Cannabis and Driving Resources (Erowid)
"Alison Myrden pointed this page out to me. Good stuff
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Tim Meehan of OCSARC
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Cannabis
& Driving -- by Erowid
While
it is widely accepted that cannabis use can slow motor skills
and
reduce task-attention, increasing in severity with dose, research
has shown that
cannabis use is less likely to dangerously impair driving
abilities than
alcohol at similar levels of intoxication. Cannabis intoxication
often makes
smokers more aware of their impairment, causing them to slow
down and become more cautious while also worsening reaction
time and attention. Cannabis users
often report that driving speeds are experientially 'faster'
than normal: driving a given speed feels faster and more dangerous
than the same speed does while sober.There have been a number
of studies which have looked at this issue and
most have found that cannabis smoking does degrade driving
performance. There
is a little contradictory evidence about whether cannabis
in combination with
alcohol causes worse impairment than alcohol alone, but so
far the data heavily
favors the view that the combination substantially increases
risks over either alone.
The research so far does not provide a clear answer to how
much risk of
accidents increase with moderate levels of cannabis intoxication,
but only
confirms that the risks of cannabis-alone impairment are lower
than those
of alcohol-alone impairment. The following are a collection
of summaries &
papers which look at the issue of cannabis & driving performance.Misc
ReportsExecutive Summary of Driving Impairment Effects of
Alcohol & Cannabis
(1994) --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_research1.shtml
The
influence of cannabis on driving, TRL, Britain
(PDF
- 1.5MB) --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_driving6.pdf
UK
Lords Report On Cannabis & Driving -- http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/uk_lords_report/ToxicEffects.shtml#4.6
News
& MediaAlcohol impairs driving more than marijuana -
New Scientist March 2002 -- http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992063
"A
single glass of wine will impair your driving more than smoking
a
joint. And under certain test conditions, the complex way
alcohol and cannabis
combine to affect driving behaviour suggests that someone
who has taken both may
drive less recklessly than a person who is simply drunk."
New Scientist March 2002
Journal
ReferencesTesting Reckless Drivers for Cocaine and Marijuana
--
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/331/8/518
InformationMarijuana
Myth: "Marijuana Is A Major Cause Of Highway Accidents"
--
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_myth12.shtml
US
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Reports
"Drivers under the influence of marijuana retain insight
in their performance and will compensate where they can, for
example, by slowing down or increasing effort. As a consequence,
THC's adverse effects on driving performance appear relatively
small."
Robbe, NHTSA 1993Marijuana And Actual Driving Performance
- by Robbe, NHTSA, 1993 --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_driving4.shtml
Marijuana
Use And Driving,
by Robbe 1994 --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_driving3.shtml
Marijuana
And Actual Driving
Performance - by Robbe, NHTSA, 1999 --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_driving5.shtml
Marijuana
& Alcohol Combined
Increase Impairment - NHTSA 1999 --
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_driving2.shtml
OFF-SITE
CANNABIS & DRIVING
RESOURCESPRIMARY RESOURCESCannabis Campaigner's Guide to Cannabis
& Driving --
http://www.ccguide.org.uk/driving.html
Schaffer
Library References on Drugs and Driving --
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/MISC/driving/contents.htm
Cannabis
And Road Safety: An Outline Of The Research Studies To Examine
The Effects Of Cannabis On Driving Skills And On Actual Driving
Performance --
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/MISC/driving/driving2.htm
LawDUI
Law & Cannabis --
http://www.dui-california.com/duidrugs.htm
"Professor
Hall considers cannabis's contribution to danger on the roads
to be very small; in his view the major effect of cannabis
use on driving may be
in amplifying the impairments caused by alcohol."
UK Lord's Report, 1998
