What you need to know about today’s impaired driver

A hypothetical: Tom is operating a motor vehicle at 8:30 p.m. on a 2-lane road. He is driving erratically, loses control of his vehicle and hits another vehicle causing significant property damage but fortunately no serious injuries. Tom has an odor of alcohol on him. There is a burnt marijuana blunt in his ashtray and he has a baggie of marijuana in his pocket, along with a prescription slip for benzodiazepine. Assuming that Tom is under the influence, what substance is he under the influence of? The likeliest answer is that we don’t know. Read the article from the fall 2021 edition of the Highway to Justice newsletter, authored by Neil Edward Axel, Senior Judge, District Court of Maryland.