There are many new ways for people to get high on marijuana these days. From cookies to vaporizers, and even tinctures, the menu available to a cannabis user has drastically expanded in recent months and years.
Police have had to adapt, as well, scrutinizing the food and candy in individuals’ cars, oftentimes relying on lab results to be sure something contains cannabis.
For instance, LaPlace, Louisiana detectives recently sent cannabis snacks to a lab after noticing cannabis-related labeling on the packages. Reports demonstrate how vaporizers allow individuals to get high discreetly under the nose of law enforcement, parents, and teachers.
"It's the concealment method; we don't know what is in a vape pen until we actually have it tested by a forensic laboratory," said Supervisory Special Agent John Scherbenske of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
For the California Highway Patrol, the issue is not how one consumed marijuana, but whether or not they did before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.
“We are not really concerned with what form they use to ingest it,” CHP Officer Lacey Heitman told MERRY JANE. “Our only concern is when they drive a vehicle with it in their system, no matter how they ingested it. We are still looking for impairment in a driver and that is what would alert us to investigate.”
She added: “Once we have suspicion someone is under the influence, we look at pupils, pulse, and [complete] a field sobriety test.”
