Train better — Don’t let cops’ “Green Labs” experiment replace evidence

Arizona knows how to measure alcohol‑impaired driving. DUI law gives us a hard 0.08 Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) and decades of validation behind it. Cannabis is different. We still lack a widely adopted roadside test that reliably establishes impairment. Into that vacuum comes a tempting idea: “green labs”—training sessions where officers watch volunteers consume cannabis to “learn what impairment looks like.”

I appreciate the intent. As a trial lawyer who has spent 34 years in Arizona courtrooms, I’ve seen the devastation impaired driving can cause. Officers need better tools and better training. Experience matters, and structured exposure can help calibrate judgment and reduce both false positives and false negatives.

Observation is not a standard:

But good intentions don’t change the c