As cannabis users get ready to celebrate 4/20 — the annual holiday celebrating weed and the culture around it — the head of Monroe County’s STOP-DWI program is reminding people to be safe on the roads.
Lindsay Tomidy said drug-impaired driving poses a threat to everyone.
“Certain products may have a higher level of nanograms of THC than others, and as you’re dabbling in new products, until you know how it’s going to affect your body, if you feel different, you drive different,” she said.
Each year in Monroe County, there are an average of 90 drug related crashes with an upward trend in fatalities in crashes involving drugs and/or alcohol. There were 10 in 2022, compared to 17 in 2023.
Tomidy said the evidence points to the mixing of multiple substances as a contributing factor in these deadly collisions. People may not even realize how impaired they are, she said.
“In the past, they could have had the ability to have a glass of wine with their dinner, but now that they may be on a prescription medicine, they are a new user with recreational marijuana, those various substances can amplify the effects of that impairment,” she explained.
STOP-DWI has provided overtime funding for local law enforcement agencies, who are expected to boost road patrols and checkpoints during the Easter and Passover holidays from Friday through Sunday.
They urge people to never get into a vehicle with an impaired driver. STOP-DWI New York has a free mobile app called Have a Plan, which connects people to taxi services if they need a safe ride.
Tomidy lost her brother in a fatal crash 24 years ago this Sunday, April 20. He had been consuming alcohol, not cannabis. He was 17 years old and Tomidy remembers Easter being his last holiday.
“So this year is going to be a little bit hard for me,” she said. “And then, to know that there may be impaired drivers on the roadway definitely adds another element to that grief that my family will experience.”
Sunday is 4/20, a day of celebration for the cannabis culture. Law enforcement agencies are planning to be more visible on the roads through the weekend, in an effort to reduce the incidence of drug-impaired driving. Read More
