Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York State Police and other law enforcement agencies will be on the lookout this holiday season for impaired drivers. Police say they're seeing less drunk driving cases and more DWI cases by marijuana.
New York State Police Trooper James O'Callaghan tells WBEN the holiday party culture hasn't changed. "What's changed is some people will take advantage of ride sharing. Some people will look a little bit ahead of where they're at and say, I don't really want to pay $10,000 in fines and fees and different things, or they know a friend that's gotten a DWI, and saw the life change that happened," explains O'Callaghan.
O'Callaghan says there's been an increase in drunk driving cases, but that's been countered by an increase of drivers impaired by marijuana, especially after it was legalized in New York.
It's not the same marijuana from years ago, O'Callaghan says. "Marijuana back in 70s, 80s, 90s saw the intoxicated agent was about 9% of that marijuana joint or whatever you'd smoke. Currently now we have with hydroponics and the advances in technology, your normal vegetation, marijuana is somewhere between 30% and 40% of the intoxicating agent," says O'Callaghan. He adds people who vape marijuana take a concentrated amount at almost 100%. "It doesn't take long to get high becauee it goes right into your bloodstream because your lungs, it's quicker," says O'Callaghan.
O'Callaghan says police patrols will be out and about. "We advertise this. It should not come as a surprise," says O'Callaghan. He says they're not playing because they've lost loved ones to impaired driving-related crashes.
