Arcueil, France: Drivers under the influence of cannabis are far less likely to be culpable in traffic fatalities than drunk drivers, according to epidemiological data to be published in the British Medical Journal.
Researchers at France’s National Institute for Research on Transportation and Safety collected data from approximately 8,000 accidents. Authors found that alcohol intoxication and speeding were nearly ten times more likely to be an attributing factor in traffic fatalities than the use of cannabis. Overall, researchers estimated that cannabis’ psychomotor impairment was similar to that exhibited by drivers with blood alcohol levels ranging from .02 to .05 well below the legal limit for drunk driving in the United States.
The French findings echo previous research comparing cannabis’ psychomotor effects to those of alcohol. A 1993 study conducted by the Netherlands University of Maastrict found: “THC in single inhaled doses … has significant, yet not dramatic, dose-related impairing effects on driving performance. … THC’s effects on road-tracking … never exceeded alcohol’s at BACs of .08% and were in no way unusual compared to many medicinal drugs.”
A follow up study in 2004 affirmed, “The degrees of impairment observed in laboratory or actual driving tests after [the ingestion of] THC were comparable to the impairing effects of an alcohol dose producing a BAC [of approximately] .05. “
Last month, an analysis of on-road crashes by an international expert panel reported that: “Drivers with THC concentrations in whole blood of less than 5 ng/ml have a crash risk no higher than that of drug-free users.” THC blood levels typically fall below 5 ng/ml in recreational cannabis users within 60 to 90 minutes after inhalation.
Under French law, drivers who test positive for even trace levels of THC in their blood face up to two years in prison.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Expert, at (202) 483-5500 or download a copy of NORML’s report, “You Are Going Directly to Jail: DUID Legislation: What It Means, Who’s Behind It, and Strategies to Prevent It.”