Hawaii's Bill 150 Following Colorado's Amendment 64

Colorado has been in the spotlight in recent months since Amendment 64 was passed last November and it seems that Colorado’s passage of this has prompted Hawaii to follow suit.

Last week, the Hawaiian Speaker of the House Joseph Souku introduced a bill to legalize marijuana for people over the age of 21 via tax-regulated sales of the drug. The Bill, known as House Bill 150 would be similar to Colorado’s Amendment 64 allowing adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. However, where the Colorado bill limits the number of plants one can grow, the Hawaiian bill proposed no specified limit.

House Bill 150 comes as no surprise to many - as Hawaii has always been keen on marijuana legalization and has allowed it for medical use since 2000. Even in November 2008, Hawaiians passed a ballot that made the enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest level priority for Hawaiian police and prosecutors who, like Obama, touted that they had “bigger fish to fry.”

So far the House Bill has been favored, having passed the first reading it is now on its way to committee. Similar to the proponents of Colorado’s Amendment 64, Hawaiians like Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project are pushing for the passage of this bill because of the proposed marijuana taxes that will generate nice revenue for the state.

Often following proposed marijuana policies are those that voice concern over marijuana abuse and dependence. This has been making headlines in Colorado since November, with University of Colorado in Boulder students dosing their professors with pot brownies to teens being exposed to marijuana at school.

As with any drug, greater access means greater risk of dependence and provisions like Amendment 64 and House Bill 150 prompt addiction treatment centers like Harmony Foundation in Colorado to publicize and let communities know about their programs and services for those with marijuana dependence.

Harmony Foundation is an affordable addiction treatment center in Colorado that can help men and women recover from addictive disorders such as marijuana dependence. 

New Phone App to Report Drunk Drivers

A blog post earlier this month exhibited the rate of drunk driving in Colorado and the volume of DUI arrests on New Years Eve alone in the state. Drunk driving is an extensive problem, causing over 10,000 deaths in the US each year.

That is why several states have augmented their campaigns calling upon the public to report drivers whom they suspect to be drunk. To hone in on this point, the DUI Foundation states, “Witnessing a drunk driver entering a vehicle, or seeing a possible drunk driver passing you on the roadway and not making the effort to report the incident is tantamount to refusing to call for help after seeing a loaded gun pointed at someone's head.“

Reporting suspects and getting drunk drivers off the road undoubtedly saves lives and authorities say that thousands of drunk drivers are intervened upon through anonymous tips. Because of this success, states have enacted laws and programs to reduce the large percentage of alcohol related deaths through citizen reporting campaigns. These campaigns ordain specific community members to report suspected DUI offenders in their neighborhoods and call upon the public writ large to report those exhibiting signs of impairment. For example, according to the Colorado State Patrol, impaired drivers are those who are:

1. Appearing to be drunk (e.g. eye fixation, face close to windshield, drinking in the vehicle.)
2. Turning with a wide radius
3. Almost striking an object or car
4. Weaving, swerving or drifting
5. Driving significantly under the speed limit for no obvious reason
6. Braking erratically or stopping without cause
7. Accelerating rapidly
8. Tailgating
9. Straddling the center of the lane or driving with the left tires on the center line
10. Responding slowly to traffic signals
11. Turning abruptly or illegally
12. Driving at night with headlights off

If you see someone driving like this in Colorado, the State Patrol encourages you to call Star-DUI (*384) or Star-CSP (*277). However, if these signs are evident it is not always easy to catch the license plate number without risking your own driving by not paying attention to the road. That is why Frank Vahid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Riverside created an Android phone application called “DuiCam” that makes it easier to report drunk drivers.

The application is free and has already had over 1000 downloads. Vahid has observed and reported numerous drunk drivers and drunk driving accidents - often to no avail because he wasn’t able to get the full license plate numbers. "That's why I was thinking it would be helpful to have a device that's always recording what's in front of the car" he said - and the DuiCam does exactly that. To use the application, Drivers mount the phones on the front of their cars when they see a driver that may be under the influence. After they capture a video of the car they can replay it and zoom in on the license plates and report the information to the police. The application can be found and downloaded at DuiCam.org.

A lofty percentage of those who drive while impaired have alcohol dependency or suffer from alcoholism. If you are concerned for your own or a loved one's alcohol consumption or impaired driving, Harmony Foundation has alcoholism treatment in Colorado that can help.

Driving Drunk into the New Year in Colorado

The Atlantic reported last week on drunk driving throughout the US by looking at the rates of fatal car crashes between 2001 and 2010 for the 25 most populated cities. Surprisingly, Colorado had some of the highest rates. In Denver, CO 54.2 % of fatal car accidents involved intoxication making it the only major US city where more than half fall into this category. Looking at less populated cities, both Colorado Springs and Lakewood were among the highest in which fatal crashes involved alcohol more often than not with 54.1% and 52.5% respectively.

This report came out just after New Years Day when the Denver Post reported that 81 people across the state started their New Year off with an arrest for driving under the influence. However, Col. James Woldinbarger the chief of the Colorado State Patrol stated “Fortunately, none of our Troopers had to knock on a door during the holiday weekend to tell a family that one of their loved ones was killed in a drunk-driving crash” and added, "On behalf of all Coloradans and those who use our roadways, please make the resolutions to plan ahead, designate a sober driver, and never drink and drive."

Colorado has stricter laws on drunk driving compared to other states, including an implied consent law. This means that if someone refuses to submit a chemical test (i.e. breathalyzer or other), they are subject to an automatic license suspension of a year and fines up to $1000. For a first time drunk driving conviction an offender faces up to a year in prison, a 9-month suspension of their license and fines also up to $1000. Colorado also has a special law called “Driving While Ability Impaired” or DWAI that makes it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05% whereas most states prohibits people from driving with a BAC of 0.08% and above. And all these convictions get exceedingly more stringent with multiple offenses.

Hopefully a combination of personal New Year’s resolutions to plan ahead, as Col. Woldinbarger suggested, and the strict DUI laws across the state will put a dent in the high rate of drunk driving across the state. Often, when an offender seeks treatment for alcoholism in Colorado they are able get their sentencing reduced. A large percentage of those convicted of drunk driving have alcohol dependency issues and use their conviction as a wake up call and begin to address their drinking problem. If you have been convicted of a DUI or are concerned about your drunk driving and alcohol consumption, Harmony Foundation is Estes Park, CO offers affordable alcohol treatment  in a private environment.