C.E.O. of Muskingum Behavioral Health talks to Zanesville Rotary Club

ZANESVILLE, Ohio-  The C.E.O. of Muskingum Behavioral Health spoke to the Zanesville Rotary Club about drug addiction.

C.E.O Steve Carrel talked about how the deaths from drugged driving are happening more often than deaths from drunk driving. This happened for the first time about five years ago. He said this occurs because drugs affect judgment and rational thought and lead people to believe they have the ability to drive.

“More and more accidents are being tracked back to various kinds of drug use,” said Carel. “People who are using Heroin in their cars and driving. Some of them even driving while they are shooting Heroin. Then the overdose happens and has a car accident.”

For someone to be driving drunk their blood alcohol level needs to be .08 or higher. Carel said there is no drug impairment equivalent.

“With marijuana, it’s hard to come up with a number partly because the marijuana plants are different in the concentration of THC,” said Carrel. “The experiments and studies haven’t been done yet to find out…any amount of Heroin is going to be detrimental to driving. Just because the potency of the drug and the way people are using it.”

In the D.U.I checkpoint, last Friday, Lt. Matt Boyd said one driver was given sobriety testing. Boyd said that driver was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.