Driving With A Marijuana High: How Dangerous Is It?

[bobandtorey]

 

 

Most Americans think that driving while high on marijuana isn't that dangerous, according to a recent Gallup poll.

About 70 percent of people polled said that people who drive while impaired by marijuana are "not much of a problem" or only a "somewhat serious problem," whereas just 29 percent said it was a very serious problem.

By contrast, 79 percent of Americans think drivers who are impaired by alcohol are a very serious problem.

Those in the 79 percent group are right about the dangers of alcohol: In 2013, nearly a third of all fatal accidents were caused by alcohol impairment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But is it really safe to drive while high on marijuana?

Though marijuana does impair driving abilities, there aren't data that show that it may increase traffic accidents, said Benjamin Hansen, an economist at the University of Oregon in Eugene and at the National Bureau of Economic Research, who has studied marijuana legalization in relation to driving accidents. What's more, if people who would ordinarily drink and drive instead choose to smoke and drive, that may be safer for the population as a whole, he added. [11 Odd Facts About Marijuana]

Marijuana impairs driving

To be perfectly clear: It's always safer to drive when you're not stoned, Hansen said.

A review of 60 studies presented in 1995 at the International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety found that marijuana impairs all the cognitive abilities needed for safe driving, including tracking, motor coordination, visual function and divided attention.

Still, driving while high may not be nearly as dangerous as driving while drunk.

The cognitive impairments caused by marijuana are correlated with only modest reductions in driving performance in driving simulations, according to a 2009 study in the American Journal of Addictions.

And in a study published June 23 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers found that people who used vaporized marijuana were more likely to weave within their own lane, than people who were sober, but not more likely to weave out of their lane or speed. Drunk drivers, by contrast, were likely to do all three.

Increased accidents?

The tie between marijuana and traffic accidents is even shakier. For example, although a 2010 study in the journal Public Health Reports found that 11 percent of drivers killed in accidents had taken at least one drug, the link to marijuana is unclear. Those drivers were not necessarily using marijuana, and even if they had the drug in their systems, that doesn't mean they were high at the time of the accident, Hansen said.

There's no way to measure marijuana with a breathalyzer, so researchers use blood tests, but blood concentrations of marijuana's active ingredient THC can stay persistently high in chronic users. In traffic-fatality studies, any amount of THC in the blood, no matter how tiny, counts as a positive drug test.

So at least some of the people whose deaths are counted in such studies may not have been high at the time of the accident, Hansen said.

What's more, some studies suggest marijuana users can effectively compensate for their impairments.

People who are drunk "are physically impaired, and they don't really think they're physically impaired," Hansen told Live Science "They'll drive faster, they'll follow cars at closer distances, they'll make rash, last-minute decisions."

By contrast, people who are slightly stoned may be more risk-averse and overestimate their impairment. For instance, people who have smoked just a third of a joint will say they are impaired, even when driving tests show no such effects, according to a 1993 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"They'll drive slower, they'll follow cars at greater distances, they'll take some actions that at least somewhat offset the fact that they're impaired," Hansen said.

And in a 2013 study in the Journal of Law and Economics, Hansen and his colleagues found that in the year after medical marijuana laws were passed, traffic fatalities fell. The sharpest reductions were found in evening accidents and drunk-driving or alcohol-related accidents.

Hansen and his colleagues hypothesized that marijuana may actually be decreasing accidents because more people who would normally be drinking are instead using marijuana. However, it's tricky to untangle the relationship, as traffic fatalities have been falling nationwide for several years, according to the Insurance institute for Highway Safety. Improved car safety, lower drunk-driving rates overall or other unknown factors could play a role in that decline, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Legal limits

When people are very high, they become more impaired and start to take more risks, just like drunk drivers, Hansen said.

Current state guidelines may not be setting legal marijuana blood limits appropriately, he said.

In the Drug and Alcohol Dependence study, within-lane weaving began to occur once the person's blood levels reached about 13 micrograms of THC per liter of blood. In fact, people with that level of THC had the same level of impairment as people with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent, which is the legal limit for alcohol in many states.

But the legal limit for THC in Washington and Colorado is 5 micrograms per liter — less than half the amount found to be impairing in that study. (Smoking a joint typically raises a person's THC levels to about 20 micrograms per liter, Hansen said.)

The study also found that marijuana and alcohol had an additive effect on impairment, and people frequently consume the two together, so legal drug limits should account for these additive effects, the study found.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

 

http://m.livescience.com/51450-driving-on-marijuana-alcohol-dangerous.html

[Restorium2]

When people are very high, they become more impaired and start to take more risks,

 

This is totally bogus. The cops even know that. They say that people who have recently smoked drive slower and take less risks, not more.

Why do people just spew this stuff? It's good that some people actually pay attention to users and not the propaganda, Hansen isn't one of those though .... His whole body of work here suffers greatly by him having no clue about us. 

