title: Delays in DUI blood testing: Impact on cannabis DUI assessments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the time from law enforcement dispatch to the first blood draw in cases of driving under the influence (DUI) vehicular homicide and a subset of DUI vehicular assault cases in Colorado in 2012. Laboratory toxicology results were also examined to understand the implications of delays in blood draws in cases of driving while under the influence of marijuana's delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Colorado court records were reviewed and information regarding charges, presence of alcohol and/or drugs, time of law enforcement contact and blood draw, crash location, and other contextual factors were identified. The distributions of first blood draw times were studied by charge and by responding law enforcement agency. Toxicology data from a different cohort of DUI traffic arrests in Colorado and Washington were examined to determine the proportion of blood tests for THC that were above specified legal limits in those states.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average time from law enforcement dispatch to blood draw in cases of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault was 2.32 h (SD ± 1.31 h), with a range of 0.83 to 8.0 h and a median of 2.0 h. Data from DUI traffic arrests found that between 42 and 70% of all cannabinoid-positive traffic arrests tested below 5 ng/ml THC in blood, which is the legal limit in Colorado and Washington.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the current delays to blood testing in cases of arrests for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in Colorado, many blood tests are unlikely to confirm that drivers who are impaired from smoking marijuana have THC levels above established legal limits.
authors.affiliation: a DUID Victim Voices , Morrison , Colorado.
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: b Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver , Aurora , Colorado.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brooks-Russell
authors.affiliation: c Kaiser Permanente , Oakland , California.
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Drum
mesh_terms: D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003120:Colorado; D000066448:Driving Under the Influence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000097:blood*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014861:Washington
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D013759:Dronabinol
keywords: driving under the influence of drugs (DUID); marijuana-impaired driving; vehicular homicide