Cannabis Doubles Risk Of Car Accidents
DRIVING while under the infulence of cannabis doubles the risk of being involved in a fatal accident.
Researchers evaluated 10,748 fatal car accidents in France that had taken place between October 2001 and September 2003, and whose drivers had been tested for drug and alcohol levels.
They compared the 6,766 drivers deemed at fault for the crash with the other drivers who were considered blamelesss.
Cannabis was clearly linked with fatal accidents, with the risk rising as the concentration of delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the drug’s active ingredient, increased in the blood.
The odds ranged from 1.89 (almost double the risk) for a concentration of less than one nanogramme of THC per milliltre of blood, to 3.06 (more than triple the risk) for more than five ng/ml.
Should drivers be routinely tested for cannabis?
Posted: 25th, May 2007 | In: Twitterings Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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May 31st, 2007 at 4:24 am
This garbage makes me laugh. I drive high all the time..so all I have to say to these unjust drug laws and those who enforce them is this…get fucked.
May 26th, 2007 at 2:46 am
Quoted from: http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
Myth: Marijuana Use is a Major Cause Of Highway Accidents. Like alcohol, marijuana impairs psychomotor function and decreases driving ability. If marijuana use increases, an increase in of traffic fatalities is inevitable.
Fact: There is no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities. At some doses, marijuana affects perception and psychomotor performances- changes which could impair driving ability. However, in driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment- consistently less than produced by low moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving. The overall rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by marijuana’s widespread use in society.
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I don’t find in my personal experiences that driving while slightly intoxicated on cannabis to be overly difficult. The two major issues I have discovered is that I tend to drive 5 MPH slower than the speed limit, and that if I’m the first at a red light, I might need a honk to get me going. Cannabis intoxication, unlike alcohol intoxication, is something you are aware of and able to compensate for. It tends to make one more cautious whereas alcohol makes one more inclined to take risks.
Under a heavy influence of cannabis, I don’t even want to drive.
Cannabis is not nearly as detrimental to civilized society as most governments (and news organizations) would have you believe, and driving is inherently dangerous, even when one isn’t intoxicated at all, and something no sane person should attempt in any state of mind.
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