Cannabis Consultant Featured on CBS Chicago 2
Michael Mayes, of Quantum 9, a Chicago based cannabis consultancy was featured in a CBS 2 original report. The report by Dorthy Tucker explores the effect marijuana legalization will have on the number of impaired driving cases in Illinois. There has been an increase in the number of drivers driving while high on cannabis after medical legalization.
Now, authorities in Cook County are anticipating an even greater number of DUI’s following the approval of recreational use. The driving while high article was written on March 13th, 2018.
Driving with High Statistics
In 2017, 20 percent of the 113 DUI arrests in Riverside Illinois were related to drugged driving. Of those cases, nearly half of those involved marijuana.
According to Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel, “If we make recreational cannabis in Illinois legal, you’re going to see that 20 percent, in my opinion, jump to 30, 35 percent.”
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Michigan State Police DUIs for Cannabis
Michigan State Police are moving to counter the effects that more lenient legislation may have on Cannabis related DUI’s. Departments have implemented testing of a roadside device that uses saliva to measure recent cannabis usage. Trooper Tim Gean believes the device could make a difference in law enforcements ability to handle cannabis related DUI’s. “It’s another tool for the police to take impaired drivers off the road”.
The testing period for the device will last until November. Opponents of recreational marijuana believe that increases in traffic fatalities in Washington State are due to more drivers testing positive post-legalization.
One challenge facing law enforcement in this matter is the lack of a standard metric for measuring intoxication levels such as currently exist for alcohol.
For now, the true impact of cannabis-impaired driving will have in Illinois will remain a key topic for future debate.
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