely to have engaged in risky driving behavior than drivers who tested positive for low levels of alcohol.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500 or Dale Gieringer, California NORML Coordinator, at (415) 563-5858. Full text of the study, "Roadside sobriety tests and attitudes toward a regulated cannabis market," is available online from the Harm Reduction Journal at: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/4/1/4/abstract.

 

Buzzby

I happened to see a roadside sobriety test on one of those TV cop ride-along shows while flipping through the channels. One element of the test was "recite the alphabet backwards". Thinking about that I realized that I couldn't recite the alphabet backwards on my best day cold sober. My brain just doesn't work that way! I decided that I'd better memorize the backwards alphabet, just in case. I found that breaking it up into these groups made it easier, but it would be easier still if there was a tune...


Z Y X W

V U T S R

Q P O N

M L K J I H

G F E D C B A

__________________

BillieBudd

I know people who have never toked one puff in their lives and could not recite it forward...

Buzzby

Have any of these people graduated from the first grade?

BillieBudd

I live in Maine, Buzzby..
BTW I agree with you about using this as criterion. If it were then 75% of devout Mormons leaving the temple would have to be considered impaired..

Try this to the tune of Frere Jacques:

Z Y X and
W V U T
S R Q
P O N
M L K J I H
G F E D C B
A am I free to go? Am I free to go?

 

Buzzby

These are the mnemonics I use:

Z Y X W

V U T S R "vutser" - almost a word

Q P O N "coupon"

M L K J I H "Martin Luthor King JIHad"

G F E D "G-man (FEDeral agent)"

C B A

If you can't get the last four or the first three without a mnemonic you're probably smoking too much!

MaryJ_Advocate

This method is incorrect anyway.

Try getting drunk or stoned and saying the alphabet forward. Most people can recite it. I personally know the alphabet backwards almost as good as forward (dont know how i picked it up though :-\) and when I am completely sh*t faced drunk, or stoned out of my mind, I can recite either one, sometimes backwards, faster.


Point being, if one was to learn the alphabet (while sober) they could easily recall it(while not sober.) Especially since the suspect must not be too hammered/blazed if the cop could not tell immediately. But Id put this past the thinking of the cops/bureaucrats

Buzzby

That's why they test you by having you recite it backwards. Most people don't memorize it backwards and therefore have to think about it. The point is that you can't think very well if you're impaired.

And that's why I suggested it...

They do field sobriety tests to document the level of impairment.

Don't make the mistake of underestimating your opponents. The police do this every day of the week and have had plenty of time to work out all the kinks in the system. We have a couple of resident LEOs who provide advice about police procedures and rules of evidence. These are smart guys.

reggie_the_dog

They pulled this on me in Virginia when I got busted. They asked me to say the alphabet backwards, to which I replied something like "backwards, I know you folks are backwards down here but I didn't know you said the alphabet backwards too.

I was already in handcuffs and had just had a gun held to my head so I was in no mood to do what they were asking me. When they asked me again I told them I was done talking.

They talked to my lawer, he got me off of the DUI cannabis and the felony intenet to distribute 45 grams of cannabis (all in one bag mind you, I was on vacation, it was personal) in not even 5 minutes in court. What can I say, the mouse beat the cat.