Dr. Riley Kirk has Dr. Denise Valenti on the podcast to discuss cannabis and driving, cannabis impairment, THC testing, and the challenges of determining whether someone is actually too impaired to drive. They explore why THC levels in the body do not necessarily correspond to impairment and how cannabis can affect vision, peripheral vision, contrast sensitivity, eye movement, balance, and pupil response.
They also discuss the limitations of current roadside cannabis testing compared with alcohol testing, including the challenges of using blood THC levels, cognitive tests, and field sobriety tests to determine cannabis impairment. Dr. Valenti explains her work developing technology that could combine multiple sensory measurements to identify impairment more accurately.
The conversation also explores how dose, tolerance, consumption method, individual differences, medical conditions, and baseline function can influence impairment and why there is no universal rule for how long someone should wait before driving after consuming cannabis. They discuss Drug Recognition Experts, the need for stronger scientific validation and national standards, and the importance of developing impairment-testing technology that is accurate and free from racial bias.
Finally, they discuss cannabis and driving research, harm reduction, the challenges of funding cannabis impairment studies, and why controlled, dose-specific research is needed to better understand the relationship between cannabis, impairment, and road safety.
Chapters
00:00 Cannabis Driving Problem
02:07 Denise Valenti Background
06:48 Retina Dopamine Insight
10:36 Why THC Tests Fail
18:36 VR Goggles Roadside Plan
37:16 DRE Laws And Limits
38:04 Bias In New Tech
40:17 Why Eyes Get Glossy
42:44 Tears THC Findings
47:34 Roadside Testing Workflow
49:00 Alcohol Versus Cannabis Risk
51:54 Old School DRE Stories
52:39 Road Rage And Crutches
54:29 Grant Funding Reality
01:01:22 Closing Safety Takeaways
Connect with Dr. Denise Valenti
Dr. Denise A. Valenti, OD, FAAO
Founder & President, IMMAD LLC
Impairment Measurement Marijuana and Driving
🔗 Connect with Denise on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-a-valenti-53b72516/
🔬 Learn more about IMMAD: www.immadroadside.com
IMMAD is focused on the development of objective technologies for identifying marijuana-related impairment, including visual functions relevant to safe driving.
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