NORTHAMPTON — Navigating on a pedal kart through a makeshift dirt obstacle course marked off with cones and LED lights indicating which direction to take wasn’t too challenging for 17-year-old Madison Gorrell, that is, until she strapped on a pair of marijuana simulation goggles.

That, combined with the excessive honking from a bike horn continuously squeezed by classmate Tommy Nutting, who was pedaling closely behind her, left the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School student a little frazzled.

“Everything looks like a mile away,” said Gorrell, of Buckland. “You really can’t tell what the distance is and sometimes the lights don’t even look like they’re on.”

The exercise was one of a handful of scenarios presented Friday morning to Smith Vocational’s criminal justice students by members of the Army National Guard’s mobile engagement team.

The Northampton school was the first in the state to utilize the guard’s Fatal Vision marijuana-impairment goggles as part of their Impaired Driving Prevention Program, according to Army National Guard Sgt. Eladio Soto, who is a member of the guard’s mobile engagement team.

“The marijuana-impairment goggles messes with a user’s mind to illustrate short-term memory loss and disrupt quick thinking,” said Soto.

The program is designed to teach the “likely negative impacts” of impaired driving.

One of the highlights of the program’s curriculum is the Realistic Impaired Driving Experience, or RIDE. In the past, the Guard has utilized an electric go-kart at other schools to simulate the effects of driving under the influence of alcohol. The addition of the marijuana-impairment goggles is part of an effort to stay relevant to students, he said.

How does it work?

The idea behind the marijuana goggles is to alter an individual’s visual perception, and reduce motor coordination and short-term memory, according to Sgt. First Class Shawn Figlioli, who is also a member of the guard’s mobile engagement team.

“The goggles impair a person’s visual perception and reaction time, and mimic impaired perception caused by marijuana use,” said Figlioli.

One way the goggles impede a person’s reaction time is impairing a person’s ability to perceive color. While a person under the influence of marijuana will not lose their ability to differentiate colors, the goggles are designed to hinder a user’s ability to make “quick and accurate decisions,” he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a study from 2019 to 2021 at several trauma centers and medical examiner offices involving drivers who were seriously injured or killed. What they found was that 26% of those drivers had active levels of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in their system.

In addition to the pedal kart experience, students had a “googles-on” experience with a gridded map as well as dry erase maze boards geared at distorting a user’s perception and impairing short-term memory.

“With the goggles on, all the lines in the maze appear to be the same color and that makes it hard to remember what the path was without the goggles,” said 15-year-old Daniela Baez of Easthampton.

At another station, members of the National Guard tossed black, orange and red balls to see if students could catch only one specific color with the goggles and without.

More often than not, students wearing the goggles couldn’t determine which color was which and — literally — dropped the ball.

In addition to the program provided by the National Guard, students also received some instruction from members of the Northampton Police Department on field sobriety testing. Earlier in the week, Northampton Police officer Heather Longley gave a lesson on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s manual for standardized field sobriety testing, which is what is provided to recruits when they attend the state’s police academy, and a lesson on drugged driving. On Friday, students were tested on the proper procedures of the field sobriety testing.

“It’s standardized for a reason. We have to give all the instructions the same way everyone else does — we could fly out to Alaska and they’re going to give instructions the same way. So our goal was to see if these kids could do the same,” said Longley. “There were at least two that were very close.”

Hearing from area police officers firsthand helps students establish connections for future internships or careers in the field, said Kristen Marciniec, a criminal justice instructor at the school. The curriculum, she said, is modeled after a basic police academy, but geared toward high school students.

What’s the benefit?

The entire marijuana-impairment kit can cost more than $5,000 and requires additional training on how to use the equipment. However, the National Guard provides the program to schools like Smith Vocational for free.

“The program brings extra resources, more equipment and saves the school money,” said Joe Brewer, a criminal justice instructor at the school.

Figlioli said that the main goal of the program is that driving while impaired — whether it’s under the influence of alcohol or marijuana — slows a person’s reaction time down to the point where it could result in a fatality.

“All we hope you take out of this is that if you do smoke or drink, maybe you’ll reconsider getting behind the wheel,” he said. “Remember: a phone call for help is easy.”

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>