Volunteers Get Stoned To Help Police Understand Marijuana Impairment, Getting High To Further Education

A dozen medical marijuana patients in Maryland volunteered to help police officers understand what it looks like when someone is high.

On Thursday night, at the Montgomery County Police Department Training Centers, medical marijuana cardholders helped officers learn what to look for when analyzing if someone is stoned, by consuming some cannabis, of course, reported WSUA 9.

"I think it's very hard to tell how high somebody is and how that may affect their motor skills," said Khiry Maxberry, one of the volunteers. "If this is to help shape that, then I think that's more understandable.”

The idea for this unusual training of police officers came about as part of an effort to prevent mistakes other legal-weed states made. Looking at the data, the police say they're expecting to deal with a lot of driving under the influence cases.

“Because if police aren’t educated, they are going to do a variety of stops and arrests that aren’t realistic,” one volunteer said, reported by NBC Washington. 

Capt. Brian Dillman with Montgomery County PD said "I am worried because I know unequivocally this is going to increase the amount of impaired drivers we have out in the streets."

This is in line with statistics from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2016 to 2019, revealing that more than 40 % of US drivers who use both alcohol and marijuana reported driving under the influence of one or both of the substances. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in Nov. 2021, revealed that from 2000 to 2018 the percentage of crash deaths involving marijuana rose from 9% to 21%. 

"In addition to their observations in driving, what in the field sobriety test is an indicator that they're now under the influence of something that's impairing their ability to be able to drive safely," Dillman continued.

Will drivers suspected of being impaired be charged with a crime? According to Dillman, that’s up to a drug recognition expert who may or may not also rely on blood tests.

What happened during the training?

After about half an hour of marijuana consumption, the police ran sobriety tests on the volunteers.

"There are signs that his normal coordination is impaired in a way," said officer Eli Dunham with Montgomery County when he tested Maxberry, adding that determining the volunteer's ability to drive required more details.

"There are a lot of factors that go into it, and we really have to look at every case as a whole."

What about Maxberry, did he think he was impaired? “Yeah, for sure,” he replied.

Cannabis In Maryland

During the November midterms, over 65% of Maryland voters chose to legalize adult-use cannabis.

This means that starting July 2023, adults over 21 can possess up to an ounce-and-a-half of marijuana and 10 grams of cannabis concentrates. Criminal penalties for possession of up to 2.5 ounces will be removed and prior convictions for offenses now legal will be automatically expunged.

Among the largest multi-state operators already operating in the state’s medical marijuana market are Curaleaf CURLF, Trulieve Cannabis Corp TCNNF, TerrAscend Corp TRSSF and Verano Holdings Corp VRNOF.

Photo: Courtesy of Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash