MORE EVIDENCE POT A THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY

DUI under pot is hazardous to drivers, their passengers and others on the road; in Colorado, between 2006 and 2011, deaths involving drivers testing positive for just marijuana increased 114 percent

I have been warning readers for a long time that marijuana is not less dangerous than alcohol and that the legalization of pot, whether for medical or recreational purposes, would lead to a significant increase in traffic fatalities and injuries. An article in the Houston Chronicle bears this out.

In 2007, before there were 20 states with legalized medical marijuana and before the recreational use of pot was legalized in Colorado and Washington, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration surveyed 10,000 drivers nationwide and found that 8.6 percent were positive for marijuana. If the NHTSA were to survey 10,000 drivers today, it would find a very significant increase in the percentage of drivers positive for pot.

Here are some excerpts from Pot’s Popularity Raising DWI Concerns, an article by Dan Freedman that was published in Saturday’s Houston Chronicle:

Law enforcement officials and traffic safety experts fear that marijuana’s rising popularity will further increase the traffic hazard of driving while high.

“Smoking marijuana has a very negative effect on your ability to operate a motor vehicle,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “It’s quite dangerous to you, your passengers and others on the road.”

Law enforcement officials say that while traffic fatalities in Colorado decreased 16 percent between 2006 and 2011, deaths involving drivers testing positive for just marijuana increased 114 percent.

"Driving is the most dangerous thing we do on a routine basis,'' Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said in an interview. "Anything you do that changes your perception, reaction times, reasoning (and) alertness is a threat to public safety, no question.''

A study conducted last year at Dalhousie University Medical School in Canada found those who consume cannabis within three hours of driving are almost twice as likely to cause an accident as those who are drug-or alcohol-free.
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Since marijuana is a proven gateway drug, I predict that the legalization of pot for recreational use will lead to an increase in the use of other drugs. When the use of marijuana becomes prosaic, many stoners will seek the higher highs of designer drugs, heroin, cocaine and meth.