Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Flannigan, who retired from Vermont State Police where he was Safety Programs commander. He is now director of Flannigan Safety Consulting LLC.
Vermont’s Green Mountains may soon get a bit greener — and hazier. Within weeks, the state Legislature is poised to finalize a bill that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether legalizing cannabis is a good idea. But there’s no question it will lead to more people driving under the influence of marijuana. Several states that have green-lighted recreational cannabis have subsequently seen an increase in motor vehicle crashes.
And yet, the state Legislature appears hell-bent on doing nothing to prevent such reckless behavior. Last week, the House rejected a provision supported by Gov. Phil Scott that would allow police to conduct roadside saliva tests of people suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana and other impairing substances.
Legislators must reverse course. If they don’t, they’ll jeopardize the safety of everyone who uses Vermont’s roadways.
Drugged driving is prevalent — and deadly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that roughly 12 million American adults drive under the influence of marijuana each year. Forty-four percent of fatally injured drivers who were screened tested positive for drugs in 2016, according to a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association. More than half of those drivers tested positive for marijuana, opioids, or a combination of the two.
Many people, especially young adults, believe driving while high is safer than drinking and driving. But they’re dangerously mistaken. Throughout my career as a Vermont state trooper and drug recognition expert, I witnessed marijuana’s destructive effects firsthand. Cannabis impairs drivers’ cognitive performance, slows their reaction times, and reduces their ability to multitask. That’s why stoned drivers are twice as likely as sober drivers to be involved in a crash.
Here in Vermont, there have been over 280 fatal car collisions in the past five years. More than one-quarter of them involved drivers with THC in their system.
Washington legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. In the years that followed, the percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had THC — the psychoactive compound in marijuana — in their system doubled.
Fortunately, it’s possible to determine whether erratic drivers are under the influence of drugs with oral fluid screening technology, which tests drivers’ saliva for the presence of THC and other drugs. The process is similar to how police use portable breath tests to screen drivers for alcohol.
Some Vermont legislators oppose oral fluid testing because they claim it’s inaccurate and violates drivers’ civil liberties. Neither concern holds merit.
State law already requires every driver to imply consent to roadside alcohol testing as a condition of getting a driver’s license. It makes no sense for the law to treat other intoxicants, including marijuana, differently.
Further, oral fluid test results are not enough to conclusively prove impairment. They’re simply one data point in a police officer’s investigation. In some cases, oral fluid testing can actually rule out that an erratic driver is impaired.
Evidence from Michigan rebuts any questions about the technology’s accuracy. In 2017, the state launched a pilot of an oral fluid testing device called SoToxa made by health care company Abbott in five counties. The trial run was a resounding success. Officers used the device 92 times in the first year; more than 95% of the samples were later confirmed accurate by a laboratory test. Michigan has since expanded the program statewide.
The same device is used by law enforcement in other states including Alabama and Illinois as well as our neighbor to the north, Canada.
This data doesn’t suffice for some Vermont legislators. They’re calling for the state to wait for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to approve an oral fluid testing device. But the NHTSA doesn’t screen or approve these devices; doing so is not within the agency’s purview.
So the Vermont bill may order the state to wait for something that will never happen. That makes no sense — especially given that other jurisdictions are already using reliable, commercially available oral fluid testing technology.
If Vermonters know there’s an accurate roadside test for THC, they’ll think twice before getting behind the wheel while high. Gov. Scott is right — to keep our roads safe from drugged drivers, state lawmakers must follow the lead of Michigan and Canada by adopting oral fluid testing technology.
