<<IN THE WAY PAST.. I did my own testing under more than real conditions and I can safely say what your study said is a crock! :o)<<
I used to smoke-- and I did drive better.
I cannot find the new that I saw, but,
Put this in your pipe and smoke it:
Myth: Marijuana is a Major Road Safety Hazard
A growing body of research indicates that marijuana is on balance less of a road hazard than alcohol. Various surveys have found that half or more of fatal drivers have alcohol in their blood, as opposed to 7 - 20% with THC, the major psychoactive component of marijuana (a condition usually indicative of having smoked within the past 2-4 hours). 12 The same studies show that some 70-90% of those who are THC-positive also have alcohol in their blood. It therefore appears that marijuana by itself is a minor road safety hazard, though the combination of pot and alcohol is not. Some research has even suggested that low doses of marijuana may sometimes improve driving performance, though this is probably not true in most cases.13
Two major new studies by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have confirmed marijuana's relative safety compared to alcohol. The first, the most comprehensive drug accident study to date, surveyed blood samples from 1882 drivers killed in car, truck and motorcycle accidents in seven states during 1990-91.14 Alcohol was found in 51.5% of specimens, as against 17.8% for all other drugs combined. Marijuana, the second most common drug, appeared in just 6.7%. Two-thirds of the marijuana-using drivers also had alcohol. The report concluded that alcohol was by far the "dominant" drug-related problem in accidents. It went on to analyze the responsibility of drivers for the accidents they were involved in. It found that drivers who used alcohol were especially culpable in fatal accidents, and even more so when they combined it with marijuana or other drugs. However, those who used marijuana alone appeared to be if anything less culpable than non-drug users (though the date were insufficient to be statistically conclusive). The report concluded, "There was no indication that marijuana by itself was a cause of fatal accidents." (It must be emphasized that this is not the case when marijuana is combined with alcohol or other drugs).
The second NHTSA study, "Marijuana and Actual Driving Performance," concluded that the adverse effects of cannabis on driving appear "relatively small" and are less than those of drunken driving.15 The study, conducted in the Netherlands, examined the performance of drivers in actual freeway and urban driving situations at various doses of marijuana. It found that marijuana produces a moderate, dose-related decrement in road tracking ability, but is "not profoundly impairing" and "in no way unusual compared to many medicinal drugs." It found that marijuana's effects at the higher doses preferred by smokers never exceed those of alcohol at blood concentrations of .08%, the minimum level for legal intoxication in stricter states such as California. The study found that unlike alcohol, which encourages risky diring, marijuana appears to produce greater caution, apparently because users are more aware of their state and able to compensate for it (similar results have been reported by other researchers as well16) It should be noted that these results may not apply to non-driving related situations, where forgetfulness or inattention can be more important than speed (this might explain the discrepancy in the Baltimore hospital study, which looked at accidents of all kinds). The NHTSA study also warned that marijuana could also be quite dangerous in emergency situations that put high demands on driving skills.
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Myth: Marijuana Prohibition Improves Public Safety
There is no evidence that the prohibition of marijuana reduces the net social risk of accidents. On the contrary, recent studies suggest that marijuana may actually be beneficial in that it substitutes for alcohol and other, more dangerous drugs. Research by Karyn Model found that states with marijuana decrim had lower overall drug abuse rates than others; another study by Frank Chaloupka found decrim states have lower accident rates too.17 In Alaska, accident rates held constant or declined following the legalization of personal use of marijuana.18 In Holland, authorities believe that cannabis has contributed to an overall decline in opiate abuse. Recent government statistics showed that the highest rates of cocaine abuse in the West were in Nevada and Arizona, the states with the toughest marijuana laws.
10 Herbert Moskowitz, "Marihuana and Driving," Accident Analysis
and Prevention 17#4: 323-45 (1985).
11 Carl Soderstrom et al., "Marijuana and Alcohol Use Among 1023
Trauma Patients," Archives of Surgery, 123: 733-7 (1988).
12 Dale Gieringer, "Marijuana, Driving, and Accident Safety,"
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 20 (1): 93-101 (Jan-Mar 1988).
13 H. Klonoff, "Marijuana and driving in real-life situations,"
Science 186: 317-24 (1974).
14 K.W. Terhune et al., "The Incidence and Role of Drugs in
Fatally Injured Drivers," NHTSA Report # DOT-HS-808-065 (1994).
15 Hendrik Robbe and James O'Hanlon, "Marijuana and Actual
Driving Performance," NHTSA Report #DOT-HS-808-078 (1994).
16 Klonoff, loc. cit.; A. Smiley, "Marijuana: On-road and
driving simulator studies," Alcohol, Drugs and Driving: Abstracts and
Reviews 2#3-4: 15-30 (1986).
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