Pubdate: Tue, 02 Sep 2014
Source: Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)
Copyright: 2014 Daily Freeman
Contact:  http://www.dailyfreeman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3269
Author: Joan Lowy, The Associated Press
Page: A6
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving)

Rethinking Pot

SOME FEAR RISE IN TRAFFIC DEATHS AS STATES LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

As states liberalize their marijuana laws, public officials and 
safety advocates worry that more drivers high on pot will lead to a 
big increase in traffic deaths. Researchers, though, are divided on 
the question.

Studies of marijuana's effects show that the drug can slow 
decision-making, decrease peripheral vision and impede multitasking, 
all of which are critical driving skills. But unlike with alcohol, 
drivers high on pot tend to be aware that they are impaired and try 
to compensate by driving slowly, avoiding risky actions such as 
passing other cars, and allowing extra room between vehicles.

On the other hand, combining marijuana with alcohol appears to 
eliminate the pot smoker's exaggerated caution and seems to increase 
driving impairment beyond the effects of either substance alone.

"We see the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington as a 
wakeup call for all of us in highway safety," said Jonathan Adkins, 
executive director of Governors Highway Safety Association, which 
represents state highway safety offices.

"We don't know enough about the scope of marijuana-impaired driving 
to call it a big or small problem. But anytime a driver has their 
ability impaired, it is a problem."

Colorado and Washington are the only states that allow retail sales 
of marijuana for recreational use. Efforts to legalize recreational 
marijuana are underway in Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and 
the District of Columbia.

Twenty-three states and the nation's capital permit marijuana use for 
medical purposes.

It is illegal in all states to drive while impaired by marijuana.

Colorado, Washington and Montana have set an intoxication threshold 
of 5 parts per billion of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot, in 
the blood. A few other states have set intoxication thresholds, but 
most have not set a specific level. In Washington, there was a jump 
of nearly 25 percent in drivers testing positive for marijuana in 
2013 - the first full year after legalization - but no corresponding 
increase in car accidents or fatalities.

What worries highway safety experts are cases like that of New York 
teenager Joseph Beer, who in October 2012 smoked marijuana, climbed 
into a Subaru Impreza with four friends and drove more than 100 mph 
before losing control. The car crashed into trees with such force 
that the vehicle split in half, killing his friends.

Beer pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and was 
sentenced last week to 5 years to 15 years in prison.

A prosecutor blamed the crash on "speed and weed," but a Yale 
University Medical School expert on drug abuse who testified at the 
trial said studies of marijuana and crash risk are "highly 
inconclusive." Some studies show a twoor three-fold increase, while 
others show none, said Dr. Mehmet Sofuoglu. Some studies even showed 
less risk if someone was marijuana positive, he testified.

Teenage boys and young men are the most likely drivers to smoke pot 
and the most likely drivers to have an accident regardless of whether 
they're high, he said.

"Being a teenager, a male teenager, and being involved in reckless 
behavior could explain both at the same time - not necessarily 
marijuana causing getting into accidents, but a general reckless 
behavior leading to both conditions at the same time," he told jurors.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom