Marijuana Doesn’T Make You More Likely To Crash Your Car

[Wild Bill]

 

Marijuana Doesn’t Make You More Likely To Crash Your Car

 

by Carimah Townes Posted on February 7, 2015 at 11:47 am

 

 

A study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concludes that driving after smoking marijuana does not make you more likely to get into a car crash — especially when compared to driving after alcohol consumption.

 

Researchers studied 9,000 drivers over the past year to examine marijuana’s impact on driving. Although 25 percent of marijuana users were more likely to be involved in a car crash than people who did not use the drug, gender, age, and race/ethnicity of marijuana users were considered, demographic differences actually contributed substantially to crash risk. Younger drivers had a higher crash rate than older ones, and men crashed more than women.

 

On the other hand, drivers who consumed alcohol were significantly more likely to crash. Those with a 0.08 percent breath alcohol level crashed four times more than sober drivers, and people with a 0.15 percent level were 12 times more likely to crash.

 

In the study, testing positive for marijuana was defined as having delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinal (THC) in the system. The number of legal drug users and illegal drug users involved in crashes was statistically insignificant.

 

Nevertheless, marijuana use does impact drivers’ senses, the study warned, and the number of drivers with marijuana in their system is on the rise. According to the Office of Impaired Driving and Occupant Protection director, Jeff Michael, “Drivers should never get behind the wheel impaired, and we know that marijuana impairs judgment, reaction times and awareness.”

 

Media reports and anti-pot legalization advocates have hyped the idea that “drugged driving” would wreak havoc on the roads now that states are beginning to legalize marijuana. In fact, highway fatalities have gone down since Colorado legalized marijuana.

 

The NHTSA findings, published Friday, come on the heels of another marijuana study conducted by Emory University. Researchers at the university concluded that people who smoked one joint a day did not have significantly impaired lung function, when compared to non-smokers.

 

When taken together, the reports are good news for pot fans. But additional research on the effects of marijuana is also invaluable to state lawmakers who are ironing out the logistics of legalization. Recreational use became legal in the Centennial State on January 1, 2014, and cannabis fans are even allowed to grow their own plants. Yet there are still numerous restrictions, such as the inability to smoke in public accommodations. To clarify the law and educate people about how to use recreational pot responsibly, the state’s health department recently launched the ‘Good to Know’ campaign, a large-scale, $5.7 million, public education project.

[t-pain]

by all means, run all the studies you need to run. (but how many do you need? lol)

 

9000 people seems like a good solid number , ntsha has done previous studies too, this is not the first.

nor is this the first to tell us the obvious. lots of people smoke weed, lots of people get in accidents, lots of people in accidents have detectable weed in their blood. as marijuana stays in the blood at least 30 days, this is obvious.

[slipstar059]

9000 is way higher than the 110 brains they scanned, when it was suggested we have a lower iq.

[Purplehaze]

They could of just asked me, I probally drive better medicated

[YesMichigan]

They could of just asked me, I probally drive better medicated

 

They would LOVE to have one of their "representatives in the community" ask you about it.

 

I don't think you really want to be part of their more "informal" study.

 

Be safe!!!

[outsideinthecold]

Aren't there studies from England and Isreal that found cannabis influenced drivers are as safe or safer that sober ones?

 

And considerably less likely to crash than say the cop you see driving while talking on a cellphone or their radio or distracted by the computer in the cab.

 

But think of the children, right?

[Kingdiamond]

 

"Marijuana Doesn’T Make You More Likely To Crash Your Car"

 

Tell me something I don't know about cannabis.

[Kingdiamond]

They could of just asked me, I probally drive better medicated

Me too but due to the law I no longer smoke and drive cant risk my freedom if deputy dawg pulls me over and tries to destroy my life .

[trichcycler]

I worry more of drivers taking experimental mind altering drugs like Prozac. I read that every school shooter in our country took them. I'd hate for someone to be under the influence or maybe even unable to  afford the co pay and miss their dosages and now behind the wheel of car..

 

besides, I thought you had to have a suspended license to drive under the influence...could be mistaken though....