Too high to drive? How will we know?

Our View

Too high to drive? How will we know?

While a lot of details have already been hashed out in Arkansas dealing with voter-approved legalization of medical marijuana and its distribution, one area of concern in all this is training law enforcement in determining whether a driver is impaired and how to stop illicit sales, which we all know will be going on.

Okay, we know Arkansas isn’t the only state that allows smoking “pot” for medicinal purposes, and in fact, there are four states – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington – that that let their residents get “high” for absolutely no reason whatsoever, other than for “recreational use.”

Since Arkansans fell for the sales pitch to legalize “pot” last year a multitude of rules, regulations and fees have been approved, setting up dispensary zones to the number of cultivation facilities that will be allowed.

The law enforcement community must now be trained in how to deal with illegal situations they know must be addressed, a situation a Washington, D.C. group says, just “relax”.

For decades law enforcement has been trained in sniffing out illegal use of marijuana, confiscating tons upon tons of illegal marijuana and arresting drug kingpins, but now must get accustomed to the idea of not arresting people in possession of marijuana.

We’re talking about police departments as small as in the “speed trap” hamlet of Jericho to the Arkansas State Police where officers must get acquitted with regulations so that they can accurately determine if “pot” smokers and producers are in compliance.

Contrary to this perceived notion by this Washington D.C. group that this situation will be easy for law enforcement officers to deal with, there is a Southern California group, calling itself Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana, that is saying medical marijuana put police in a tough and frustrating position.

Bear in mind, medical marijuana has been available in California for the last two decades, and the drug will be legally available for recreational use in 2018.

Regardless of what proponents of this drug use say, “pot is still tough to determine even with a drug recognition expert, although an attorney in Rogers says he thinks that over time police will become more refined and experienced at identifying impaired drivers.

Let’s also make the point that regardless of this “pot” being legalized for so-called medical purposes it is still against the law to operate a vehicle while impaired under the influence of marijuana.

Aside from the law enforcement aspect of all this let’s not take lightly how our state’s drug courts will deal with abuse of marijuana. Fortunately, our courts and prosecutors will be treating medical marijuana abuse the same as other medications prescribed to drugs.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this is much more than just helping “patients”, it is about raking in millions of dollars, lining the pockets of cultivators, the distributors selling the “pot” and making new revenues for state coffers, all under the guise of treating certain illnesses. Mark our words, the next initiative will be legalizing “pot” for recreational purposes.