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It is commonly believed that driving while high is much safer than driving while drunk. But new research is showing a darker side to the popular conviction that driving while stoned is no big deal.
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Scooped by
Steven M. Sweat
February 5, 2014 4:34 PM
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Scoop.it!
Steven M. Sweat's insight:
With California and several other states legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes and some states now moving to legalize pot even for recreational use, studies are being conducted as to the affect marijuana has on one's ability to drive. Some studies indicate that operating a motor vehicle while stoned can be just as dangerous if not more so than being DUI for alcohol. However, it is a matter of debate as to exactly how much pot one must consume to impair the ability to safely get behind the wheel. Apparently fatal car accidents involving narcotics use (including marijuana) have seen a sharp spike in the last 10 years according to this article. It will be interesting to see how technology develops to determine the legal levels of intoxication.
For more information about car accident claims including ones involving marijuana use by drivers in California go to:
www.victimslawyer.com/car-accidents/
According to a recent study of marijuana use and car accidents, fatal crashes involving people who were stoned have tripled over the last 10 years. The report, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that the incidence of car crash victims with pot in their systems jumped from 4.2 percent in 1999 to 12.2 percent in 2010.
"Currently, one of nine drivers involved in fatal crashes would test positive for marijuana," study co-author Dr. Guohua Li, director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia, told HealthDay. "If this trend continues, in five or six years non-alcohol drugs will overtake alcohol to become the most common substance involved in deaths related to impaired driving."
The study found that alcohol contributed to roughly the same percentage of traffic fatalities each year, about 40 percent, but that driving under the influence of other substances increased from 16 percent of traffic deaths in 1996 to 28 percent in 2010. Researchers found that marijuana was the most prevalent drug implicated in the uptick.
Researchers looked at data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for the years 1999 to 2010. The team analyzed the toxicology results of some 23,500 drivers from California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia who were killed in car accidents.
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