Trained Officers Using Current Field Sobriety Tests May Misclassify Cannabis-Impaired Drivers

Current field sobriety tests administered by trained law enforcement officers may not be enough to identify drivers who are driving under the influence of cannabis, according to areport published yesterday inJAMA Psychiatry.“Road safety is a critical issue in an era of increasing cannabis legalization,” wrote Thomas D. Marcotte, Ph.D., of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues. “In the field, impairment is determined via observation of driving behavio r (i.e., vehicle in motion), driver interviews, and field sobriety tests …, which examine abilities, such as balance, coordination, divided attention, and eye movements.” However, questions remain about the ability of field sobriety tests (based on validation with alcohol) to capture the level o f intoxication under the influence of cannabis.Marcotte and colleagues recruited licensed drivers aged 21 to 55 years who had used cannabis at least four times in the past month and who reported driving at least 1,000 miles in the past year. Drivers who had a history of traumatic brain injury, had significant physical or psychiatric conditions, or had been diagnosed with a substance use disorder in the past year were excluded from the trial.For the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 199 participants were assigned to one of three groups; on the experiment day, they received one cannabis cigarette containing either 13.4%, 5.9%, or 0.02% THC content. The last grou...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: cannabis impairment driving simulation driving under the influence DUI law enforcement sobriety test Source Type: research