Marijuana involved in 12 percent of 2014 Colorado DUIs

Photo: Marijuana in Colorado 1 Inside the grow operation of Options Medical
Inside the grow operation of Options Medical.

The Colorado State Patrol reports that 674 drivers received marijuana citations in 2014, the first year of recreational pot stores in Colorado. That’s about 12 percent of the DUIs handed out by the State Patrol.

This is the first year that the State Patrol began tracking marijuana DUIs, so it's unknown whether this is more or less than previous years.

Alcohol is still the predominant intoxicant on Colorado’s roads. But that might be partly because there is no easy way to test for marijuana impairment – there’s no pot breathalyzer yet. The state patrol, however, has beefed up the ranks of what it calls drug recognition experts -- cops qualified to determine drug intoxication through a series of roadside tests.

Overall the state patrol reports handing out nearly 6,000 DUIs, for all substances. That’s a 15 percent increase from the year before.