A separate study also based on FARS data found that in states where medical marijuana was approved, traffic fatalities decrease by as much as 11 percent during the first year after legalization. Written by researchers at the University of Colorado, Oregon and Montana State University, the paper was published in 2013 in the Journal of Law & Economics.
Those authors theorized pot, for some, becomes a substitute for alcohol. They cited a recent, 13-percent drop in drunk-driving deaths in states where medical marijuana is legal.
Marijuana reform is associated with
a decrease in traffic fatalities, most likely due to its impact on alcohol consumption, said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, a trade association in Colorado.
It's those pesky facts again.
I thought CO was the first state. Which states are they referring to?