California isn’t ready to handle stoned drivers if Prop. 19 passes

I’ve been called a prohibitionist a lot lately.

It’s a phrase that marijuana users hurl like a rock at opponents of Proposition 19.

Sorry, but the more I learn about the November initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in California, the more I believe statewide voters should reject it.

It’s not a question of morality. I’ve had my share of marijuana. As a senior at San Jose State University – in the year of our Lord, 1985 – I was tight with the hippie lettuce. Sadly, I also drove while stoned. I was absolutely impaired while doing so and thankfully never hurt anyone or myself.

On Friday, an elementary school teacher was killed near Chico when hit by a motorist who police suspect was stoned. It was a reminder that legalized pot would only increase the number of reckless drivers in California.

The suspect in the traffic fatality has a medical marijuana garden in Butte County, authorities said. Just imagine the hazards when anyone 21 and older can get legally high for the fun of it.

Pot advocates claim alcohol is more deadly than marijuana but fail to mention the decades of science and law regulating alcohol. In California, a 0.08 blood-alcohol level means you’re legally drunk.

What’s the equivalent to measure marijuana intoxication? There isn’t one. “This is why it’s going to be so dangerous and challenging if Proposition 19 passes,” said Susan Manheimer, president of the California Police Chiefs Association. There is little consistency in “drugged driving” laws compared with DUI laws. Drugs like marijuana are harder to detect by police officers and in drug tests.

Manheimer said that because DUI laws are more developed, California cops are allowed to force DUI suspects to take drug tests. That is not so for “drugged driving” suspects, she said. At a March conference of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, researchers found: “Because testing fatally injured drivers for drugs is not as consistent, a literature has not developed on what drug driving laws or community programs to reduce drugged driving are most effective.

” So we’re going to allow recreational marijuana use when laws and science are not ready for it? It’s no problem, according to pot people.

“The impairment does not appear to play a significant role in on-road traffic accidents,” according to NORML, the Washington, D.C-based marijuana nonprofit group.

Sure. Pot users believe they do everything better while stoned. The temptation is great for the uninformed simply to vote yes on legalization. It’s a great idea in the absence of facts – unless you’re the one getting run over.

Marco Breton/Sacramento Bee