Study: Marijuana Has Little Effect On Driving #cannabis #driving

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> Study: Marijuana Has Little Effect On Driving
>
> Report Shows Drivers Become Easily Distracted
>
> POSTED: Monday, June 7, 2010
> UPDATED: 1:07 pm EDT June 7, 2010
>
> http://www.clickondetroit.com/automotive/23818884/detail.html
>
> HARTFORD, Conn. -- A study from researchers based at Hartford Hospital
> reveals that marijuana has little effect on the group's simulated
> driving skills, but did find drivers were more easily distracted under
> the influence.
>
> Researchers from Hartford Hospital and the University of Iowa Carver
College
> of Medicine assessed the simulated driving performance of 85 subjects
> in a double-blind, placebo controlled trial.
>
> Volunteers responded to various simulated events, which were
> associated
with
> automobile crash risk. Those risks included a driver who was entering
> an intersection illegally, deciding to stop or go through a changing
> traffic light, responding to a presence of emergency vehicles,
> avoiding a
collision
> with a dog who entered into traffic and maintaining safe driving
> during an in-the-car distraction.
>
> "It does not in any way say that it is safe to drive under the
> influence
of
> any drug," said investigator Beth Anderson, PhD. "It merely shows us,
> we need to study this further. We need to know what marijuana does to
> the brain. We need to understand the ramifications. To create public
> policy
and
> to keep people safe, you need to know what's really happening in the
brain.
> You need to know the science behind it. You have to have the facts."
>
> The marijuana used in the study was provided by the National Institute
> of Drug Abuse and the University of Mississippi, the only legal source
> of cannabis in the United States.
>
> "The results do not imply that it is safe to drive under the influence
> of marijuana, especially because we know people aren't just smoking
marijuana,"
> said Anderson. "They do it while drinking. They do this when others
> are in the car, listening to music, talking on cell phones or texting.
> These behaviors distract drivers and are even more dangerous when
> someone has
been
> using marijuana."
>
> http://www.clickondetroit.com/automotive/23818884/detail.html

Colleagues,

Well, the headline for this story is accurate but Beth Anderson's quotes are pure politics.

I wrote and commented on this study several weeks ago. The researchers bent over backwards in the study 'discussion' to try and support the premise that marijuana use adversely impacted driving when their study found nothing of the sort. They even went so far as to claim that marijuana likely impaired driving skills -- just not the skills they tested for in their study. They then argued that the lack of psychomotor impairment reported in the study was irrelevant in the real world anyway since most people drive after using marijuana and alcohol simultaneously. Both hypotheses went totally unsubstantiated. They finally argued that since subjects performed the same after smoking as they did at baseline that they must have been impaired because they didn't IMPROVE the second time around -- in other words, performing the same under the influence as sober is now evidence that one is impaired. Very creative.

Bottom line, as taken from the study abstract: "No differences were found during the baseline driving segment (and the) collision avoidance scenarios." Somehow in Beth Anderson's NIDA-dependent world that finding translates to: "It merely shows us, we need to study this further." Yeah, I'll bet.

Anyway, folks can read my complete synopsis of the study's findings here:

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=8197

My lit review on marijuana and its impact on psychomotor skills is here:

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7459

I also have the full text of the study for those interested.

Regards,
--
Paul Armentano
Deputy Director
NORML | NORML Foundation
paul@norml.org

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