Driving High written by: Chynna Jasmine Pearson
As more states are legalizing what are the impacts and or correlations in DUI. Is alcohol DUI decreasing?
W
e all know that driving drunk is a horrible and dangerous thing to do. In fact, before any state had legalized recreational marijuana, there were nearly 10,000 deaths associated with driving under the influence of alcohol according to the US Department of Transportation. The next year, 2012, had an increase of drunk driving deaths - 10,322. When Ohio became the 25th state to legalize marijuana in 2016, drunk driving deaths were 10,497, that account for 28% of all traffic-related deaths. In 2020, there was a 9% increase in drunk driving deaths and at that point, there were nearly 35 states with some sort of legalized marijuana. Does marijuana have any correlation to these statistics? Let’s find out. 22
JUNE 2022
thechronicmagazine.com
Now that marijuana has been legalized in over half of the United States, you may have seen some commercials condemning driving high as well. Like many people who partake in marijuana, you may be thinking that driving high can’t be as bad as driving drunk. Many of us have no idea what the statistics are when it comes to driving under the influence of marijuana. While it has been recorded by many, both in professional and personal areas, that people driving while under the influence of marijuana tend to be more careful than drunk drivers there is no definitive scientific answer. Regardless, driving under the influence of anything is dangerous and can end up ending someone's life or your own.
First of all, even at a quick glance, you can tell the data is all over the place. Why is that? Scientific testing is behind on how to test for cannabis intoxication in comparison to testing for alcohol. Additionally, alcohol impairment is typically more visibly apparent than cannabis impairment. A 2010 study conducted by the National Library of Medicine explains the effect on driving that cannabis has in comparison with alcohol. “In summary, laboratory tests and driving studies show that cannabis may acutely impair several drivingrelated skills in a dose-related fashion, but that the effects between individuals vary more than they do with alcohol because of tolerance, differences in smoking technique, and different absorptions of THC.
