Slipping through the Cracks: Why Can't We Stop Drugged Driving
![handle is hein.journals/wnelr32 and id is 35 raw text is: SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS: WHY
CAN'T WE STOP DRUGGED DRIVING?
TINA WESCOTT CAFARO*
If you think about the dangerous people you share the road-
ways with when you get behind the wheel of your car and drive, you
will likely consider the inattentive driver, the unskilled driver, the
reckless driver, the cell-phone-talking-and-texting driver, and the
drunk driver. But, how often do you contemplate a scenario where
the driver of the vehicle next to you is under the influence of drugs?
Many would argue not often enough.1 Little is heard of the danger-
ous crime of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of
drugs (OUI drugs), also called drugged driving. This lack of aware-
ness is attributable, at least in part, to the focus on curtailing
alcohol-impaired driving over the last twenty years.2
Efforts to stop alcohol-impaired driving include numerous
public-awareness campaigns,3 the expenditure of millions of dollars
* Clinical Professor of Law, Western New England College School of Law. I
would like to express my deep appreciation to Lauren Carasik for reading earlier drafts
of this article and offering advice. I also wish to thank Martha Santoro, Renee Ras-
torfer, and Kaitlin Pinette for their research assistance.
1. Melanie Marciano, Drug-Influenced Driving a Growing Hazard, UPI PERSPEC-
TIVEs, Dec. 2, 2004 (There is a great deal of ignorance about drug impaired driving.
(quoting the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), John
Walters)); see also INST. OF BEHAVIOR & HEALTH, INC., IBH PUBLIC POLICY STATE-
MENT REGARDING DRUGGED DRIVERS, http://www.druggeddriving.org/pdfs/IBHPublic
PolicyonDruggedDriving715.pdf (last visited Apr. 8, 2010) [hereinafter IBH PUBLIC
POLICY STATEMENT].
2. See R.K. JONES ET AL., NAT'L HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMIN., U.S. DEP'T
OF TRANSP., STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF DRUG-IMPAIRED DRIVING 9-10 (2003), availa-
ble at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/StateofKnwlegeDrugs/Stateof
KnwlegeDrugs/pages/3Detection.html [hereinafter STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF DRUG-
IMPAIRED DRIVING].
3. See WORKING GROUP ON ILLEGAL DRUGS & DRIVING, INT'L COUNCIL ON AL-
COHOL, DRUGS & TRAFFIC SAFETY, WORKING GROUP REPORT-ILLEGAL DRUGS
AND DRIVING 56-64 (2000), http://www.icadts.org/reports/Drugs-FinalReport.pdf
[hereinafter WORKING GROUP REPORT]. Organizations such as MADD and SADD
have long been working publicly to prevent the occurrence of this crime. See Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, Mission Statement, http://www.madd.org/About-us/About-us/
Mission-Statement.aspx (last visited Apr. 8, 2010); Students Against Destructive Deci-
sions, SADD History, http://www.sadd.orglhistory.htm (last visited Apr. 8, 2010). Na-
tional campaigns promoted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wnelr32&div=5&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Slipping through the Cracks: Why Can't We Stop Drugged Driving
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