Where Pot Became Legal, Car Crash Deaths Rose

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) – – Car 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, modifications how you’re feeling and the way you behave. That’s the aim of a drug. And that modifications the way you drive. We all want to understand that driving after utilizing marijuana is a nasty thought,” mentioned lead researcher Charles Farmer, vice chairman for analysis and statistical companies on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

His workforce 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 according to prior research, Farmer mentioned. “It’s changing into an increasing number of clear that the legalization of marijuana doesn’t come with out value. But marijuana legalization remains to be a novelty, and there’s hope that these early traits may be rotated,” he added.

Farmer thinks there are methods to assist stop the results of driving excessive. “Maybe, with the correct schooling and enforcement methods, states which can be both contemplating or within the means 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 charge dipped barely (lower than 1%), however the charge of deadly crashes shot up about 2% earlier than and after retail gross sales started.

Often, drivers below the affect of marijuana drive slowly, the researchers famous. They might not be capable to keep away from a crash, however their decrease pace might make the collision much less lethal, Farmer famous.

In earlier research, Farmer’s workforce discovered that marijuana use impacts response time, highway monitoring, lane holding and a spotlight, all of which may make a crash extra possible.

Farmer does not consider marijuana legalization is the one reason for rising collision charges, and the examine cannot show a direct cause-and-effect relationship. And not like alcohol testing, there aren’t any goal measures of impairment linked to marijuana, so it is not attainable to precisely account for the position marijuana performs in automobile crashes, he mentioned.

The modifications in crash charges diversified by state: Colorado had the most important bounce (18%) and California the smallest (6%) after each legalization and the beginning of retail gross sales. Nevada’s charge fell (7%). For deadly crashes, will increase occurred in Colorado (1%) and Oregon (4%), whereas declines have been present in Washington (2%), California (8%) and Nevada (10%).

Alex Otte, nationwide president of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), mentioned, “We know that driving impaired by any drug, alcohol, marijuana or in any other case, is 100% preventable. It’s not an accident. It’s not a mistake. It’s a alternative.”

What’s wanted is to alter the tradition so individuals perceive that it is not secure to drive after utilizing pot, she mentioned.

“We hear on a regular basis in popular culture issues like, ‘Maybe I’m a greater driver when 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 danger related to driving below the affect of marijuana or different medicine, and I believe a whole lot of it comes right down to consciousness.”

In the longer term, Otte hopes there can be methods to quantify pot’s results on driving, like there are for alcohol.

“We know that roadside assessments 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 highway, 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 correct alternative and to not drive when excessive.”

The report was revealed July 19 within the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

More data

For extra on marijuana, head to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

SOURCES: Charles Farmer, PhD, vice chairman, analysis and statistical companies, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Ruckersville, Va.; Alex Otte, National President, MADD; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, July 19, 2022