A new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that there is no significant link between marijuana use and increased traffic accidents.
While it was previously widely believed that there must be some connection between the drug's use and more irresponsible driving, the study found that once researchers controlled for relevant variables like drivers' age, sex, and more, high drivers were no more likely to crash than sober ones. From the study, via Reason:
This finding suggests that these demographic variables may have co-varied with drug use and accounted for most of the increased crash risk. For example, if the THC-positive drivers were predominantly young males, their apparent crash risk may have been related to age and gender rather than use of THC. [Reason]
This is not the case, of course, for alcohol use, which the same study confirmed makes accidents much more likely. While alcohol is legal in all 50 states, recreational pot is still only legal in four.
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