Apr. 20—The Colorado Department of Transportation hosted a cannabis impairment training demonstration Wednesday to showcase the impacts marijuana has on a person’s ability to drive.
The event was targeted at cannabis business employees to provide a training opportunity to educate those in the industry on the visible signs of impairment, specifically when an impaired person gets behind the wheel, according to a CDOT news release.
Throughout the day, law enforcement hosted a workshop on how to detect impairment as well as a class on the visible indicators of cannabis impairment.
For the purpose of science and safety, event volunteers also took part in a demonstration where they ingested fast-acting cannabis edibles to varying levels of impairments to display its effects, the release said.
To further show how law enforcement detects impairment, the volunteers then underwent a fake roadside sobriety assessment by law enforcement. Attendees were also allowed to make their own observations of impairment by evaluating the volunteers.
Audience memebers included marijuana industry professionals, law enforcement and state government leaders, the release said. One of the event sponsors, Wana Brands, provided the edibles for volunteers.
Darrell Lingk, director of the Highway Safety Office at CDOT, thanked the department’s partners in the cannabis industry due to their willingness to work together to help keep Coloradans safe.
“Research shows that the cannabis industry has the most positive and significant influence on cannabis consumers, so we felt it was important for them to see firsthand the indications of impairment and how those symptoms can create a dangerous situation on our roadways,” Lingk said.
The CDOT event comes during a time when drug-impaired driving is on the rise in Colorado. Data shows more people, 760, were killed on state roads in 2022 than at any time in recent history, according to the release.
Nearly one-third of the deaths on the roadways involved an impaired driver, the CDOT pointed out. Alcohol is typically the most common cause of impairment but drivers involved in fatal crashes under the influence of cannabis increased from 50 in 2020 to 79 in 2021.
Deaths involving an impaired driver from all substances increased by nearly 60% in 2019, the release said. One reason behind the spike is the misconceptions of cannabis-impaired driving, according to Glenn Davis of the CDOT’s Highway Safety Office.
“Our goal is to give folks in the industry the knowledge and tools to keep their patrons safe by steering them away from risky behaviors like driving high,” Davis said.
The CDOT’s training workshop was sponsored by Responsibility.org, Canopy Growth, the Marijuana Industry Group and Wana Brands, according to the release. All volunteers who participated were granted Lyft ride credit to safely get to and from from the event.
(c)2023 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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