Marijuana Drivers Are NOT Dangerous

The state of California will be voting on the legalization of marijuana in the November elections. There are many reasons to vote for legalization, but one of the major reasons the opponents of legalization give for voting no is that drivers who are high on marijuana will pose a risk to the general public just like drivers high on alcohol. On the surface this may sound reasonable, but it simply is not true.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health digital archives show that drivers under the influence of marijuana are no more dangerous than drug-free drivers. In fact, a U.S. Department of Transportation study in 1992 showed drivers who smoked marijuana were actually safer than drug-free drivers. The study entitled "Incidence and Role of Drugs in Fatally Injured Drivers" showed the following:

92% of drivers with alcohol-only were responsible for their accidents.

71% of drug-free drivers were responsible for their accidents.

53% of marijuana-only drivers were responsible for their accidents.

And this is far from the only study. There have been many studies done in the last thirty years, and none of them show drivers high on marijuana are more dangerous than drug-free drivers. There is no way a driver on marijuana can be likened to a driver on alcohol (where it has been proven drunk drivers are much more dangerous than drug-free drivers).

A 1999 study on the role of marijuana in accidents addressed the comparison of marijuana to alcohol. It said, "With respect to comparisons between alcohol and marijuana effects, these substances tend to differ in their effects. In contrast to the compensatory behavior exhibited by subjects under marijuana treatment, subjects who have received alcohol tend to drive in a more risky manner. Both substances impair performance; however, the more cautious behavior of subjects who have received marijuana decreases the impact of the drug on performance, whereas the opposite holds true for alcohol."

Marijuana does cause some impairment for about an hour after use, the major one being a longer decision-making time, but ". . . people intoxicated by cannabis appear to compensate for their impairment by taking fewer risks and driving more slowly, whereas alcohol tends to encourage people to take great risks and drive more aggressively."

So don't fall for the marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol in driving argument. It's a lie. Remember that not a single study found that drivers on marijuana were any more dangerous than drug-free drivers (and some studies actually found them less dangerous). This means the legalization of marijuana will not make our roads any more dangerous than they are right now.