Posted August 14, 2000
(MarijuanaNews note: This is just too delicious. Even if marijuana
was a serious problem for road safety, and all of the evidence is to the contrary, that
still would not justify marijuana prohibition. Of course, we have learned the hard way
that the prohibitionists never let the facts get in the way of arresting people.
Nonetheless, this study will cause more problems for the UK prohibitionists.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=257″>Canada’s Crime Rate Dropped In 1999 For 8th
Consecutive Year Without Creating A Police State.
But Marijuana Arrests Continue to Climb.
Alcohol Related Violence Soars in UK. Lessons for Everyone.
and

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=247″>Another One We Could Not Make Up: London
Police Arrest UK Prime Minister’s 16 Year-Old Son, “Drunk and Incapable”
– Face Down And Vomiting In Street.
and

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=246″>More Calls for Legalizing Cannabis Come from
Influential Sources In Scotland and London. — 2 Articles

It is also very important that this was leaked to the London Times, which is owned by
Rupert Murdoch.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=182″>Great London Times Column and News From New
Zealand Compare Marijuana and Alcohol

The establishment may ignore it, but they can’t bury it.

It will be blacked out by the DEAland media, which never even reported the
Ontario court ruling, but it will probably be reported in the Canadian press. This is also
of relevance to the practice of “drug testing” in the interest of public safety.
See
Canadian Worker Says, “Americans Are
Fighting Drug War On Canadian Soil.”

It is quite possible that marijuana use can impair drivers’ abilities and
still reduce the overall accident rate. For example, young males have the best driving
skills, but the worst accident rate because they tend to drive too fast and take too many
chances. Only in extreme situations does driving demand great skill, so if a person is
careful, slowed reaction times will be of less concern. The few cases in which any
impaired reaction times may cause accidents could be more than off-set by the accidents
prevented by more cautious driving.)

August 13, 2000
From The London Times
http://www.the-times.co.uk/
By Jonathon Carr-Brown

CANNABIS MAY MAKE YOU A SAFER DRIVER

TAKING the high road may not be so dangerous after all. Ministers
are set to be embarrassed by government-funded research which shows that driving under the
influence of drugs makes motorists more cautious and has a limited impact on their risk of
crashing.

In the study, conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory, grade A cannabis specially
imported from America was given to 15 regular users. The doped-up drivers were then put
through four weeks of tests on driving simulators to gauge reaction times and awareness.

Regular smokers were used because previous tests in America using first-timers resulted in
the volunteers falling over and feeling ill. The laboratory found its guinea pigs through
what it described as a “snowballing technique” - one known user was asked to
find another after being promised anonymity and exemption from prosecution agreed with the
Home Office.

Instead of proving that drug-taking while driving increased the risk
of accidents, researchers found that the mellowing effects of cannabis made drivers more
cautious and so less likely to drive dangerously.

Although the cannabis affected reaction time in regular users, its effects appear to be
substantially less dangerous than fatigue or drinking. Research by the Australian Drugs
Foundation found that cannabis was the only drug tested that decreased the relative risk
of having an accident.

The findings will embarrass ministers at the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) who commissioned the study after pressure
from motoring organisations and anti-drug campaigners. Lord Whitty, the transport
minister, will receive the report later this month.

Last week police revealed details of new drug-driving tests to be administered by the
roadside, which were received with some amusement. They require suspected drug-drivers to
stand on one leg, lean back and touch their nose with their eyes closed, and to count to
30 silently with their eyes shut. This is apparently difficult for those on a drug trip.

The advertising company McCann-Erickson has already prepared a television campaign using
Pulp’s song Sorted for Es and Whizz, the slogan “Never drive on drugs” and the
pay-off line “then you come down”.

However, if the findings are less than frightening on the effects of marijuana, they may
convince ministers to put more money into raising driver awareness of fatigue.
color=”#FF0000″>Tiredness is now blamed for causing 10% of all fatal accidents, compared
with 6% for alcohol and 3% for drugs.

A low-key radio campaign will be launched tomorrow warning drivers to take breaks.

The report’s surprising conclusions will not sway organisations such
as the RAC, which believes there is incontrovertible evidence that drug-driving is
a growing menace. DETR statistics published in January showed a six-fold increase in the
number of people found to be driving with drugs in their system after fatal road
accidents. The figure jumped from 3% in 1989 to 18%.
(MarijuanaNews note: Don’t confuse them with the facts.

There are several problems with inferring causality from this correlation.

First, marijuana is used most by young males, the group that has the most accidents.
Marijuana use has increased, therefore the number of people in accidents who have used it
would also tend to increase. That does not mean that it caused their accidents.

Second, as noted below, marijuana can be detected long after the effects have
worn off.

Third, it is important to note whether the person was at blame for the
accident. A very large scale Australian study found that marijuana users were less likely
to be at fault than those who had not used anything.)
See

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/australian_study_of_2.htm”>Australian
Study Of 2,500 Injured Drivers Showed Those Who Used Marijuana
Less Likely To Have Caused Accident Than Even Drug-Free Drivers
– But How Do The Swedish Prohibitionists Report It?
and

color=”#0000ff”>1994 Dutch Study On “Marijuana Use And Driving” In Real World
Conditions

Dr Rob Tunbridge, the report’s author, refused to reveal his findings before
they were published but said: “If you were to ask me to rank
them in order of priority, fatigue is the worst killer, followed by alcohol, and drugs
follow way behind in third.”
(MarijuanaNews note: Obviously, the thing to do is to arrest
people who stay up too late. The police could kick down doors and arrest people who read
in bed.)

Tunbridge admitted that the effect of drugs differed with the individual, the amount
taken, the environment they were taken in and the point at which you tested reactions.

Cocaine users are known to be alert drivers when they first take the drug, but then they
have a tendency to fall asleep at the wheel. The particular problem
with cannabis is that it stays in a person’s system for up to 30 hours but its effects
wear off within a few hours.
(MarijuanaNews note: I assume the author meant to say that it stays
in a person’s system for up to 30 days.)

Copyright: 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd

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