Drive safer with Marijuana.

[SL1200]

By Ronnie Cohen

(Reuters Health) - Legalization of medical marijuana is not linked with increased traffic fatalities, a new study finds. In some states, in fact, the number of people killed in traffic accidents dropped after medical marijuana laws were enacted.

“Instead of seeing an increase in fatalities, we saw a reduction, which was totally unexpected,” said Julian Santaella-Tenorio, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

Since 1996, 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical use.

Deaths dropped 11 percent on average in states that legalized medical marijuana, researchers discovered after analyzing 1.2 million traffic fatalities nationwide from 1985 through 2014.

The decrease in traffic fatalities was particularly striking – 12 percent – in 25- to 44-year-olds, an age group with a large percentage of registered medical marijuana users, the authors report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Though Santaella-Tenorio was surprised by the drop in traffic deaths, the results mirror the findings of another study of data from 19 states published in 2013 in The Journal of Law and Economics. It showed an 8 to 11 percent decrease in traffic fatalities during the first full year after legalization of medical marijuana.

“Public safety doesn’t decrease with increased access to marijuana, rather it improves,” Benjamin Hansen, one of the authors of the previous study, said in an email. Hansen, an economics professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene, was not involved in the current study.

He cautioned that both marijuana and alcohol are drugs that can impair driving.

It’s not clear why traffic deaths might drop when medical marijuana becomes legal, and the study can only show an association; it can’t prove cause and effect.

The authors of both studies suggest that marijuana users might be more aware of their impairment as a result of the drug than drinkers. It’s also possible, they say, that patients with access to medical marijuana have substituted weed at home for booze in bars and have stayed off the roads.

Or, they suggest, the drop in traffic fatalities could stem from other factors, such as an increased police presence following enactment of medical marijuana laws.

Law-enforcement authorities have yet to devise a way to test drivers for marijuana intoxication, and have raised concerns about drivers high on cannabis.

Though traffic deaths dropped following legalization of medical marijuana laws in seven states, fatality rates rose in Rhode Island and Connecticut, the study found.

California immediately cut traffic deaths by 16 percent following medical marijuana legalization and then saw a gradual increase, the study found. Researchers saw a similar trend in New Mexico, with an immediate reduction of more than 17 percent followed by an increase.

The findings highlight differences in various states’ medical marijuana laws and indicate the need for research on the particularities of how localities have implemented them, Santaella-Tenorio said.

Voters in Denver, Colorado approved a November ballot measure to allow public consumption of marijuana, Hansen noted. But, he said, “We don’t know the public health consequences of those types of policy changes yet.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2igtabO American Journal of Public Health, online December 20, 2016.

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-aft...s-fell-2016-12

They really are grasping at straws trying to find something bad to say about pot.

[Garnier Fructis]

What grasping at straws? The only things in there are statistics and possible explanations. And all of those explanations are rather plausible. Cannabis impairs cognition in the short term, so it's hardly plausible that pot is making people better drivers. It may be the case, but I wouldn't bet on it.

And I say this as someone that voted to legalize marijuana in my state.

[Unhinged]

More bew cars on the road is a far more plausible explanation tahn pot been legal. This is the most ridiculous thing i have read in a long time.

[Krastyn]

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-aft...s-fell-2016-12

They really are grasping at straws trying to find something bad to say about pot.

Aside from the fact that the actual study requires membership, there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Statements from what you have quoted, and the conclusions of the report don't exactly provide a rock solid support for what you think it does.

Things such as:

Or, they suggest, the drop in traffic fatalities could stem from other factors, such as an increased police presence following enactment of medical marijuana laws.

So policing could be the reason, not the pot.

On average, MML states had lower traffic fatality rates than non-MML states. Medical marijuana laws were associated with immediate reductions in traffic fatalities in those aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 44 years, and with additional yearly gradual reductions in those aged 25 to 44 years. However, state-specific results showed that only 7 states experienced post-MML reductions.

So on average they are lower but on a state by state basis only 7 of the 28 showed a reduction? Wouldn't that mean 21 of the 28 states actually showed an increase (or had no change)?

And from their conclusion:

State-specific analysis showed heterogeneity of the MML–traffic fatalities association, suggesting moderation by other local factors.

