Colorado partners with driving schools to educate teens about Cannabis-impaired driving
DUI’s include marijuana in addition to alcohol.
The national public service announcement often heard during commercial breaks, “If you feel different, you drive different,” could be dismissed as background noise. But to driving school instructors, law enforcement and family members, it is potentially a matter of life and death.
That’s why the state Department of Transportation is partnering with driving schools across the state to bring more awareness to teens about the dangers and consequences of driving while high.
“Just one hit off a marijuana vape or something, and you feel different, you’re gonna drive different,” Mark Ashby, Colorado drug recognition expert said. “Even small amounts impair people.”
Before becoming a drug recognition expert with the state and a state coordinator for standardized field sobriety testing, Ashby spent about three decades as a police officer. Twelve of those years, he worked on responding to fatal car crashes, and had the difficult task of telling families that a loved one had died.
With over 200 deaths in Colorado a year linked to impaired driving, Ashby said it’s preventable, which is something driving school instructors and the state are educating teens on.
Jake Dinwiddie is a senior instructor with DriveSafe Driving Schools. He has over a decade of experience and believes too many people have a habit of waiting for the bad thing to happen before they learn a lesson.
“Why wait for the bad thing to happen instead of realizing that all of the information and all of the data is out there, proving how dangerous it is,” Dinwiddie said.
Expanding the outreach
When marijuana was legalized in the state, Sam Cole, department of transportation traffic safety communications manager, said outreach was originally geared towards adults.
Now, officials are focusing their efforts on those under the age of legal consumption for cannabis. The state is partnering with drivers education programs and the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Motor Vehicles in a “Drive High, Get a DUI” campaign, warning about fines and penalties.
“They need to understand at an early age, when they’re learning how to drive or they just got their license, that DUI’s involve cannabis as well as alcohol,” Cole said.
Throughout his years of teaching, Dinwiddie has noticed teens tend to assume that being high is not as much of an impairment as being drunk.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Crash Risk study showed that marijuana users are more likely to be involved in crashes as one of the effects of THC, a component in cannabis, hinders a person’s ability to multitask.
Some students at a DriveSafe school in Highlands Ranch said they didn’t understand the totality of the issue, one saying there’s a lot of de-stigmatization around cannabis.
“Coverage tends to focus on drunk driving and emphasizing not getting behind the wheel when you’re intoxicated,” student Braden Kieffer said.
Part of their educational process, state Department of Transportation officials conduct annual driver behavior surveys. The 2023 survey revealed that drivers ages 16-24 are the most likely age group to believe cannabis-impaired driving was OK.
When Dinwiddie asked the students about the age to purchase and consume marijuana, some thought a person only had to be 18 to consume marijuana. However, the legal age is 21 or older to buy or use marijuana recreationally in Colorado.
“Even though it’s illegal for them [teenagers] to consume cannabis, we know that some of them are consuming cannabis and that’s why we want them to know all the facts,” Cole said.
The effects of cannabis
Studies have shown that THC stays in the body’s system longer than alcohol, and it slows reaction time, reduces focus and temporarily weakens problem solving skills.
People who drive high often have trouble knowing if they are staying in their lane and struggle to keep a steady distance between them and the vehicle ahead of them, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
People also lose the ability to form short-term memories, added Ashby, a state drug recognition expert.
“When you’re driving, short-term memories are remembering what the speed limit is, remembering to put your seatbelt on, remembering that there’s a car next to you or that you have to get off at your exit,” Ashby said.
Those under the influence of cannabis tend to forget to vary their speed, said Ashby, so if they go from the highway to a more residential road, they may maintain the highway speed.
Like Ashby, there are over 200 officers that are active Drug Recognition Experts representing law enforcement agencies across the state. These officers, along with those who have Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement training, are able to recognize impairment by cannabis versus alcohol.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office currently has zero Drug Recognition Experts, said Deputy Cocha Heyden, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office.
Since the beginning of 2024, there have been 86 DUI arrests made in the county, with the top age category being 25-34, according to the latest Colorado Crime Statistics. These numbers have steadily increased the past few years, with 297 arrests in 2023.
“When we look at a person, we look for impairment,” said Ashby. “The primary goal is never necessarily to place a substance with a person.”
Clear indicators may be the smell of the person or vehicle, but officers also look at the driver’s eyes. Drugs such as antidepressants cause the eyes to move in a staggered way, whereas cannabis causes the pupils to dilate.
Ashby said the roadside tests were designed to rule out medical conditions for the purpose of seeing impairment and people under the influence of cannabis tend to forget some of the instructions.
DriveSafe instructor, Dinwiddie wants teens – and adults – to know how many levels of one’s life a DUI could impact, no matter the substance.
“Instead of shaming people and just trying to scare them into not doing it, let’s have good, open-minded communication and have you guys be truly educated on just how many aspects of your life it could impact in a negative way,” Dinwiddie said.
Consequences include possible jail time, a mandatory interlock on vehicles, loss of license, community service and being ineligible for high school activities, college programs or scholarships.
Those affected in the slightest by drugs or alcohol can be arrested for a DUI, which can cost up to $13,500, or a DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired). Even medical cardholders can be at risk.
“You can have whatever opinion on smoking, nicotine or cannabis as you want, but behind the wheel, there’s an obvious effect and it is not something that you should be doing,” student Braden Kieffer said.
