Crash – Marijuana Impact Group https://themig.org Marijuana Impact Group Tue, 17 Oct 2023 19:54:49 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://themig.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/logo_reduced-150x150.png Crash – Marijuana Impact Group https://themig.org 32 32 Legal Cannabis Sales and Car Crashes: Injury and Fatal Crash Rates Increase https://themig.org/legal-cannabis-sales-and-car-crashes-injury-and-fatal-crash-rates-increase/ Sun, 05 Feb 2023 16:18:39 +0000 https://www.thenmi.org/?p=7164 The legalization and sale of marijuana for adult use is linked to increased risks of both injury and fatal car crashes. These were the finding of researchers seeking to gain insight into marijuana’s legalization and its impacts on traffic safety, released in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (Vol. 83, Issue 4) in July 2022. According to researchers (Farmer, C. et.al.) the combined effect of legalization and retail sales increased injury crash rates by 5.8 percent. For fatal crash rate there was a 4.1 percent increase. 

This study provides excellent overview of historic research conducted into highway safety, alcohol / drug impairment and traffic risks previous to this report. Because legalized marijuana sales in the commercial adult use markets and data on associated consequences are still emerging, the researches cite the ongoing need to monitor data and trends to gain a better understanding of this issue.    

Read time: 10 minutes

Photo source: unsplash.com

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]]> Impaired Driving in Colorado: 2016 – 2018 (Nov 2020) https://themig.org/impaired-driving-in-colorado-2016-2018-nov-2020/ Fri, 12 Feb 2021 18:04:36 +0000 https://www.thenmi.org/?p=5630 In 2017, Colorado passed House Bill 17-1315 which requires the Colorado Department of Public Safety to annually produce a report regarding data associated with impaired driving in the state. One of the requirements was to include data not only for alcohol, but on other drugs to include marijuana. As with all longitudinal data, the more years a topic can be studied the greater the understanding of the issue.

 “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol” (Rosenthal & Reed) released in November 2020, is the third in the series of that report that allows for a multi-year look at the issue. It offers insight as to the growing prevalence marijuana has as related to highway safety matters and driving under the influence (DUI) under Colorado law. 

Key findings in this report include:

  • Total arrests for DUI in Colorado, from 2016 – 2018, declined by 3.6%
  • During the same time, positive drugs test results for marijuana in DUI cases increased by 15.5%
  • Alcohol and marijuana were the most common substances detected in DUI investigations
  • Nearly 50% of all screened DUI tests for marijuana exceeded the legal permissible inference limit of 5 nanograms
  • Crash rates were highest among drivers that tested positive for both alcohol and marijuana

Read Time: 30 – 60 minutes

Image: Unsplash / H. Busing

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