The Denver Post’s Bruce Finley reports on a Colorado psychedelics driving safety campaign that sounds like a punchline, except the joke is on all of us. State transportation officials are now warning psychedelic users to “plan your trip before you trip,” arguing that with decriminalization, growing psilocybin use, and the spread of microdosing, more impaired people may end up behind the wheel.
The article walks through the state’s concern with all the solemnity modern Colorado can muster. Officials say psychedelic use can affect perception, reaction time, decision-making, and physical control, which should be obvious to anyone not currently floating above the dashboard. But because this is the policy environment we have created, the state now feels the need to spell out that driving while tripping is, in fact, a bad idea.
Finley also notes that the campaign involves coordination with healing centers and repeated reminders that impaired-driving laws still apply. Which tells you just about everything you need to know about where Colorado is headed. We are no longer preventing the madness. We are just building nicer signs around it.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado has entered the “please do not hallucinate and drive” era of public policy. That is not progress. That is a cry for help.
- The state’s big answer is a slogan and a campaign, because once common sense collapses, government always shows up with a marketing plan.
- Officials are worried about increased psilocybin use and the growth of microdosing, which means more people are apparently treating impairment like a lifestyle accessory.
- The campaign warns that psychedelics can impair judgment, perception, reaction time, and coordination. In other words, exactly the things you might want working when you are piloting a vehicle.
- Colorado officials are trying to adapt to consequences they helped create. Same circus, new tent.
My Bottom Line
Only in Colo-RAD-OH would we need a taxpayer-funded reminder that people on psychedelics should not drive. Think about how absurd that is. We are now governing at the level of “do not operate heavy machinery while untethered from reality,” and somebody in this state still wants to call that enlightened.
This is what illicit permissiveness always looks like once the bumper sticker phase wears off. First comes the moral preening about compassion and personal freedom. Then comes the public safety campaign, the worried bureaucrats, the law enforcement scramble, and the families left to absorb the consequences. Narrative first, truth if there’s room.
At some point, Colorado is going to have to ask itself whether every cultural boundary was really the enemy. Because when you normalize mind-altering substances and then act surprised that public safety becomes a problem, you are not being bold. You are being foolish with other people’s lives.
This type of permissiveness is not good for the health, safety, or welfare of our families, and deep down, everybody knows it. A once-great state should not be reduced to issuing cute slogans for chemically impaired drivers. Colorado needs less rationalization, more sanity, and a long overdue return to the idea that not every bad idea deserves a softer landing.
Source: The Denver Post
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