The latest craze to legalize marijuana use is enigmatic on a variety of fronts. Why do restaurants outlaw cigarette smoke but allow cannabis smoke to ruin exterior eating? Why accept a pervasive public odor that foes the effects of constructing a tissue machine or sewage treatment plant in the heart of a capital? But perhaps the most engrossing element of the new acceptance of cannabis use has been the conflict between such acceptance and long-standing concerns about impaired driving.  ,
More people are being killed on our nation’s highways because more people are using cannabis, driving while drunk, and using it intoxicated.  , As we approach the week of July 4, when incidents from impaired driving , tend to wave, Americans might want to question themselves whether this is a price worth paying and what they’re getting in return.
A new study  , published , in the , American Journal of Public Health — and , conducted , by researchers at Boston Medical Center, Boston University, and the University of Victoria — found that the proportion of car accident fatalities in America that involved weed has skyrocketed since 2000.  , The proportion of car accident fatalities involving cannabis single rose from 4.2 percent in 2000 to 11.2 percent in 2018.  , Over that same period, the proportion of car crash fatalities involving cannabis and drinking together rose from 4.8 to 10.3 cent.  , So the overall percentage of car accident fatalities involving cannabis, either with or without drinking, rose from 9.0 percent in 2000 to 21.5 percentage in 2018 — to more than a second of all vehicle accident deaths in America.
Monitoring the Future, a survey funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health,  , finds , that the percentage of those ages 19 to 30 who use marijuana on a daily basis rose from 3.8 percent in 2000 to 7.8 percent in 2018 — more than doubling. That closely follows the rise in marijuana-related car crashes over that time.  ,
Those numbers, however, are only through 2018.  , From 2019 to 2022, deaths from drunk- driver car crashes rose a whopping 33 percent — from , 10, 142 , in 2019 to , 13, 524 , in 2022 ( the most recent statistics available ), according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  , Deaths from stoned driver car crashes likely increased even more, given that, unlike alcohol use ( which has n’t changed much ), pot use has risen greatly over the past few years.
From 2018 to 2022, the percentage of Americans who use marijuana daily , rose , from 7.8 percent to 11.3 percent, a 45 percent spike, among 19- to- 30- year- olds and from 4.3 to 6.5 percent, a 51 percent spike, among 35- to- 50- year- olds. If, according to a reasonable estimate, the proportion of car crash deaths caused by cannabis also increased by 45 to 51 percent in 2018, resulting in a rise of approximately one-third of all fatalities caused by cannabis in the United States.
Boston University’s School of Public Health , writes , that “little attention has been given to the connection between alcohol and cannabis use” . , It notes that , the study  , in which it was involved suggests” that cannabis and alcohol are increasingly being used together when it comes to impaired driving, and that cannabis increases the likelihood of alcohol use in crash deaths” . , It adds that” as states have loosened cannabis policies, cannabis and alcohol have increasingly been used together when driving” . , In other words, the 33 percent increase in drunk- driving deaths from 2019 to 2022 may have a lot to do with increased pot use.
People who have pushed for marijuana legalization have frequently said that if it is legalized, but they do n’t think that there will be more pot abuse added to already existing alcohol abuse.  , Yet while daily marijuana use , increased , roughly three- fold among 19- to- 30- year- olds from 2000 to 2022 ( from 3.8 to 11.3 percent ), daily alcohol use more or less flatlined ( it was 4.4 percent in 2000 and 4.6 percent in 2022 ).  ,  , So rather than substituting one substance for another, millions of Americans have now added daily weed to daily booze, yielding deadly results on our nation’s roads.
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System surveys of high school students from the Department of Health and Human Services provide additional evidence of the presence of more stoned drivers on the roads.  , These surveys , find , that 53 percent of drivers who’d smoked pot in the past month said they’d driven while under the influence of marijuana, compared to 16 percent of drivers who’d had a drink in the past month and said they’d driven under the influence of alcohol.  ,  , So about one- sixth of high school drinkers drove under the influence while , most , pot smokers did.  ,
In addition, former Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy John Walters and former Attorney General Bill Barr , write , that” today’s marijuana packs seven to 30 times the punch of Woodstock- era weed” . , Suffice it to say, this is n’t your grandparents ‘ grass.
There’s no simple test that the authorities can use to catch and punish stoned drivers, which adds to the issue.  , Doug Binnewies, who recently retired as the sheriff of Mariposa County ( which encompasses most of Yosemite National Park ), tells me that when it comes to catching and prosecuting drunk drivers, the “ability to present the level of alcohol in the blood makes it very cut and dried” . , In contrast, he says,” This is lacking for weed”, which makes it “much more difficult to prosecute” . , In addition to the obstacles faced by cops in this regard, Binnewies adds that, in his experience, “few prosecutors are comfortable handling” cases involving stoned drivers because of the challenges in securing a conviction.
In summary, Americans are a serious and growing problem driving while drunk and frequently while stoned.  , This problem will only get worse if the Biden administration goes forward with , its legally and constitutionally dubious plan , to overrule Congress and reschedule marijuana as a Schedule III substance, a designation , limited , to drugs without” a high potential for abuse” and with” a currently accepted medical use” . , Neither of these descriptions applies to marijuana, as the Obama- era Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA ) and Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) determined in 2016 after , a detailed review.  ,
The Obama- era DEA , observed , that” after a scientific and medical evaluation … HHS concluded that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision” . , It further noted that “marijuana cannot be placed in a schedule less restrictive than schedule II” without violating U. S. treaty obligations.  ,
Despite such conclusions, drawn by the most recent Democrat administration during its final year in office — the Biden administration is , determined , to change marijuana’s designation to Schedule III.  , This would grant Big Marijuana , easier access , to banking services, allow it to write off business expenses ( including for advertising ) to the tune of nearly ,$ 2 billion  , a year, and , constitute, in the words of the Congressional Research Service,” a major shift in the federal government’s policy on marijuana”.
Many citizens who already struggle to succeed in school, maintain a job, and find their way in society are sapped by pot use.  , It pollutes the nation’s air and thereby degrades the environment. Worse of all, it causes the deaths of many innocent Americans who encounter stoned drivers on the road.  ,
Marijuana “legalization” ( the psychoactive drug is still , illegal , under federal law ) is yet another failed leftist/libertarian experiment, much like open borders and open jails. One wonders how long “elites” and significant portions of the general public will continue to prioritize the desire of a minority of Americans to live in a mindless haze over the safety of the general public and their own loved ones on our nation’s roads.
