Weed Legalization in Canada Not Linked to Increase in Car Crashes

Neither the legalization of adult cannabis nor the increase in retail sales correlated with an increase in car accidents. NORML report. The origin of the data is the study Published earlier this month Drug and alcohol reviews.

Canadian scientists studied the number of traffic accidents in Toronto both before and shortly after the city legalized adult marijuana use.

According to their report, “[N]Any of the CCAs [Canadian Cannabis Act] Not NCS [number of cannabis stores per capita] is associated with concomitant changes in (traffic safety) outcomes. … in the first year of CRUL [cannabis recreational use laws] Implementation in Toronto, number of crashes, traffic casualties, no significant change in KSI [all road users killed or severely injured] Observed. ”

In the United States, the risk of an increase in stone-driven car accidents is often cited as a reason for not legalizing cannabis for adult use. Over the years, various studies have reported conflicting information, yielding different results depending on who you ask and the person’s position on cannabis. For example, a 2021 U.S. study suggests that car crash rates have risen in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, where recreational cannabis use and retail sales are legal. Newsweek report. But if you read the article in its entirety, you’ll notice at the end that it mentions a study of the problem using information from an injured driver in a Denver, Colorado emergency room. Portland, Oregon. In Sacramento, California, traffic accidents increased only when cannabis was combined with alcohol.

According to the CDCIn 2020, 11,654 people died in car accidents involving alcoholic drivers, accounting for 30% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. The estimated annual cost of automobile accidents involving alcoholic drivers is approximately $123.3 billion annually. Includes estimates of lives lost and medical costs in 2020. Not only is alcohol legal, it isn’t bound by the same insane tax laws as cannabis. Cannabis appears to be strangling the legal market and allowing the black market to thrive. The cannabis industry paid over $1.8 billion in additional taxes in 2022 alone.

Toronto survey results drug and alcohol reviews The study is consistent with other Canadian studies. for example, 2021 survey in a diary drug and alcohol addiction “found There is no evidence that cannabis law [which legalized adult-use in Canada] All drivers were associated with significant changes in post-legalization patterns of road injury ED [emergency department] Visit, or more specifically, the ED Presentation on Youth Driver Traffic Injuries. So does another study published earlier this year, as NORML points out. concluded“Overall, there is no clear evidence of RCL.” [recreational cannabis laws] It had some impact on emergency department visits and hospitalization rates for motor vehicle or pedestrian/bicycle injuries across Canada. ”

In the United States, however, insights into the correlation between cannabis legalization and traffic accidents tend to be skewed to the regressive and scientifically unsound views of Republicans.As reported by BenzingaRegarding the 2023 bill aimed at curbing the legal market in Connecticut, State Senator Paul Chicarella (R), a senior Public Safety Commission official, told NBC Connecticut’s Mike Heidek: rice field. “It’s the effect of marijuana,” he said, adding that “the false-positive and false-negative rates are so high that it may still be difficult to admit it in court.”

The race to develop THC breathalyzers has just begun. But anti-cannabis lawmakers fail to grasp that people are already using cannabis, whether legal or illegal. Cannabis, like any mind-altering drug, is generally considered a safe substance, but of course, safety precautions such as driving and always using it responsibly should be considered. But if the U.S. really wants to focus on safety, tax reform and federal legalization should be a priority. Otherwise, there is no legitimate market to study.