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Retort to Government Report that 11 Million Have Driven Drugged

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Tue Sep 16, 2003 at 11:02:05 PM EST
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Here's some interesting news. The Office of National Drug Control Policy held a press conference in Washington today to announce that an estimated 11 million Americans have driven while under the influence of illegal drugs. This includes one out of every five 21 year olds.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the statistics show a failure to convince drivers that drugs impair driving as much as alcohol does. His office is kicking off an ad campaign to warn teens about driving while smoking marijuana.

"Marijuana is not the soft drug. Marijuana is not the casual rite of passage," Walters said at a news conference. "We have been sending the wrong message." Walters said marijuana can affect concentration, perception, coordination and reaction time for up to 24 hours after smoking it.

Well, lets take a look at the other side, as presented by Keith Stroup, Executive Director of NORML, who attended a portion of the press conference, at the invitation of an NBC reporter. Reportedly, he soon was ordered to leave by ONDCP officials. Anyway, here's Keith's report:

Keep in mind that the Drug Czar is treating any presence of THC, even inactive THC metabolites in the blood that may be left from marijuana smoking several days earlier, as evidence that the individual was driving stoned! The Drug Czar has been pressing for state legislation in almost all states that, if enacted, would legally treat any evidence of THC metabolites as proof of being impaired. This latest propaganda is clearly aimed at building support for these terrible laws.

Interestingly, in the papers distributed at the Drug Czar’s press conference today, two of their most alarmist claims were footnoted as having been derived from an unpublished analysis of the annual Monitoring the Future survey data. That is an example of creative sourcing that we should all consider when we wish to make a point for which there is little scientific data.

If anyone wishes or needs to see the latest research on marijuana smoking and driving, you will find it available in the Library section of the NORML web site. If you need a more detailed discussion of the research, you can contact Paul Armentano (paul@norml.org), Director of Publications and Research for NORML and the NORML Foundation.

Last item on this topic: Say hello to the Drug War Rant--lots of information, lots of links and a blog format.

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