The last time marijuana legalization was voted on in California, the anti-legalization forces were able to defeat it with a campaign that claimed legal marijuana would make the roads much less safe -- as drivers high on marijuana would pose a danger to others. Making this campaign very hypocritical was the fact that much of the funding for it came from alcohol producers and sellers -- a drug that has been long recognized as a danger to divers.
It was a lie, of course. Several studies in other countries, and a study done by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, have shown that drivers on marijuana pose no more risk on our streets and highways than drivers on no drugs at all. This has been verified by the Colorado Department of Transportation, whose figures showed that traffic fatalities actually fell in 2014 (the first year that marijuana was legal in that state.
Fortunately, it looks like the American public is starting to realize this fact. A recent Gallup Poll (done on June 24th and 25th of a random national sample of 1,007 adults, with a 4 point margin of error) shows than only 29% of Americans now believe marijuana poses a serious driving risk (or only about 3 out of every 10 people).
That's still too high, and it's obvious that more education efforts must be made -- but at least the numbers are moving in the right direction (down). Marijuana does not pose any kind of danger to Americans -- not to drivers and not to users.
I find those results shocking. Maybe I need to raise my opinion of my fellow Americans. Personally, I've always thought that the biggest effect of alcohol was to make drivers more aggressive. So drunk drivers are more dangerous for the same reason that abusive spouses are more dangerous when they are drunk. But I really don't know. That's just what I've noticed being around a lot of drunk people.
ReplyDeletewhen I drank I'd get behind the wheel after drinking.(showing that alcohol shuts down the thinking process)..the few times I smoked weed I didn't drive because by the time I got to the car I couldn't remember where I wanted to go..so never left.
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