{"id":1312938,"date":"2019-07-29T12:51:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T18:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=985121"},"modified":"2019-07-29T12:51:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T18:51:54","slug":"a-change-to-colorados-dui-testing-system-has-stoked-fears-of-dropped-cases-and-could-shutter-a-private-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/a-change-to-colorados-dui-testing-system-has-stoked-fears-of-dropped-cases-and-could-shutter-a-private-business\/","title":{"rendered":"A change to Colorado\u2019s DUI testing system has stoked fears of dropped cases and could shutter a private business"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/11\/Duimap-vdn-112317-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/11\/Duimap-vdn-112317-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/11\/Duimap-vdn-112317-1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/11\/Duimap-vdn-112317-1-325x216.jpg 325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><figcaption><strong>Ski resort counties lead Colorado in DUI arrests per capita, according to statewide data compiled by attorney Jay Tiftickjian\u2019s law firm.<\/strong><br \/><em>Stephen Fore<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Big questions are swirling around Colorado\u2019s ability to carry out blood tests and prosecute offenders in driving under the influence cases after a policy switch that could jeopardize cases and put a private lab out of business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado Bureau of Investigation on July 1 began testing blood drawn during DUI investigations for free in an attempt to ease the financial strain on smaller law enforcement agencies and to collect better data on marijuana use among motorists. The idea was to encourage agencies that were not submitting samples for testing because of cost to reconsider.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The testing by a private lab costs $300 or more a case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, however, CBI produced the unintended effect of siphoning business from ChemaTox, a lab that had been handling thousands of cases for Colorado law enforcement for years and that\u2019s now slated to close because of the lost revenue. That means the Boulder lab\u2019s workload will now likely shift to the state and prosecutors are worried their cases could be thrown out if the CBI can\u2019t complete testing in a timely manner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>ChemaTox picked up the slack when the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment\u2019s lab closed in 2013&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2013\/06\/28\/colorado-toxicology-lab-halts-blood-alcohol-testing-will-retest-samples\/\" target=\"_blank\">amid concerns about the accuracy of its testing<\/a>. Two years later, CBI began testing blood samples, but handled far fewer tests than ChemaTox.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lawmakers Call Hearing After CBS4 Reports Problems With Free DUI Tests\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"about:blank\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-rocket-lazyload=\"fitvidscompatible\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2qRT9-5Dhqw?feature=oembed\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><noscript><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lawmakers Call Hearing After CBS4 Reports Problems With Free DUI Tests\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2qRT9-5Dhqw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Read more via&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2019\/07\/29\/colorado-dui-testing-lab-issue-cbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">The Colorado Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The&nbsp;Colorado&nbsp;Sun&nbsp;is a reader-supported news organization dedicated to covering the people, places and policies that matter in&nbsp;Colorado. Read more, sign up for free newsletters and subscribe at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.coloradosun.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/a-change-to-colorados-dui-testing-system-has-stoked-fears-of-dropped-cases-and-could-shutter-a-private-business\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ski resort counties lead Colorado in DUI arrests per capita, according to statewide data compiled by attorney Jay Tiftickjian\u2019s law firm.Stephen Fore Big questions are swirling around Colorado\u2019s ability to carry out blood tests and prosecute offenders in driving under the influence cases after a policy switch that could jeopardize cases and put a private [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 12:40:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}