7greeneyes
MedicalNLovingIt!
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2008
- Messages
- 8,071
- Reaction score
- 789
url: hMPp://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2013/10/14/study-marijuana-involved-in-fewer-fatal-wrecks-than-other-drugs/
but this isnt one of those I told you so moments.
A new study looking into fatal vehicle crashes and drugs has found true what many marijuana aficionados claim about driving and pot: Its less dangerous than driving under the influence of other drugs, especially alcohol.
I would say, even though there are risks associated with the use of marijuana, it seems to be not as big as other drugs like depressants, stimulants and other narcotics, said Guohua Li, lead author of the study.
But
The rate of risk attributed to marijuana is lower than the risk attributed to other drugs, but the presence of marijuana is higher so the over all impact of marijuana on motor vehicle safety is still a serious problem and maybe as big as other drugs, Li said.
Li is a professor of epidemiology and anesthesiology and the founding director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University. The study is titled Drug use and fatal motor vehicle crashes: A case-control study.
The national study looked at 737 drivers involved in fatal accidents in 2007 and used the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers as background to determine risk of a fatal accident if you use particular class of drugs.
Findings:
Overall, 31.9 percent of the cases and 13.7 percent of the controls (in that roadside survey) tested positive for at least one non-alcohol drug.
The estimated odds ratios of fatal crash involvement associated with specific drug categories (Roughly, the odds ratio is the chance that someone in a fatal wreck had a particular drug in his/her system, with 1″ meaning there was no greater chance that someone in a fatal crash had a drug in his system than any other possible factor of fatal crashes.):
1.83 for marijuana
3.03 for narcotics
3.57 for stimulants
4.83 for depressants
Note: Drivers who tested positive for both alcohol and drugs were at substantially heightened risk relative to those using neither alcohol nor drugs (Odds Ratio = 23.24).
Click on the graphic below for the numbers:
The conversation
Was he surprised to find that depressants (opiates primarily) were the leading cause of drug-related fatal crashes?
It was not a total surprise, because we know there has been a growing epidemic of prescription drugs, particularly opiates, going on in the country in the past 15 years. Drug overdose has been an increasing health issue in many states, including Washington, and a huge public health issue.
Why do the study?
We never really had much of a handle on how this drug overdose epidemic has also interacted with driving safety. As drivers use those drugs, some of them use them in combination with alcohol and other drugs. Their risk of being involved in motor vehicle crash is much bigger, but there wasnt any data to show how big a problem that may be, and this study helps shed some light on that question.
Whats the bad news on marijuana?
the overall impact of a particular drug has to be determined based on both on the rate of risk associated with the use of that particular drug as well as how common that drug is being used among the driver population.
So, if you take those two into consideration, I would say marijuana is a serious concern, because it doubles the risk of fatal crash involvement and is most commonly detected among drivers.
Ten percent of the drivers who were involved in fatal crashes test positive for marijuana. If you look at the general driver population, at this time its about 6 percent of adult drivers would test positive for marijuana, and if you compare other drugs, the closest commonly used (compared to marijuana), would be stimulants. Thats about 9 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes, and about 3 percent of the drivers tested in the road survey.
The rate of risk attributed to marijuana is lower than the risk attributed to other drugs but the presence of marijuana is higher so the over all impact of marijuana on motor vehicle safety is still a serious problem and maybe as big as other drugs.
Dont drive high.
Study: Marijuana involved in fewer fatal wrecks than other drugs
but this isnt one of those I told you so moments.
A new study looking into fatal vehicle crashes and drugs has found true what many marijuana aficionados claim about driving and pot: Its less dangerous than driving under the influence of other drugs, especially alcohol.
I would say, even though there are risks associated with the use of marijuana, it seems to be not as big as other drugs like depressants, stimulants and other narcotics, said Guohua Li, lead author of the study.
But
The rate of risk attributed to marijuana is lower than the risk attributed to other drugs, but the presence of marijuana is higher so the over all impact of marijuana on motor vehicle safety is still a serious problem and maybe as big as other drugs, Li said.
Li is a professor of epidemiology and anesthesiology and the founding director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University. The study is titled Drug use and fatal motor vehicle crashes: A case-control study.
The national study looked at 737 drivers involved in fatal accidents in 2007 and used the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers as background to determine risk of a fatal accident if you use particular class of drugs.
Findings:
Overall, 31.9 percent of the cases and 13.7 percent of the controls (in that roadside survey) tested positive for at least one non-alcohol drug.
The estimated odds ratios of fatal crash involvement associated with specific drug categories (Roughly, the odds ratio is the chance that someone in a fatal wreck had a particular drug in his/her system, with 1″ meaning there was no greater chance that someone in a fatal crash had a drug in his system than any other possible factor of fatal crashes.):
1.83 for marijuana
3.03 for narcotics
3.57 for stimulants
4.83 for depressants
Note: Drivers who tested positive for both alcohol and drugs were at substantially heightened risk relative to those using neither alcohol nor drugs (Odds Ratio = 23.24).
Click on the graphic below for the numbers:
The conversation
Was he surprised to find that depressants (opiates primarily) were the leading cause of drug-related fatal crashes?
It was not a total surprise, because we know there has been a growing epidemic of prescription drugs, particularly opiates, going on in the country in the past 15 years. Drug overdose has been an increasing health issue in many states, including Washington, and a huge public health issue.
Why do the study?
We never really had much of a handle on how this drug overdose epidemic has also interacted with driving safety. As drivers use those drugs, some of them use them in combination with alcohol and other drugs. Their risk of being involved in motor vehicle crash is much bigger, but there wasnt any data to show how big a problem that may be, and this study helps shed some light on that question.
Whats the bad news on marijuana?
the overall impact of a particular drug has to be determined based on both on the rate of risk associated with the use of that particular drug as well as how common that drug is being used among the driver population.
So, if you take those two into consideration, I would say marijuana is a serious concern, because it doubles the risk of fatal crash involvement and is most commonly detected among drivers.
Ten percent of the drivers who were involved in fatal crashes test positive for marijuana. If you look at the general driver population, at this time its about 6 percent of adult drivers would test positive for marijuana, and if you compare other drugs, the closest commonly used (compared to marijuana), would be stimulants. Thats about 9 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes, and about 3 percent of the drivers tested in the road survey.
The rate of risk attributed to marijuana is lower than the risk attributed to other drugs but the presence of marijuana is higher so the over all impact of marijuana on motor vehicle safety is still a serious problem and maybe as big as other drugs.
Dont drive high.
