CLEVELAND — Opponents of Issue 2 have said recreational marijuana poses more risks to our roads, but the other side has a very different view. It’s a complex question, and the answer depends on who you ask and what study you read. Both sides of this argument can be convincing.
When you ask Corinne LaMarka what she misses most about her daughter Jennifer, she can’t help but tear up.
“I’m going to cry when you ask me those things,” she told us. “No more 'I love yous,' no more shopping together, no more planning for the future. I mean, it’s very, very difficult.”
THE TRAGEDY OF JENNIFER
LaMarka told us Jennifer was an athlete at Notre Dame College in South Euclid. She was the student of the year. She got her first job in Cleveland.
Jennifer was called into work in the middle of the night, and as she was driving, disaster struck.
“The man that killed my daughter was from Michigan. He had a medical marijuana license,” said LaMarka. The driver was too high on THC to drive, according to the results of the police investigation into the crash.
Police had to knock on LaMarka’s door to deliver the news. “I just flew on the floor, and I screamed and cried, and my husband picked me up,” she told us. “It was just a horrible, horrible feeling.” Ever since, she has been on a mission, especially now that Ohio is voting on Issue 2. “I don’t want to see anybody else have to suffer the consequences that we had.”
STUDIES VARY ON ROAD SAFETY IMPACTS
Road safety after legalization in other states has been studied a lot. The Governors High Safety Administration reported “no firm conclusions on whether crash rates changed in either Colorado or Washington states.” The National Institutes of Health published a study that showed “traffic deaths where drivers tested positive for marijuana increased 138%.” The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said, “crash rates spiked with recreational marijuana,” but it also reported in a separate study of injured drivers in several states showed “drivers who used marijuana alone were not more likely to be involved in crashes than drivers who hadn’t used the drug.”
“There is no heightened risk from a traffic safety perspective,” said Tom Haren, who is the spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “There is no causal link established in any one of those studies because they ignore lots of other really important factors,” he told us. “For instance, in a lot of those states, the population increased.”
Gary Wolske is the President of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police. He and his organization are against Issue 2.
“I don’t want my wife or my kids on the road with people who are that high,” he said.
He also told us marijuana makes traffic stops harder because certified, portable cannabis detection technology is not available yet.
“The marijuana is very difficult… you can’t do a portable breathalyzer for marijuana,” he added.
SO, HOW DO YOU ENFORCE STONED DRIVING?
Colorado was the first to legalize about 10 years ago, and it was the first to set a legal limit for drivers at five nanograms per milliliter in a blood test. It’s kind of like a drunk driving level of .08%. However, the Colorado School of Public Health did a years-long study testing daily marijuana users versus people who smoke pot once or twice a week. Participants got high and then drove in a simulator.
Occasional pot users averaged about 6.4 ng/ml, and the impact of THC on their driving was statistically significant. Dr. Michael Kosnett, who helped lead the study, said daily cannabis users had a level of 36.4 ng/ml, but the effect on their driving was not remarkable.
“There was tolerance that developed with respect to the fact that people who used it daily…did not change their performance,” Dr. Kosnett told us.
NIH: 7 STUDIES 'NO', 22 STUDIES 'YES'
NIH published a report in March of this year showing seven studies measure no increase in traffic accidents.
“If somebody consumes a cannabis edible on Wednesday and they get into a fender-bender on Saturday, nobody in their right mind says, ‘You know what caused that traffic accident? It was the gummy that you had 3.5 days ago,” said Heran.
But the same report also shows 22 studies revealed negative impacts on road safety.
“I’m trying to warn others that although your family may not use marijuana, you may not use marijuana; you don’t think that this issue can impact you?” said LaMarka. “Well, I’m here to say that it can.”
Our series “Marijuana in Ohio” continues on Thursday with a half-hour special about Issue 2 starting at 5:30 p.m. on the News 5 airwaves. During that half-hour, we’ll have stories covering marijuana stores, kids and cannabis, health implications and more. Also, on Thursday, we’ll investigate what, if any, impact legalization has had on crime in those states and communities, allowing pot to be available to people 21 years old and over.
