Minnesota safety officials warn against 'driving while high' with cannabis now legal

Aug 22, 2023

ST. PAUL — “Driving high is a DWI” was the message Minnesota Department of Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson had at a July 25 press conference on traffic safety and the new laws regarding recreational cannabis use.

Jacobson asked that Minnesotans who choose to participate in recreational cannabis use do so responsibly. “If you feel different, you drive different,” he said.

Recreational use became legal in Minnesota Aug. 1.

Also speaking at the news conference were Col. Matt Langer of the Minnesota State Patrol; Col. Rodmen Smith of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; and Office of Traffic Safety Director Mike Hanson.

“This is a big change for our state and a variety of areas,” Langer said, “but when it comes to traffic safety, it will never change our commitment to keep people safe on our roads.”

Langer said driving impaired often has devastating consequences, noting that drugged driving is nothing new in Minnesota. Langer said there has been a steady increase of drugged driving. He said drugged driving accounted for under 7,000 DWI incidents from 2012 to 2016, while under 16,000 drugged driving incidents were reported from 2017 to 2021.

Regarding the new laws, Langer said while alcohol and cannabis impairment is similar, it’s not exactly an “apples-to-apples comparison.”

Langer said as far as enforcement goes, not much will change in the way state troopers will investigate drivers. Similar to alcohol, the odor of marijuana will not automatically lead to a vehicle search or an arrest.

Langer noted just as Minnesotans can’t have an open alcohol container, it is illegal for marijuana and other cannabis products to be used or to be open or unpackaged in a vehicle.

“If troopers encounter a vehicle and it smells like the occupants have been smoking marijuana, you can bet that that trooper is going to be looking further into that situation to see if there is a violation either of the open container law … or the driver being impaired.”

The new law will allow people to travel within the state with 2 ounces or less of cannabis flower, 8 grams or less of concentrate, or 800 miligrams or less worth of edible products.

Hanson noted that most Minnesotans get home safely because they take driving seriously.

“If alcohol is involved in their daily activities they plan ahead and have a safe ride home.” Hanson said the same simple measures apply. “Impaired is impaired, regardless of what the substance used is,” he said.

Hanson said of the 197 fatal accidents recorded so far this year, 29 are directly attributed to alcohol impairment of a driver, 21 to drug impairment, and 13 to a mix of drugs and alcohol.

Smith said that impaired driving on a roadway is also treated the same as impaired driving with recreational vehicles. According to Smith, in 2018 an 8-year-old boy was killed by an impaired snowmobile driver and the Legislature has since changed the law.

“All the consequences that happen with a conviction of a DWI in automotive vehicle apply to your abilities to operate ATVs, snowmobiles and watercraft, and the same goes the other way,” he said.

Critics of the new cannabis laws passed during the last session contended that while there are general field sobriety tests to help determine driver impairment, there is no concrete tool to determine the level of impairment for drug users.

For example, if a driver is suspected of alcohol impairment, officers can use a breathalyzer, or preliminary breath test to measure a person’s blood alcohol content. The legal limit in Minnesota is 0.08%. However, no such tool exists for those suspected of using marijuana.

A pilot program using mouth swabs will be tested through the first year of the new cannabis laws. That program will begin in September, according to Hanson.

Some states have also already begun similar testing.

Swabs will be completely voluntary in order to help researchers collect data and will not be admissible in court, according to Hanson.

According to the Office of Traffic Safety's webpage regarding the new laws , while there is no legal limit regarding impairment with cannabis, drivers can still be arrested if signs of impairment are observed and documented.

Some effects of cannabis impairment include slowed reaction time, relaxed inhibitions, decreased divided attention, impaired cognitive performance, and difficulties in road tracking, or maintaining a straight line in a single lane. Research shows that driving high may increase the risk of a crash due to slowed reaction time, and perceiving distance and speed differently.

The Office of Traffic Safety notes that consuming alcohol and cannabis together can have an exponential effect on impairment.

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