Lawmakers disagree on marijuana’s role in traffic deaths and how to control it

While state legislators are trying to reduce fatalities on Connecticut highways, they haven’t been able to agree on the next steps regarding drivers smoking pot or drinking alcohol.

Republicans said that marijuana is a major problem on the highways, but their amendment to make it easier for police officers to pull over pot-smoking drivers was defeated by the Democratic-controlled committee by 19-14.

The amendment was part of a broader bill to lower the threshold for arrest for drunken driving from a blood alcohol concentration of .08% to .05%. The only state that currently has the .05 level is Utah. But lawmakers also could not reach a broad consensus on alcohol as Democrats and Republicans split on the issue that passed narrowly.

Republicans said they do not believe it is a coincidence that fatalities have increased since the legislature approved the decriminalization of marijuana in June 2021. But lawmakers from both parties said they lack detailed information regarding the impact of marijuana on accidents. Retail sales of marijuana did not become legal in Connecticut until January 2023, and comprehensive statistics are not available in real-time.

Democrats noted that the state now has 72 “drug recognition experts” who can check for impairment and will be better able to document marijuana use.

Lawmakers are examining a package of bills to improve road safety as the transportation committee faces a deadline Friday in a short legislative session that ends on May 8.

Rep. Thomas O’Dea, a New Canaan Republican, cited a provision that was passed as part of the marijuana law that says that “the odor of cannabis or burnt cannabis” cannot be used as the sole reason for probable cause for an officer to pull over a driver.

“That’s insanity. It defies logic,” O’Dea told committee members. “We argued this on the floor of the House. It makes no sense. If a police officer sees a person drinking a beer while driving, the police can use that as probable cause to pull that person over. If a police officer observes a person holding a bong in their hand, and the police officer sees that, can they pull the person over for holding a bong or a roach? My understanding is they can’t.”

Rep. Roland Lemar, a New Haven Democrat who co-chairs the committee, said the driver could be pulled over for reckless driving if that was the case.

“The reason why I am so apoplectic about this is because of other issues,” O’Dea said. “We’re literally encouraging people — smoke marijuana and gummies. Just don’t drink. … And we wonder why there are more deaths on our highways?”

In one of the contentious issues of the day, O’Dea offered an amendment to change the state law and allow police officers to stop drivers if they see the driver has been using marijuana.

“It allows a police officer, if they see someone smoking marijuana … you can pull them over,” O’Dea said. “If you see a driver smoking dope, you can pull him over. This, I guarantee you, will save lives. I know I’m a little passionate about this. If you really want to impact the safety of our roadways, this will do it.”

In Stamford, O’Dea said, “When I am walking to buy lunch, I smell marijuana coming out of vehicles.”

But Lemar and other Democrats opposed the amendment, saying that the issue in traffic safety should be focused on alcohol. Democrats also said the amendment could jeopardize the underlying bill, and the issue would instead by addressed in a separate bill by the legislature’s judiciary committee on Wednesday.

“I don’t know, frankly, if this is the right way to address the issue,” Lemar said. “It is almost impossible to tell, from the side of the road, whether a person has been smoking marijuana or not. If you’re speeding or operating the car recklessly and the officer smells or sees marijuana, they can test for impairment.”

Rep. Devin Carney, a Republican, said that he recently pulled over at a rest area off Interstate 95 and personally saw a person in the driver’s seat of a car who was smoking a joint. Carney said he did not see the person drive away, but he noted the anecdote was illustrative.

“We are sending the wrong message when we say you can drive by a police officer, light up a joint, and there is nothing the police officer can do,” Carney told fellow committee members.

After losing the debate over marijuana, O’Dea and some other Republicans eventually voted against the bill regarding lowering the alcohol level to .05%.

“I’m not sure this is going to save a life,” O’Dea said, adding that he was sure that his marijuana amendment would save lives.

But Sen. Tony Hwang, the committee’s ranking Senate Republican, voted in favor, saying he hopes to change the culture around drinking.

“The saddest part is it is a preventable tragedy,” Hwang said. “It should not be a coincidence … that the marijuana legalization, combined with alcohol, have contributed to these kind of road fatalities and road dangers. For us to pass a bill only looking at blood alcohol level and rejecting these amendments related to cannabis as it affects safety on our roads, I think, we, as a committee, are only doing part of our job. … We should have accepted those amendments, in addition to blood alcohol content. It weighs on me that we, as a committee, only went halfway on this.”

While noting that the legislature can pass many laws, Hwang said, “But you can’t teach common sense.”

He added, “If we don’t support law enforcement to enforce these laws, it’s going to be tragedy as usual. … If we’re handcuffing one hand behind their back and we’re not addressing the other issues of impairment, I really believe we are doing an incomplete job.”

But Rep. Kate Farrar, a West Hartford Democrat, said legislators are making their best efforts to stop tragedies on the roads.

“Are we doing everything we can?” Farrar asked. “We know that lowering this blood alcohol level can save lives. … I do hope that all of our colleagues, again, take seriously that we really have taken this moment to do everything we can to protect the residents of our state.”

Utah

Utah became the first state to lower the blood alcohol level in 2018 and has seen a drop of 19.8% in fatal crashes.

Dropping the level, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, would lower the death rate in Connecticut by an estimated 11%. Like Connecticut, other states that are currently considering .05 are Hawaii, Washington, New York, North Carolina and others.

Nationally, 13,384 people died in the United States in alcohol-related crashes in 2021, the most recent year where complete numbers are available. That includes 112 alcohol-related deaths in Connecticut.

The .05 measure is part of a broader plan to reduce a skyrocketing number of fatalities on Connecticut roads. Legislators were stunned at 366 deaths on the roads in 2022 — about one per day. The statistics show that 2022 was the worst year on Connecticut roads since 1989. While fatalities dipped to 323 last year, the accidents are continuing this year.

The national standard is .08% that states have enacted in order to avoid losing funding for federal highway construction. As a result, Connecticut is currently at the same level as nearby New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Lawmakers were already working on the problem of wrong-way crashes, but they vowed to redouble their efforts following the death last year of state Rep. Quentin “Q” Williams. The Middletown Democrat was killed in early January 2023 when his car was hit by a wrong-way driver shortly after Williams had left the governor’s inaugural ball in Hartford. Both drivers were legally drunk and both had marijuana in their system.

Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, a Ridgefield Democrat, cited recent testimony by the National Transportation Safety Board that alcohol is a larger problem than marijuana. She also cited the death of Williams last year in a head-on collision.

“This will reduce fatal crashes, and that is the point,” she said of the bill.

State Sen. Christine Cohen, the committee’s co-chairwoman, said that 2022 marked the highest deaths on Connecticut roadways in the past three decades, but the fatalities have continued this year at a steady pace.

“We know from the [transportation] commissioner that 2024 is on track to be even deadlier,” Cohen said. “I really do believe this is a multifaceted issue and deserves a multifaceted approach.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com