The Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection heard testimony this week on drug-impaired driving and the current efforts to detect and prevent it.
Lack of statistics has been noted as an impediment going forward on the issue because while alcohol-induced fatalities are tracked, opioid and drug combinations do not tend to get as much attention. Alcohol alone, Full Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) estimates, accounts for one in four traffic deaths each year.
“Everyone knows driving while under the influence of alcohol is dangerous and unacceptable, and there are methods to identify and apprehend those who break the law,” Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-OH), said. “Unfortunately, the consequences of driving under the influence of drugs has not been elevated until recently, and drugged driving presents new challenges to both law enforcement and health professionals.”
The subcommittee heard testimony from Robert DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health; Jennifer Harmon, assistant director of forensic chemistry for the Orange County crime lab; Erin Holmes, director of traffic safety programs and technical writer for Responsibility.org; and Colleen Sheehy-Church, national president of the Mother Against Drunk Driving.
Lack of resources, a need for public involvement in any approach, and inadequate current laws were noted as contributing factors to the current state of things.
“Law enforcement is key to dealing with drug-impaired driving,” Harmon said. “Their impairment models that they are using, we have published research that we believe that they are effective, even with drugs like marijuana. The other issue is the resources that the system as a whole has in addressing the type of testing that really needs to be done at a comprehensive level.”
DuPont went further, pointing to what he calls a national drug epidemic and pulling marijuana’s increased legalization into the debate.
“Although progress has been made in recent years on the recognition of the problem of drugged driving, the current approaches – laws, programs, and public education – are grossly inadequate in the context of the national drug epidemic and the expansion of state-based legalization of marijuana,” DuPont said.