More DUI samples are testing positive for marijuana in Montana

HELENA — A report from the Montana Division of Justice reveals the variety of DUI instances the place a pattern has examined optimistic for marijuana-related substances has elevated over the previous couple of years – however it’s a problem that’s extra complicated than only a single quantity.

The knowledge comes within the 2021 annual report from the DOJ’s Forensic Science Division – generally referred to as the state crime lab.

In 2021, the primary yr after voter-approved Initiative 190 decriminalized possession of marijuana, the crime lab reported 621 DUI instances the place samples examined optimistic for THC – the compound that provides marijuana its excessive – or the merchandise it breaks down into. The report famous that could be a 17% improve over 2020, when there have been 530 such instances.

Nonetheless, it’s not a pattern that solely started then. In 2019, there have been 464 DUI instances testing optimistic for marijuana-related substances. There have been 454 in 2018 and 284 in 2017.

MHP Sgt. Jay Nelson says that knowledge matches with what troopers have seen on the roads. He stated the company can’t level to at least one issue to clarify your entire improve.

“I feel it’s a mixture of all this,” Nelson stated when requested if different states increasing entry to marijuana performed a task. “To say particularly it’s about legalization, I don’t suppose we’ve the info to indicate that.”

Final yr, the crime lab processed 4,138 blood samples in DUI instances. Lower than half of these – 1,747 – had been examined for medicine apart from alcohol, as a result of the lab usually doesn’t do drug testing when the measured blood alcohol content material was above 0.1 – in contrast with the authorized restrict of 0.08. Of these samples examined for medicine, the report says 39% confirmed indicators of THC, and 47% confirmed THC or certainly one of its byproducts.

One notable pattern has been a soar in samples exhibiting a number of substances, like alcohol and marijuana. In 2021, the lab reported 127 instances the place somebody examined optimistic for each alcohol and THC and one other 205 that examined optimistic for alcohol, THC and one other drug. These numbers had been up 8% and 9%, respectively, from 2020.

“Statewide with the Montana Freeway Patrol, we see the bulk is ‘poly-drug use,’” stated Nelson.

Pepper Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Hashish Guild, was one of many lead advocates for I-190. He stated the state’s knowledge backs up their competition that few drivers in Montana are being cited for marijuana impairment alone.

“What we’re seeing is that people who find themselves historically impaired on one thing is perhaps including marijuana to the combination,” Petersen stated. “They’re having DUIs for some cause apart from marijuana; they simply additionally occur to have marijuana of their system.”

He additionally famous the variety of instances the place samples apparently confirmed THC byproducts as a substitute of the compound itself. He stated these byproducts can stay in some individuals’s techniques for so long as 30 days.

“There must be extra scientific methodology, higher proof that presence of marijuana within the blood equals impairment,” stated Petersen.

The rise in reported instances of drug-related impairment additionally comes as legislation enforcement places a higher emphasis on discovering these instances. Nelson stated, for the previous couple of years, all MHP troopers have gone by the Superior Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement program – a coaching to assist them establish indicators of impairment attributable to one thing apart from alcohol.

“It’s not loads totally different than the alcohol detection, however our troopers are educated to find out whether or not the individual is beneath the affect of one other drug,” he stated.

Nelson stated the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Workplace has additionally began utilizing that kind of coaching, and he expects different companies to observe go well with.

As well as, 27 MHP troopers – out of greater than 250 statewide – are educated as “drug recognition specialists.” That extra in depth coaching is meant to show them to do a extra systematic evaluation of which kind of drug an impaired individual has used.

The crime lab performs drug testing on all instances submitted by DREs. In 2021, 163 of these instances had been submitted, and slightly below 100 had been optimistic for hashish, alone or at the side of different medicine.

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