WASHINGTON — Amid rancorous debate over other weighty issues Thursday on Capitol Hill, lawmakers wondered aloud whether driving cars after smoking marijuana is dangerous. Among the unanswered questions: Would drivers who are “high” travel too fast or too slow for safety?
Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who convened the Transportation subcommittee hearing, said he’s concerned that drivers on U.S. roadways are increasingly impaired with a mix of drugs and alcohol. But with no test to determine whether a driver is high on THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, it’s nearly impossible to gauge the danger.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., countered that it’s just as possible that marijuana doesn’t pose as dangerous a risk as alcohol for drivers, suggesting that high drivers might slow down rather than recklessly speed.
Regardless of how drivers obtain marijuana, government officials told Congress that the drug is off-limits for those pilots, conductors, commercial drivers and others whose jobs are in any way regulated by Washington.