Without seeing the whole report it's hard to say what the margin of error is. The abstract and conclusion are littered with statements talking about other factors that could be responsible. All this report has done is shown a correlation, not causation.

[SL1200]

What grasping at straws?

I wasn't very clear with that comment. In my opinion this study, like the many many others I have been seeing are largely being done to try and find something they can use to stop legalization.

I find it fun that they've been finding the exact opposite of what they wanted to prove.

[monkmastaeq]

I cant wait till pot is legal everywhere so potheads can stfu about it. Pots makes us better drivers guys for realz!!!!!!

[Tommi]

Meh, almost any drug can either impair or help depending on the person taking it. A good example is Tramadol. I take 800mg Tramadol every day, and I drive fine on it. That would knock most people out, but I'm used to it. It also helps my driving by making me more relaxed.

TLR - Everyone reacts differently on drugs.

[Steve French]

I cant wait till pot is legal everywhere so potheads can stfu about it. Pots makes us better drivers guys for realz!!!!!!

Hey you know what could fix that shitty attitude buddy?

[SL1200]

I cant wait till pot is legal everywhere so potheads can stfu about it. Pots makes us better drivers guys for realz!!!!!!

If the study said the opposite. If it said traffic deaths were up where pot was legalized. You'd be seeing this paper everywhere. Believe me that's what the purpose of the study was to begin with.

[I Push Buttons]

It’s not clear why traffic deaths might drop when medical marijuana becomes legal, and the study can only show an association; it can’t prove cause and effect.

Then what was the point of the study?

Just a bunch of idiot students trying to make pot look good by attributing the decline in traffic accident fatalities that had already been steadily declining for an entire century to pot becoming legal.

[Zyster]

Ignoring the significant unethical practices in many studies now-and-days, it's not even logical to say this, or even do a study for it to begin with. This "study" itself even mentions other conflicting practices happening that could of been the reason. Anyways though, let us get back to the logic part. It is illogical to assume that legalization would decrease traffic related incidents while under the influence. There is nothing that would change with legalization to prevent this, except for more people having access to marijuana. I think you can put 2 and 2 together. Maybe free cars were given to all pot users in the process that prevent driving when under the influence.

Btw, I am not against the legalization of pot. I just hate the fallacies that usually coexist with it. I guess whatever it takes for them to get it legalized I suppose.

[Garnier Fructis]

Ignoring the significant unethical practices in many studies now-and-days, it's not even logical to say this, or even do a study for it to begin with. This "study" itself even mentions other conflicting practices happening that could of been the reason.

How is doing a study on this illogical? They even clearly emphasize that there's only a correlation and no causation. You shouldn't attach the OP's interpretation to the researchers.

[Tommi]

I think people are confusing medical marijuana vs street marijuana. Medical is generally cannabidiol doesn't get you high. Street has mainly tetrahydrocannabinol, which is what gives that high feeling.

[SL1200]

I think people are confusing medical marijuana vs street marijuana. Medical is generally cannabidiol doesn't get you high. Street has mainly tetrahydrocannabinol, which is what gives that high feeling.

Huh? What? Do you believe that? lol.

[Tommi]

Huh? What? Do you believe that? lol.

Erm, yes.

http://www.leafscience.com/cannabino...c/effects-thc/

http://www.leafscience.com/cannabino...d/effects-cbd/

[Garnier Fructis]

Huh? What? Do you believe that? lol.

He's not wrong.

[SL1200]

Erm, yes.

http://www.leafscience.com/cannabino...c/effects-thc/

http://www.leafscience.com/cannabino...d/effects-cbd/

Medical marijuana has thc in it bud. In fact they rate it by the percentage of thc in the marijuana.

- - - Updated - - -

He's not wrong.

He's not right either.

[Tommi]

Medical marijuana has thc in it bud. In fact they rate it by the percentage of thc in the marijuana.

Exactly my point. There is a difference between street vs medical in the amount of THC in it.

[Garnier Fructis]

Medical marijuana has thc in it bud. In fact they rate it by the percentage of thc in the marijuana.

And how much THC there is matters.

[SL1200]

Exactly my point. There is a difference between street vs medical in the amount of THC in it.

The difference is usually that the medical pot is more potent, unless you know a good grower.