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| Photo: Denver Westword |
| Westword pot critic William Breathes got his blood drawn last week to test THC levels in his blood. He wasn’t high at the time. But he still tested three times over the proposed legal limit for Colorado. |
There’s a big problem with tests which measure THC levels in the blood. That being, those tests measure THC levels just fine, but they don’t do shit when it comes to measuring actual impairment — which is why those tests are a piss-poor way to enforce a law against driving while impaired on cannabis.
That simple fact has been highlighted by the spectacular failure of
Denver Westword pot critic William Breathes to pass Colorado’s blood test for THC-impaired driving. Breathes not only flunked the test, but he tested
nearly three times over the proposed limit of five nanograms per milliliter of blood —
while sober.
As Breathes
pointed out today, that means that he — and thousands of other medical marijuana patients in the Rocky Mountain State — may be risking arrest every time they drive if the measure passes.
Even Rep. Levy, the sponsor of the bill which limits THC driving limits, is now having second thoughts about the five ng/ml limit, concerned that it may be so low as to unintentionally hurt patients like William Breathes.
“Among the concerns about HB 1261, the THC driving bill first offered by Representative Claire Levy, is the fact that THC can stay in the body days after patients medicate,” Breathes wrote. “And my latest test offers proof.”
