Medicinal Marijuana Legalization Helps Reduce Traffic Deaths

The use of marijuana in society today has caused one of the most controversial debates to date. Marijuana under the classification of a schedule I drug has no medical benefits. However, in sixteen states and the District of Columbia, marijuana has been legalized under medicinal marijuana. This means that if you qualify for certain medical conditions, a doctor can prescribe the patient a card to legally smoke marijuana. A new study conducted by IZA, a nonprofit labor research organization associated with the University of Bonn in Germany, and data collected by National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration used government data from 1990-2009 claim that fatal car accidents dropped by 9% in those states that legalized medicinal marijuana. The analysts believe this is due to the decline in drunk driving in those states. However, these marijuana laws hardly affected daytime driving accidents and those without alcohol involved. Yet after medicinal marijuana was legalized alcohol related crashes dropped 12% and high B.A.C. crashes dropped 14%. In terms of fatal car accidents, the effect of legalizing medicinal marijuana is comparable to when the minimum drinking age established at 21 years old. The analysts conclude this drastic drop is due to the fact that those in their 20’s, mostly college students, have decreased their use of alcohol and are smoking weed instead. Research on driving under the influence of marijuana is inconsistent; some believe that it causes impairment while other found little effect. However, clearly the date on drunk driving apparently portrays that alcohol drastically alters ones driving abilities. It is obvious that driving under the influence of marijuana is less risky because the driver is more aware of the effects and they compensate for the effects while driving while drunk increases recklessness and causes one a false confidence. This article is directed towards those who live in states both with and without medicinal marijuana to show that the effects of legalization medicinal marijuana are positive.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/why-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-deaths/ <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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