Feature Story
Our Most Common Fear is The Unknown
Often its the fear of red lights flashing behind us .
Words and Photography by Clayton Stallings
One of our most common shared daily fears is red lights flashing behind us , leading to being pulled over by a police officer . Even if you ’ re sober , it ’ s your body ’ s natural response to dump adrenaline through your “ fear ” response system as you nervously organize your thoughts for your response to the officer walking towards your car window .
“ Do you know the difference between the smell of combusted cannabis and the smell of freshly grown cannabis coming off the clothes of cultivation techs or even visitors of a large cultivation facility ?”
Now , if you could be completely honest with the officer , would you rather say , “ I consumed a couple of drinks over an hour ago or a couple of joints ?” I guess probably 99.9 % of you would choose the alcohol scenario .
This is a major problem that not only Missouri is facing but nationwide as cannabis consumption is outweighing alcohol consumption , according to many recent studies . 1
Without having much research on the topic of cannabis and driving impairment nationally or worldwide , those in opposition to cannabis reform are quick to point to the rising numbers of cannabis and driving incidences . Logically , this is going to happen in any state that has newly imposed cannabis reformation and availability . You can ’ t compare those numbers to a long period when cannabis was previously less accessible .
Even studies done by organizations with questionably adverse stances against cannabis , like the National Institute of Drug Abuse ( NIDA ), have proven that tolerance levels play a crucial role in driving impairment and cannabis . 2 More about that story in a future issue !
Fortunately , in Missouri , there are no currently imposed cannabis impairment numbers when it comes to driving impairment . So , we don ’ t have to worry about inefficient cannabis impairment numbers like many other states . However , we still are forced to worry about the lack of education when it comes to local law enforcement .
You can walk into a bar and have a couple of drinks , and probably not smell like alcohol , but if you consume cannabis at home , all your clothes probably smell of it . Now imagine you are one of the estimated 7,000 employees working at a licensed cannabis cultivation facility in Missouri –– or one of the 6,000 dispensary staff members heading home from work daily .
That smell alone has been ingrained into instant impairment with police officers for decades , and it ’ s going to take a lot of retraining to fix things .
Jon Bond , CRO of Illicit Gardens Cultivation , speaks to police officers and cadets before his consumption during the May 2024 Green Lab by Extract-ED .
Jon Bond , CRO of Illicit Gardens Cultivation , asked that question to all the police officers and cadets attending the May 2024 Green Lab by Extract-ED .
After spending over three years helping Ryan Hutton with his Green Labs , I would take any one of his drug recognition experts over enforced impairment numbers any day of the week . Green Labs has spent countless hours with cannabis consumers coming together to try to slowly solve this debacle ( question ) of how much cannabis consumption is too much before a person becomes a danger on the roadways .
Hutton is a Drug Recognition Expert ( DRE ) who has been training police cadets and performing continuing education for local law enforcement across Missouri for over eight years . Recognizing the gap of miscommunication between our state ’ s cannabis reform , constitutional changes regarding cannabis , and newly imposed cannabis legalities , he saw the overwhelming need for not only teaching these
32 July 2024