The King County Sheriff’s Office is cracking down on impaired driving Friday, April 20 — a day also known as “420,” a holiday of sorts for cannabis culture.
Extra deputies in Precinct 3, the southeastern portion of the county, will be deployed to look for drivers under the influence of drugs and enforcement punishment of violators.
According to researchers at the University of British Columbia who examined 25 years of data, the risk of a fatal crash is 12 percent higher on April 20, though it’s hard to measure how many crashes were connected directly to drug-impaired driving.
Washington voters in 2012 passed Initiative 502 that legalized and regulated the sale and possession of recreation marijuana by adults 21 years and older.
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However, it is a gross misdemeanor to drive with a THC concentration of 5.00 or higher, as shown through blood analysis. Punishment could include a fine of $350 to $5,000, jail time of up to one year and driver’s license suspension.
Marijuana is also legal in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and the District of Columbia. Vermont will follow later this year.
Most other states either decriminalize possession or allow marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Also on Friday, the app-based ride service Lyft will offer up to $4.20 off two rides all day in the region. The free credit can be accessed by entering the promo code SEA420 into the Lyft app.