“The prevalence of non-alcohol drugs detected in fatally injured drivers in the U.S. has been steadily rising and tripled from 1999 to 2010. Marijuana is the most commonly detected non-alcohol drug involved. Toxicological testing data from six U.S. states that routinely performed toxicological testing on drivers involved in fatal car crashes (California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and West Virginia) for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that of 23,591 drivers who died within one hour of a crash, 39.7% tested positive for alcohol, which has remained steady. Other drugs were involved 24.8% of the time with marijuana showing sharp increases, from 4.2% to 12.2, which corresponds with increased usage of ‘medical’ marijuana. ... Joanna Brady, author of the study, said, ‘The marked increase in its prevalence as reported in the present study is likely germane to the growing decriminalization of marijuana.’ Over the last 17 years, 20 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted legislation, and four more states have legislation pending, to decriminalize marijuana for medical use. ‘Although each of these states has laws that prohibit driving under the influence of marijuana, it is still conceivable that its decriminalization may result in increases in crashes involving marijuana.’” (“Marijuana Led,” Science 2.0, Jan. 30, 2014) Comments are closed.
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