HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, July 19, 2022 (HealthDay Information) – – Automotive crashes and deaths are on the rise in U.S. states which have legalized leisure marijuana, a brand new examine finds.
“Marijuana, like alcohol and nearly each different drug, adjustments how you’re feeling and the way you behave. That’s the aim of a drug. And that adjustments the way you drive. All of us want to comprehend that driving after utilizing marijuana is a nasty thought,” mentioned lead researcher Charles Farmer, vp for analysis and statistical providers on the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security.
His staff discovered that after marijuana legalization, the speed of automobile crashes with accidents elevated by practically 6%, whereas deadly crashes rose by 4%. No improve in these crashes was seen in states that hadn’t legalized marijuana, the researchers famous.
These outcomes are in keeping with prior research, Farmer mentioned. “It’s turning into an increasing number of clear that the legalization of marijuana doesn’t come with out value. However marijuana legalization continues to be a novelty, and there’s hope that these early developments might be rotated,” he added.
Farmer thinks there are methods to assist stop the results of driving excessive. “Perhaps, with the appropriate schooling and enforcement methods, states which are both contemplating or within the technique of legalization can keep away from the rise in crashes,” he mentioned.
For the examine, Farmer and his colleagues checked out 5 states that legalized leisure marijuana for individuals 21and older (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada) and in contrast them with states that didn’t legalize pot (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming).
They discovered that after legalization, however earlier than retail pot gross sales began, the speed of automobile crashes with accidents jumped practically 7%. After gross sales started, the crash price dipped barely (lower than 1%), however the price of deadly crashes shot up about 2% earlier than and after retail gross sales started.
Typically, drivers below the affect of marijuana drive slowly, the researchers famous. They could not be capable to keep away from a crash, however their decrease velocity might make the collision much less lethal, Farmer famous.
In earlier research, Farmer’s staff discovered that marijuana use impacts response time, street monitoring, lane conserving and a focus, all of which may make a crash extra possible.
Farmer does not consider marijuana legalization is the one explanation for rising collision charges, and the examine cannot show a direct cause-and-effect relationship. And in contrast to alcohol testing, there aren’t any goal measures of impairment linked to marijuana, so it isn’t attainable to precisely account for the position marijuana performs in automobile crashes, he mentioned.
The adjustments in crash charges various by state: Colorado had the largest leap (18%) and California the smallest (6%) after each legalization and the beginning of retail gross sales. Nevada’s price fell (7%). For deadly crashes, will increase occurred in Colorado (1%) and Oregon (4%), whereas declines had been present in Washington (2%), California (8%) and Nevada (10%).
Alex Otte, nationwide president of MADD (Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving), mentioned, “We all know that driving impaired by any drug, alcohol, marijuana or in any other case, is 100% preventable. It is not an accident. It is not a mistake. It is a alternative.”
What’s wanted is to alter the tradition so individuals perceive that it isn’t secure to drive after utilizing pot, she mentioned.
“We hear on a regular basis in popular culture issues like, ‘Perhaps I am a greater driver after I’m excessive’,” Otte mentioned. “I believe individuals simply aren’t conscious, as a lot as they’re with alcohol, that there’s such a threat related to driving below the affect of marijuana or different medication, and I believe a whole lot of it comes right down to consciousness.”
Sooner or later, Otte hopes there might be methods to quantify pot’s results on driving, like there are for alcohol.
“We all know that roadside checks and issues like that to assist an officer decide if that individual is secure to drive are so necessary and so wanted,” she mentioned.
Impairment by any drug is a risk to you and everybody else on the street, Otte mentioned. “Even one individual injured or killed is one too many,” she mentioned. “I would like individuals to know that it is a alternative and so they have the choice to make the appropriate alternative and to not drive when excessive.”
The report was revealed July 19 within the Journal of Research on Alcohol and Medication.
Extra data
For extra on marijuana, head to the U.S. Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse.
SOURCES: Charles Farmer, PhD, vp, analysis and statistical providers, Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security, Ruckersville, Va.; Alex Otte, Nationwide President, MADD; Journal of Research on Alcohol and Medication, July 19, 2022
