The nominee of President Donald Trump to head a federal agency responsible for traffic safety says that he is prepared to “double-down” in order to increase awareness regarding the dangers associated with driving while impaired by marijuana.
Jonathan Morrison’s nomination to be the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was challenged during an Senate hearing on the necessity to create technology for detecting impairment caused by THC, and to educate the public.
John Hickenlooper, D-CO, who is a long-time advocate of public safety in regards to cannabis and driving, stated at an hearing that, while there are national standards for alcohol impairment, currently, “there is no uniform standard national measurement marijuana impairment.”
Senator said that a “national standard for marijuana impairment” would ease law enforcement burdens and help to clarify state legal requirements.
The NHTSA nominee also agreed, adding that “there’s not necessarily a public awareness that marijuana use can impair a person’s ability to drive.”
He noted what, according to him, were “common attitudes” in public during the 1950s when people said “I need another Martini so that I can relax.” When I am impaired, I can drive more safely.”
There’s been an absolute shift in the perception of drunk driving. Morrison explained that it was “too high”. We haven’t experienced a similar change in the marijuana market, but I intend to continue my campaign.
If confirmed, he said he would like to work together with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, “to do that as well as with law enforcement”.
Hickenlooper believes marijuana is a major factor in impaired driving. “The country still hasn’t figured out that kids smoke pot more than they drink alcohol,” he said.
“You can see alcohol sales—beer sales—down all over the country, and yet we have no national program to really intercede and make sure they understand that they’re not driving better [after using marijuana]He said.
A 2023 report by the House Appropriations Committee for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies bill stated that “the House Appropriations Committee continues to support the creation of an objective measure to determine marijuana impairment and the related field sobriety tests to ensure highway security.”
For this year’s House THUD bill, there’s language prohibitionists have cheered that would block NHTSA from supporting ads to “encourage illegal drug or alcohol use,” seemingly in response to previous marketing materials that leaned into cannabis culture to deter impaired driving.
NHSTA has worked with many state agencies to spread the message about the dangers associated with driving after being impaired by THC. This has often been done with humorous memes, which are intended to be appealing to cannabis consumers, rather than to scare them off with judgemental messages as the previous government approach was.
For example, last December the agency released new messaging aimed at promoting safe driving habits among cannabis users. The ad included a cannabis-bud-like image that appeared to resemble a Christmas tree. It also reminded people: “If the greenery of the holidays is important to you, then find sober transportation.”
In 2021, NHTSA tried to get the word out about the dangers of impaired driving through an ad featuring a computer-generated cheetah smoking a joint and driving a convertible.
The agency also played on horror-movie tropes in a 2020 ad featuring two men running for their lives from an axe murderer. Both men eventually find an escape vehicle, but their driver hesitates to turn the ignition key. He says, “Wait. Wait. Wait.” “I can’t drive. I’m high.”
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In 2022, Hickenlooper sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seeking an update on that status of a federal report into research barriers that are inhibiting the development of a standardized test for marijuana impairment on the roads. The department was required to complete the report under a large-scale infrastructure bill signed by then-President Joe Biden, but it missed its reporting deadline.
A report by the American Transportation Research Institute in 2022 noted that the research on the effects of marijuana use on highway safety and driving is mixed at the moment, which complicates the rulemaking process to deal with the issue. A separate 2019 report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) similarly found that evidence about cannabis’s ability to impair driving is inconclusive.
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