[t-pain]

livescience website has been very biased on mmj/mj for years.

[Restorium2]

He did get a few things right. But then he pulls out that zinger that just kills the whole piece. 

[Restorium2]

How about; When people use marijuana they think more deeply and understand the huge responsibility of driving and therefore become more cautious and drive slower, as the cops have attested to. 

[Willy]

ya we stop at stop signs and wait for it to turn green.. even yield to a green light..

[phaquetoo]

spell pot!

 

Peace

Edited July 7, 2015 by phaquetoo

[suneday11]

Habitual cannabis users are generally great drivers. I could see how a first time user might not do too well, but that comes with most new things.

 

The problem is that some are trying to tout safety so much that they leave science behind completely. I believe impaired driving and testing will see some drastic changes in the future. Unfortunately it is the end user that will pay the price as they realize their moral science is not science at all.

Edited July 7, 2015 by suneday11

[phaquetoo]

spell pot!

 

Peace

spell pot, 

 

spell pot

 

spell pot!

 

spell pot

 

type pot!

 

spell pot!

[Willy]

I watched them do a couple of those impaired tests,, lol they gave each participant to smoke, like three honkin doobies, then on there third fatty they started to drive a bit loose,, gee i guess if you fuk someone up that much, ya there gonna drive a bit poorly.. plus they were timed to get around the course.. so that was two skewed results.not like a normal person who smoke a bit, settles in for a bit then drives the road... how many of us would smoke our brains out,, to the max, then jump in the car and drive... I dont think to many would, if any...

[trichcycler]

 I learned a lot since 2008 and no longer will consume cannabis before/during a drive .  Purposely consuming cannabis before or during a drive might be more dangerous behavior than the consumption itself. ( )

[Indigro]

^^^ i would have to reason that is because of the risks to us from leo, not because of any impairment caused by the consumption. Cops are a greater risk to a driver's well being vs weed use... Imo.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

I would feel safer on the road if everyone out there was stoned. There are way too many distracted drivers on the highway. People who think that they are fly enough to use their cell phone or eat while they are driving are more dangerous than people driving while mildly stoned and I think that future studies will prove this.

[trichcycler]

I would feel safer on the road if everyone out there was stoned.

really? No insurance, stolen cars, suspended license, reckless driving, Rx, speeding, stunt cyclers, lunching, bicycles and cell phones....adding cannabis to those already risky behaviors seems scary. I prefer everyone on the road to be sane and sober when we drive on them. I believe Rx is a bigger culprit in accidents than alcohol, even if its not specifically named in a report.

 

cannabis consumed instead of drunk while driving..., then I agree.

[imiubu]

Any problems I've had while driving where when drinking (1) and.... drum roll please...

 

SOBER.  I mean clean of any 'mind' altering substance whatsoever.

 

The laws are set up so if I drive, eventually something will occur, whether I am at

fault or not. 

 

I have talked myself out of more tickets than I remember and did so while I was stoned.

 

If you are out on the roads, you have already made the choice to roll the dice, imho.

[phaquetoo]

spell pot, 

 

spell pot

 

spell pot!

 

spell pot

 

type pot!

 

spell pot!

What do you do at a green lite?

[bobandtorey]

I told the judge after being charged with a salt and battery 

 

I didn't put salt in anyones battery 

[Greg Rx]

I watched them do a couple of those impaired tests,, lol they gave each participant to smoke, like three honkin doobies, then on there third fatty they started to drive a bit loose,, gee i guess if you fuk someone up that much, ya there gonna drive a bit poorly.. plus they were timed to get around the course.. so that was two skewed results.not like a normal person who smoke a bit, settles in for a bit then drives the road... how many of us would smoke our brains out,, to the max, then jump in the car and drive... I dont think to many would, if any...

I have always thought you should wait to test the pot smoker until THEY think, they can drive. Test their ability to judge.

[Kingdiamond]

Ive drove my entire life smoking most of the time in the act of smoking and never had any issues but since the law came into effect  and I am a card carrying patient my medicating comes  after all my running and patient deliveries are completed.

[trichcycler]

Responsible Medical Cannabis Consumer right there ^^!!

[trichcycler]

I have talked myself out of more tickets than I remember and did so while I was stoned.

 

being pulled for infractions more times than you can remember while stoned......

[bobandtorey]

Ive drove my entire life smoking most of the time in the act of smoking and never had any issues but since the law came into effect  and I am a card carrying patient my medicating comes  after all my running and patient deliveries are completed.

 

 

Back then people would see you smoking cannabis while driving and just give you the peace sign today they pick up their cell phones and call 911 

[imiubu]

being pulled for infractions more times than you can remember while stoned......

Smart

Most generally it was due to driving a hooptie and one light or the other wasn't working... loud exhaust etc...not from driving poorly.