GOP Lawmakers Take Aim At Stoned Drivers & Cannabis Edibles In Bill Meant To Curb CT's Legal Market

GOP lawmakers are seeking to curb the recently launched recreational cannabis market in Connecticut with a newly introduced legislation that seeks to ban the sale of marijuana edibles, among other things.

The ten Republican House members behind H.B. 5434 say they are addressing the projected increase in impaired driving fatalities as well as pediatric cannabis overdoses and other health risks now that marijuana is widely available statewide, reported Samford Advocate.

"People are now realizing that it is no joking matter," said House Minority Leader Rep. Vincent Candelora on Tuesday at a press conference in Hartford. "There's conversations of actually expanding the program and making it even more accessible to the public at a time when we haven't even gotten our arms around the enforcement and the safety pieces of this. [This] is looking to put some better guardrails around the system that we have in place."

What's In The Bill

One of the 13 provisions imposes a ban on any form of THC being sold at gas stations. Another seeks to put "cannabis use may be addictive, lead to birth defects, or cause psychosis," on packaging labels.

Some of the bill's sponsors also raised concerns about a growing number of children accidentally consuming marijuana-infused foods nationwide, as evidenced by recently conducted studies.

The new legislation also seeks to limit public use of marijuana and make it easier for law enforcement to stop and search vehicles with drivers who were observed smoking marijuana.

Is There A Way To Recognize A Stoned Driver?

State Senator Paul Cicarella (R), a ranking member of the Public Safety and Security Committee, told NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck that there are still not enough officers with proper training. He said that currently, there are a little over 60 officers statewide trained to recognize those driving high. 

"No, we definitely do not have enough officers that have the proper training," he said. "And it's a DRE, it's a Drug Recognition Expert, is the acronym. And it's an extensive training and quite costly."

Cicarella further explained that somebody pulled over would be given a breathalyzer which would then determine if they were intoxicated and if necessary, brought into custody.

However, he acknowledged that besides the training and use of specially designed devices, determining if someone is high remains hard.

"There's not really a test that can determine when somebody is under the influence of the marijuana," he said, adding that the "false positive rate and false negative rate is so high that again, that might be a challenge to be admissible in court as well."

Photo: Courtesy of Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash