That night, Daniel thought back to the lunch stop. He understood the frustration—more states were legalizing marijuana, yet DOT wasn’t budging.

But he also knew why. Unlike alcohol, there’s no quick roadside test to prove someone’s actually impaired. THC lingers, and even if a driver feels normal, their reflexes might not be. DOT’s job isn’t to follow state laws—it’s to keep the roads safe.

The way Daniel saw it, until science could measure real-time marijuana impairment, DOT couldn’t take the risk of loosening the rules.

So was DOT being too strict? Or just careful? Daniel figured the real problem wasn’t the rules—it was the unknown. And until that unknown was solved, safety had to come first.