Smoking Pot And Driving Doubles Chances Of Car Accident [Study]

Smoking marijuana even a couple hours before you get behind the wheel of a vehicle can double your chances of getting into a car accident according to a recent study conducted by Associate Professor Mark Asbridge from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

In the latest issue of the British Medical Journal the study found:

“To our knowledge this meta-analysis is the first to examine the association between acute cannabis use and the risk of motor vehicle collisions in real life.”

To conduct the study researchers examined nine observational studies with 49,411 accident victims, they then ruled out accidents where other drugs or alcohol was involved.

While the study found a connection between pot smoking and car accidents researchers admit that the correlation between the amount of tetrahydrocannabionol (THC) in the blood stream and other incidents are still unclear.

Researchers write:

“Although we did not examine dose effects on the risk and severity of collisions, studies of fatally injured drivers found higher amounts of tetrahyrocannabinol in the blood.”

Researchers say more study’s are needed while noting:

“[TCH] concentrations might also be important, with minor collisions more likely than fatal collisions to involve drivers with lower concentrations of cannabis.”

The CBC provides more information about road side testing, noting that current evaluations don’t use enough benchmarks to make a final conclusion regarding the effects of marijuana use and accidents caused by pot induced drivers.

Do you think smoking marijuana and then driving an automobile leads to a doubled chance of being involved in an automobile related accident?