Some tragedies are predictable; like people who use drugs laced with fentanyl. It’s only a matter of time until they die from fentanyl usage – which is 100 times more powerful than morphine. People who play Russian roulette; it’s inevitable that some time the bullet is going to be in the chamber and you’re going to die.
The latest example of this is drivers who use marijuana. It’s inevitable that someday they’re going to have a traffic accident and they’re going to die. If you’re using marijuana regularly you probably scoff at this suggestion – but statistics don’t lie.
The evidence for this is overwhelming. The Wall Street Journal editorial board was so concerned that they wrote an editorial called More Marijuana Users Are Crash Dummies. That headline ought to get your attention! Here’s what the editors had to say: “How much social and public-health damage will Americans suffer before doing a U-turn on marijuana promotion? A new study finds that more than 40% of drivers who died in car accidents in one U.S. county over the last six years had elevated levels of the drug in their blood.”
Researchers from Wright State University analyzed driver autopsy results from car crashes in Montgomery County, Ohio, between January 2019 and September 2024. More than four in 10 tested positive for pot’s psychoactive ingredient THC, with an average level of 30.7 nanograms. That’s more than six times the level most states use to define impairment.
Breathalyzers won’t detect recent marijuana use, which makes it hard for police to nab people who are driving while high. Today’s marijuana is five times more potent than the weed that Boomers smoked when they were younger, so it takes less to become impaired. Some studies suggest the percentage of THC in today’s marijuana is much higher than that.
Auto fatalities have increased over the last decade even as cars have become safer and alcohol consumption has fallen. Could marijuana be contributing to more reckless driving? It’s a fair question. Nearly a quarter of 18- to 25-year-olds used marijuana in the last month, according to a federal survey. As did 15% of those 26 or older.
The WSJ editors say, “The Ohio study, which is being presented this week at an American College of Surgeons conference, ought to prompt the Trump Administration to slam the brakes on a mooted plan to move marijuana to a less risky level on the federal drug schedule. Such a move would cultivate the spurious belief that marijuana isn’t all that harmful despite reams of evidence to the contrary.”
Marijuana can damage the heart, lungs, immune system and brain. A study this spring in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that marijuana users under age 50 who were free of cardiovascular disease were six times as likely to suffer a heart attack compared to non-users and were at four-fold increased risk of stroke.
Americans were told that legalizing marijuana would reduce the illegal market, but that hasn’t happened. California officials last month said they destroyed more than 20,000 illegal cannabis plants at operations run by transnational criminal organizations. They also found firearms and hazardous pesticides that contaminate the environment.
Marijuana legalization laws were promoted based on the premise that marijuana usage is safer than alcohol and doesn’t impair driving. Now we know the truth. Both alcohol and marijuana impair driving and neither should be tolerated. Both lead to chronic diseases and often premature death. It’s time to get real about marijuana today. This isn’t your grandfather’s pot!
Author’s note: I have written on the subject of the dangers of marijuana usage in the past. For more information see previous posts Marijuana and Violence and Cannabis and Schizophrenia.
