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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A bill in committee on Beacon Hill would try to make the testing and rules essentially the same for driving high as driving drunk.
Refuse the test, lose your license for six months—that's how it works for alcohol, and that's how it should work for marijuana, said those who testified at the State House Tuesday on Gov. Charlie Baker's impaired driving bill.
They included law enforcement figures, as well as those left behind by impaired drivers.
Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael said he needs to be able to do a chemical test, rather than relying on DREs, or drug recognition experts.
"Having that implied consent law where you're brought back to the station, you're offered a DRE, if you refuse that, your driver's license should be suspended, just like for alcohol," he said.
Only a few hundred officers are trained as drug recognition experts in Massachusetts.
Bristol County DA Tom Quinn said now that Massachusetts has legal marijuana, we'll only see more and more impaired driving.
"If someone is stopped on the roadway and there's an indication of use, what are the appropriate processes and procedures to go through it, so it's not impossible to prove?" he said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports
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