Police in Gaithersburg, Maryland didn’t totally throw in the towel to proclaim, “if you can’t beat them, join ’em.” The reality of legalized cannabis gives them a conundrum, though. They can’t stop folks from toking up but still need to know when they’re too toasted to be safe behind the wheel. That’s not an easy thing to determine and their procedures haven’t kept pace with legal consumption. A while back they came up with a great idea and they just did a follow up session. They throw a pot party and even provide the munchies.
Get stoned with police
Gaithersburg, Maryland, police needed a way to train officers “to spot the signs of driving high.” To find out, they did some research “by watching people toke up in a tent.” This year’s event brought back seasoned stoners from past sessions. Yohanna Molina fired up a joint under an outdoor tent just after 7 p.m., one of a dozen participants.
“This is weird to be doing this here,” she proclaimed to her friend, who was sparking up a glass bong at the same time. “You should try being on the cop side of it,” a nearby officer chuckled. One 60-year-old laughed that going to the dispensary is “a lot different than going to Fred down the street.”
The reefer madness days of arresting people for simply flunking a sniff test are over. That’s why they hold these “strange but important gatherings.” two or three times a year. The program has the full support of Montgomery County “and are increasingly being held at police agencies nationwide.” They round up volunteer tokers by literally picking them up in patrol cars.
A new medical marijuana dispensary held its grand opening in @HyattsvilleMD Friday, at 2486 Chillum Rd., as Maryland moves closer to recreational sales later this year. Story Cannabis Co. sells edibles, vape cartridges and leaves for smoking. https://t.co/Qo6anPSdO3 @dcist @wcp
— The Hyattsville Wire (@HyattsvilleWire) February 16, 2023
Once they get to the training academy, they get stoned. Really stoned. The fuzz even provide lots of munchies. Along with bottled water for the cotton-mouth, there are mountains of Cheetos and plenty of pizza.
Participants have learned to trust the police for these events after the first one turned into a fiasco. The stoners showed up and got high but didn’t want to take the field sobriety tests. Since then, they learned to relax and enjoy their roles as guinea pigs.
“Participants are then used as test subjects for officers trying to determine whether someone is too high to drive. That’s not easy.” Blood tests and breathalyzers don’t do the trick.
Nearly four hours
Recently, in January, the most recent session lasted around four hours. A dozen cannabis consumers had half an hour to consume as they pleased using their preferred method. After that, they went inside the building for “impairment evaluations.”
When those were complete, they went back to the tent for more dope. They repeat the cycle a few times. To get a feel for how it interacts with alcohol, after the first round of tests, Police open the free bar.
“Who wants a Bud Light?” Lieutenant John O’Brien laughed, “leaning over a cooler. Then he grabbed a large bottle of booze: Captain Morgan?” Everyone toking up has a valid Medical marijuana user card and nobody drives anywhere. The police taxi them right back to their doorstep.
#cannabis #marijuana #thc #cannabiscommunity Bill could prevent police from stopping and searching vehicles based on smell of marijuana
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (DC News Now) — Smell like weed? Some Maryland lawmakers want to block police from searching https://t.co/Udh1u73DDR pic.twitter.com/5pTn6QGYD7
— The Medical Marijuana Blog (@MMPconnect) February 14, 2023
They even reimburse volunteers for the herb they ingested. “We’re all trying to learn from each other.” A lot “can come out of smoking and joking.”
Police are learning that folks can smoke a little happy grass and it doesn’t have much effect on their driving, except they tend to drive slower and wait for stop signs to turn green. Stoners are also beginning to realize that sometimes you can smoke a little too much of the chronic without realizing.
By the end of the evening, one toker “acknowledged” she’d smoked too much to drive. “No ifs, ands or buts, I would never have gotten behind a wheel. I was just that impaired.” One of the things she wanted cops to know after she was tested, showing balance issues, is that even when sober “I have very little sense of balance. I wobble all over the place.“
