How Gil Kerlikowske lies - drugged
driving
March 11, 2010 - drugwarrant.com
By Peter Guither
We all know that the Drug
Czar is required by law to lie. But does he really need to enjoy it
so much?
This
week points out once again how he does it. And it’s all about drugged
driving.
Now the drug czar would like to make a big deal about the dangers of
drugged driving, partly because if he can get states to pass “per se”
laws (where even the presence of residual metabolites from marijuana,
for example count as drugged driving despite the lack of impairment),
then it puts a complication into efforts to legalize.
Here’s his problem. There are no reliable studies that demonstrate
that drugged-non-drunk driving (particularly marijuana drugged driving)
is a real problem. Individual cases, sure, but no clear statistics like
you have with drunk driving.
This year, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) conducted
a study where they asked drivers in one location to pull over and
voluntarily submit to a drug test.
Based on oral fluid tests, 11% of daytime drivers tested positive
for the presence of a combination of illegal, prescription, and
over-the-counter drugs (not including alcohol). 14.4% of nighttime
drivers tested positive. At nighttime, they also tested some drivers
with blood tests. Using a combination of oral fluid and blood tests,
16.3% of nighttime drivers tested positive. Marijuana was the substance
detected most (nighttime: marijuana 8.6%, cocaine 3.9%, meth 1.3%).
Now, as you read this, you immediately realize that it means very
little. It’s the first year that this study has been conducted. Now, if
you run it for a number of years, fluctuations might tell you something
interesting. But a baseline set of numbers here says nothing at all
about impairment on the highways.
For example, if 8.6% of the population uses marijuana on a regular
basis, but every one of them always, without fail, wait until they are
sober before driving, these results would show that 8.6% of drivers
test positive for illegal drugs. It says nothing about impairment.
The study authors knew this well. They specifically stated:
“The reader is cautioned that drug
presence does not necessarily imply impairment. For many drug types,
drug presence can be detected long after any impairment that might
affect driving has passed. For example, traces of marijuana can be
detected in blood samples several weeks after chronic users stop
ingestion. Also, whereas the impairment effects for various
concentration levels of alcohol is well understood, little evidence is
available to link concentrations of other drug types to driver
performance. “
and
“Caution should be exercised in
assuming that drug presence implies driver impairment. Drug tests do
not necessarily indicate current impairment. Drug presence can be
measured for a period of days or weeks after ingestion in many cases.
This latency of drug presence may partially explain the consistency
between daytime and nighttime drug findings.”
That didn’t stop the Drug Czar. Desperately needing some kind of
authoritative backing for his drugged driving campaign, he latched onto
the NHTSA report despite the fact that it specifically denied what he
was trying to claim.
He knew that. So he needed to find a way to sneak it in.
He couldn’t just come out and put a statement on the ONDCP website
stating that 16% of all evening drivers are high. That could be subject
to review. So he tends to be more careful with official statements. In
his statement for the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs this week, he
said:
In addition, we hope to foster productive discussions
this week about the emerging public safety threat of drugged driving,
which adversely effects judgment, reaction time, motor skills, and
memory. In our Nation, we are increasingly seeing the terrible
consequences of drug use in the form of automobile accidents. Far too
many people are using drugs and then getting behind the wheel, with
deadly results. According to a study conducted by the U.S. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 12 percent of weekend
nighttime drivers tested positive for illicit drugs.
See the trick? Three sentences of hyperbolic opinion, followed by
one sentence of unrelated fact (technically true, because he said
“tested,” not that they were impaired), intentionally giving the
impression that the last sentence acts as proof or evidence to support
the first three.
It is a lie. No question about it. The paragraph is intentionally
deceitful, which makes it a lie. But it’s effectively unchallengeable.
How could I, for example, challenge that statement through the Information
Quality Act?
Statements like “far too many people” are so vague as to be
meaningless, and the final sentence is technically correct, even though
irrelevant.
But that’s only the first step of the lie. Kerlikowske knows that
the press can be manipulated (and that his quotes in the press are
un-reviewable), so when he talks to them, he goes further, knowing they
won’t bother to check on his statements.
Washington
Post, reported by Ashley III Halsey:
About 11 percent of motorists are high on the
weekend, and the number creeps up past 16 percent once night falls on
Friday and Saturday, according to federal drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and
a national roadside survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. [emphasis added]
Reuters,
reported by Sylvia Westall and Matthew Jones:
“If you think about driving on an American road on a
Friday or Saturday evening about 16 percent of the vehicles – one in
six of the cars – (the driver) will be under the influence of
an illicit or licit drug,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office
of National Drug Control Policy, said. [emphasis added]
NY
Daily News, reported by Issie Lapowsky:
Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office of National
Drug Control Policy, told members of the United Nations that on the
average weekend in America, one in six drivers “will be under the
influence of an illicit or licit drug.” [emphasis added]
Now the lie is clear and specific, but it’s being disseminated by
the press, not specifically by the ONDCP.
Masterful
lying by Gil Kerlikowske. Almost too good. Makes me wonder who might be
helping him… I understand that Kevin Sabet has been seen at his side
quite a bit. Kevin’s a real cagey player and has shown an interest in
pushing the marijuana and drugged driving meme for some
time.