Montgomery County police are concerned about an increase in drugged driving associated with drivers who are vaporizing marijuana.
Police Capt. Tom Didone, who heads the department’s traffic division, said Monday that individuals are using vaporizers designed for nicotine to inhale a processed version of marijuana, which cuts down on the typical odor produced by the drug and makes it harder for police to detect. The processed form also tends to be more potent than the traditional plant form of marijuana and the vaporizers, which can be as small as a pen, are easy to conceal, Didone said.
“It didn’t take long before people figured out, ‘Hey, if I can smoke liquid nicotine, I can smoke liquid marijuana in these things,’ ” Didone said during a briefing with the County Council’s Public Safety Committee. “As fast as these new-found tools find their way into people’s hands, it isn’t long until they’re in the hands of people driving down the road.”
Didone said people are learning how to process marijuana into a liquefied or ear wax-like form that enables it to be inhaled in a vaporizer. He said the products needed to process the drug are widely available, including on websites such as Amazon.
In 2015, county police evaluated about 80 drivers who appeared impaired by drugs and found that about 25 percent of them were impaired by marijuana.
In addition, in an effort to cut down on vaporizer sales to minors, Didone said police are beginning enforcement checks of shops that sell the products. So far police have performed five checks and found one store that sold a vaporizer to a minor.
“We’re looking to combat this problem,” Didone said.
The council also has taken steps to limit vaporizer use in the county. The council passed legislation earlier this year that prohibits minors from possessing vaping products and also bans using vaporizers and e-cigarettes in county buildings, bars, restaurants and other businesses open to the public.
