Stoned driving

Minnesota’s Office of Traffic Safety is pilot-testing a saliva-based roadside cannabis impairment test; the pilot program will be for data-gathering purposes only, meaning samples will be given voluntarily with no risk of arrest or driver’s license suspension.

A proposal introduced last week in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives seeks to protect the state’s medical cannabis patients from getting DUIs for simply testing positive for cannabis consumption.

The New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments this week about whether roadside alcohol impairment testing can be used by law enforcement officers to check for evidence of cannabis impairment.

Under an Ohio proposal, motorists who fail a drug test for cannabis would no longer be charged automatically with a DUI, acknowledging how evidence of cannabis use can remain in the body for days or even weeks after consuming.

Transportation officials in Massachusetts are adding cannabis impairment lessons to the state’s driver’s ed curriculum for next year.

The Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is asking voters to reject the cannabis legalization amendment appearing on November ballots.

The Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee has advanced a measure to protect medical cannabis patients from being charged with a wrongful DUI. 

The Washington State Supreme Court has reinforced the state’s stoned driving laws in a recent ruling and reaffirmed the validity of blood THC concentration limits at the time of testing.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that medical cannabis is a Schedule I substance and that driving after consuming cannabis is a violation of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code.

The Massachusetts Senate passed provisions to create a cannabis social equity fund, license social consumption spaces, and establish a commission to tackle stoned driving.

A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that two in five drivers who reported using alcohol and cannabis in the past year drove under the influence.

A new study has found that at least half of participants who smoke cannabis had a significantly diminished ability to drive compared to subjects who smoked a placebo cigarette.

Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia have found that blood and oral fluid THC concentrations are weak indicators of cannabis-induced impairment.

The Centers for Disease Control, recognizing that cannabis can be detected in one’s system days or even weeks after its use, suggested a nuanced approach to cannabis workplace policies for businesses that employ drivers but encouraged a zero-tolerance policy for at-work consumption.

A recent study found that Canadian cannabis legalization was not associated with significant post-legalization changes in traffic-injury emergency department visits.

A Pennsylvania bill aims to protect the state’s medical cannabis patients from DUI charges, treating medical cannabis the same as any other prescription medication.

Included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday are provisions that would let researchers study cannabis from state-licensed dispensaries instead of the low-grade cannabis grown at government facilities.

A survey of self-reported behavior after consuming cannabis suggests that legalization does not lead to an increase in cannabis-impaired driving.

A federally-funded study has found that biofluid and traditional sobriety tests are unreliable at measuring cannabis impairment in drivers.

A first-of-its-kind study published this month found that CBD has no negative impacts on driving while THC intoxication lasts for about four hours.

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has released a public education campaign that discourages teens and young adults from driving after eating cannabis-infused edibles.

AAA is giving $100,000 in grants to various Illinois agencies to study and prevent stoned driving in the newly legalized state.