Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 | 3:09 p.m.
The thought that comes to many minds every time I see my friend and colleague George Knapp interview Jessica Wililams is "there but for the grace of God... "
Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the nation. The reality is that millions of people drive every day with some pot residue in their bloodstream. Not that they drive stoned. Unlike alcohol, pot smoked days ago can still show up in the bloodstream. So evidence of the joint smoked Saturday night remains days, even weeks later.
That's what happened to Jessica Williams. Of all the thousands of miles of desolate terrain in our state, she had the horrible misfortune of falling asleep at the wheel at a spot where teens were working off community service sentences by picking up trash. She killed six of them. A jury said Williams was not impaired. But she's in prison, possibly for decades, because traces of the joint she smoked the night before the tragedy showed up in her blood.
Some people say it's un-American to deny someone liberty for an offense with no nexus to the harm they have done. Apparently Nevada's legislators are not among them.
The law, which was sponsored by then-State Sen. Jon Porter, isn't likely to be tweaked anytime soon. Only one legislator (then-Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, now a county commissioner) voted against the feelgood measure.
STOP DUI's Sandy Heverly shrugged off science that says nanograms don't equal impairment as conflicting with her beliefs. Kudos to Jon for playing both sides on a tough issue. Good TV, but the cameras stopped rolling long before Heverly and Williams' attorney, John Watkins, wrapped their rant.
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