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UK: Driving while high on cannabis triples risk of fatal crash

Nic Fleming

The Telegraph

Friday 02 Dec 2005

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Drivers who have taken even small quantities of cannabis almost double
their risk of being involved in a fatal road accident, according to
research published yesterday.

French researchers showed that those who drove with low concentrations
of cannabis in their blood increased their chances of being involved in
a deadly crash by 89 per cent, while those with higher concentrations
tripled their risk.

The study was published online by the British Medical Journal the day
after the Home Office published proposals suggesting that people caught
in possession of up to 500 cannabis joints were likely to escape drug
dealing charges.

Researchers at the French National Institute for Transport and Safety
Research studied fatal crashes involving 10,478 drivers who were tested
for drugs and alcohol between October 2001 and September 2003.

They found that 681, or seven per cent, of the drivers tested positive
for cannabis and 2,096, or 21.4 per cent, had alcohol in their blood. A
total of 285 drivers tested positive for both substances. The risk of
being responsible for a fatal crash increased as the concentration of
delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis, in
the blood increased.

Those with up to one nanogram per millilitre of THC in their blood
increased the chance of fatality by 89 per cent, while those with five
or more ng/ml of THC increased the risk of death by 206 per cent.
Samples showed that the prevalence of cannabis in France's driving
population was 2.9 per cent, roughly the same as for illegal levels of
alcohol.

Alcohol was found to play a far greater role in fatal car crashes,
accounting for 28.6 per cent compared with about 2.5 per cent for cannabis.

Bernard Laumon, the study's lead researcher, said: "Driving under the
influence of cannabis increases the risk of involvement in a crash.

"The risk of responsibility for fatal traffic crashes while driving
under the influence of cannabis has a significant dose effect that shows
a causal relationship between cannabis and crashes."

 

 

 

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