Volunteers will soon be sought for controlled California study into driving while high
SACRAMENTO – California's Department of Motor Vehicles will soon be looking for volunteers to light up a joint and get behind the wheel.
It's part of an upcoming study on the impacts that smoking cannabis has on driving abilities.
The participants will smoke either marijuana or a placebo and then drive around the California Highway Patrol Academy racetrack in a car equipped with sensors recording their actions – and tracking their movements to within just two centimeters.
Recreational marijuana use has been legal in California since 2018.
But unlike alcohol – where the legal driving limit is a blood-alcohol level of .08 – currently, there is no universal definition of illegal cannabis driving.
"Folks that are under the influence of narcotics or marijuana, they tend to react slower," said CHP Officer Vince Ramirez. "The way they turn the steering wheel, the way they apply the brakes."
So to make an arrest, officers are trained to look for signs of impairment.
"We look at the eyes, we listen to the way they speak, a lot of times they have slurred speech or slower speech," Ramirez said.
Lori Bergenstock with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) supports more research into the drug's effects on motorists.
"The more we look into how cannabis impacts driving, the better educated and the better equipped we are to deal with it – the better-equipped law enforcement is to deal with it," Bergenstock said.
The DMV is not yet accepting volunteers for the study, which has received federal and state approvals and will be overseen by scientists from the UC San Diego Center for Medical Cannabis Research.