Back to drugs.....Cannabis "doubles" crash risk

Apparently the risk of having a fatal road crash is greater when drivers are under the influence of cannabis, a new study reveals. The population based case-control study by researchers in France involved 10,748 drivers who were involved in fatal crashes from October 2001 to September 2003. All the drivers underwent compulsory tests for drugs and alcohol, with 681 (seven per cent) testing positive for cannabis and 21.4 per cent (2,096) testing positive for alcohol. A total of 2.9 per cent of the drivers (2.9 per cent) tested positive for both substances. The research, published in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) estimates that driving under the influence of cannabis almost doubles the risk of a fatal road crash, though its share in fatal crashes is significantly lower than alcohol. A person's risk of being responsible for a fatal crash increased as the blood concentration of cannabis increased, known as the 'dose effect', supporting theories of a causal relationship between cannabis and crashes. The study team found that men were more often involved in crashes than women and tested positive for both cannabis and alcohol more often. Younger drivers also tested positive for both substances more often, as did users of mopeds and motorcycles.