The Senate on Monday gave preliminary approval to a controversial bill about driving under the influence of drugs.
The bill became a prime focus of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the second half of the session, as members struggled to create an appropriate standard for charging someone with driving under the influence of drugs. They also raised concerns about the test police use to determine whether someone is under the influence of drugs.
The bill originated when state prosecutors told legislators it is nearly impossible to charge someone with drugged driving, because the legal standard is so high. The current standard is “under the influence … to a degree which renders the person incapable of driving safely.”
Prosecutors and police say they are particularly worried now as marijuana laws loosen and many people struggle with drug addiction.
The House version of the bill put the drugged driving standard in line with alcohol, essentially saying someone could be guilty if they were “affected” at all by drugs. The Senate said that was a zero-tolerance standard for drugs that did not account for drugs that improve a person’s ability to drive, or do not affect it.
“The question of ‘affected to the slightest degree’ becomes a real concern,” Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said Monday as he explained the bill to fellow senators on the Senate floor.
The Senate committee ultimately compromised on a standard that says the drug must interfere with a person’s safe operation of a vehicle in the slightest degree.
Sears told the story of a 67-year-old constituent who crashed his car because of black ice but was subjected by police to a 12-step drugged-driving evaluation at a police station, then released.
“After he told me of his experience I became more concerned about the inexact science of drug recognition experts,” Sears said.
Drug recognition experts are specially trained police who are called when a roadside officer suspects a person may be under the influence of drugs. The bill includes information-gathering requirements, to find out what happens in cases involving drug recognition experts.
Sears on Monday also proposed a new amendment, which passed on a voice vote, asking for a study of injectable naltrexone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction. Sears said he learned about Vivitrol, the brand name, at a conference last week in Washington, D.C.
The Department of Health will study the feasibility, effectiveness, risks and benefits of using Vivitrol to treat opioid addiction in Vermont, in addition to or in place of methadone and buprenorphine, the bill says.
