Posted on 05/31/2018 11:08:58 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
Some 22.3 percent of fatally injured motorists who were tested for drugs tested positive for marijuana in 2016, a figure that researchers say has "increased substantially" in recent years as states have legalized the drug for recreational or medicinal use, according to a new report.
The finding, in a study released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association, was one of several regarding the growing prevalence of drugs in vehicle fatalities. The report also found that 44 percent of drivers killed in automobile accidents in 2016 who were tested for drugs tested positive for one or more substances – a number that was up 28 percent from 10 years prior. That figure eclipsed the 37.9 percent who were known to have been tested for alcohol and tested positive – a figure that actually fell in the last decade, from 41 percent in 2006.
I've heard that pot is harder to legalize because the tests to determine the levels in the blood are much more complex and expensive than the alcohol tests.
It’s interesting to see all the FR statists self-identify.
Not to mention the effect of second hand pot smoke on children
“Exactly. Big Tobacco is now Big Marijuana.”
When they start equating second-hand marijuana smoke to second-hand tobacco smoke I will be delighted.
Some apartment buildings in my area (MA)were considering making the entire building smoke free,but put it on hold because of the medical marijuana issue,which has driven the smoke Nazis a bit insane.
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This news article has a very misleading coupling of headline and lede. The lede focuses on marijuana, with a figure of 22.3%. But the headline refers to those who tested positive for “one or more substances,” which is 44%. Yes, that is higher than the 37.9% who tested positive for alcohol, but it appears that the intent of the story is to blame marijuana for auto fatalities since it never mentions what those other substances might be and how an increase in their use might be to blame.
When they start equating second-hand marijuana smoke to second-hand tobacco smoke I will be delighted.
Exactly. One of the reasons I have never smoked dope is the smell makes me nauseous. To me, it’s basically 3/4 dead skunk, 1/4 burning rotting garbage. And where people have been smoking the smell permeates everywhere and doesn’t leave. It’s much worse than tobacco.
So when I go jogging these days, especially on the main drag the smell of marijuana is everywhere, because everyone is smoking it in their cars as they are driving home. (Which also means a good percentage of those drivers are high while driving.)
People really need to start bitching about the second-hand impacts of dope smoking.
Not to mention lung problems, COPD and lung cancer. It has all the same carcinogens as tobacco.”
I have only four acquaintances who’ve smoked pot. Two are on oxygen. One, the youngest, is dead.The fourth, the only conservative, lost a child to miscarriage. When I advised him of the study connecting marijuana to miscarriage, they’ve stopped visiting.
“People really need to start bitching about the second-hand impacts of dope smoking.”
They will,eventually.
It never even occurred to me that people would smoke marijuana while driving during the rush hour——I always assumed it would be a 3:00 AM thing.
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“The report also found that 44 percent of drivers killed in automobile accidents in 2016 who were tested for drugs tested positive for one or more substances – a number that was up 28 percent from 10 years prior. That figure eclipsed the 37.9 percent who were known to have been tested for alcohol and tested positive – a figure that actually fell in the last decade, from 41 percent in 2006.”
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Traffic deaths have fallen by about 20% since 2006, despite nationwide loosening of mj laws.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year
Actually it’s because THC bonds to fat molecules, and are released over time. Nothing to do with what our bodies “recognize”. Other than that you are correct.
If you wanna marijuana legal, then:
24-hour abstinence before driving a car.
Driving is a privilege, not a right. Pilots have to abstain from legal alcohol for 24 hours before flying a plane.
I do not want to be a statistical sacrifice to libertine pseudo-libertarian leftism.
If you have to drive every day, well then, too bad.
“It has all the same carcinogens as tobacco.”
Wrong. Tobacco companies add nitrates and formaldehyde in cigarettes. Also the smoke particles are much larger in weed smoke. The cilia in the lungs can remove them. Tobacco particles are much smaller and lodge between cilia so they cannot remove them. Eventually it causes dead spots in the lung tissue. You don’t see that with weed smoke. Nor do you see lung cancer at the rate you do with cigaretttes.
First there’s no way to test how long it was since it was used. Second why 24 hours? The intoxicating effect from smoking lasts about 2-4 hours. Here’s an idea, how about old fashioned field sobriety tests? I’m more concerned with whether a person can function than if they are positive on a test that tells nothing about whether they are impaired.
Cell Phones. Young people can’t stop looking at the damn things. Some older people too!
A nation of zombies with future neck and posture problems.
I don’t like or use pot but it should be legalized simply because it does help some people and it for sure isn’t any worse than alcohol which is seen being used in just about every tv show and movie these days.
Always has been for decades. Every drug test, even of it says pos/neg has a cutoff limit. It is required to be reported w the result.
I think you are right and it presents a conundrum. May have to revert to the physical sobriety test.
“That, what you just said right there? That is a lie”
“Only fools believe marijuana was the CAUSE of all those fatal accidents, especially since its metabolites remain in the system for 30+ days after use.”
Then how do you explain that my users are involved in more fatal crashes?
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