Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2017 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2017 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Matthew M. Elrod Page: A6 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v17/n015/a04.html CANNABIS AND CARS Re: Thoughts on pot (Letters, Jan. 5) Letter-writer James Teller misinterpreted statistics from Washington state on cannabis and driving. The cited report states "results of this study do not indicate that drivers with detectable THC in their blood at the time of the crash were necessarily impaired by THC or that they were at fault for the crash; the data available cannot be used to assess whether a given driver was actually impaired, and examination of fault in individual crashes was beyond the scope of this study." The report also states, "It was not clear whether this increasing trend was attributable to Initiative 502 or to other factors that were beyond the scope of the study." It is worth noting our police officers lack a roadside screening device and legally established blood concentrations for a medicine cabinet full of impairing substances, including analgesics, cold remedies, sedatives, sleep aids and Marinol (Dronabinol), the legal synthetic THC pill. Cannabis consumers tend to overestimate their level of impairment and either refrain from driving or attempt to compensate for perceived impairment by driving more slowly and defensively. The exact opposite is true of alcohol. Cannabis usage rates rise and fall with no statistical relationship to cannabis laws and their enforcement, so there is no reason to assume cannabis usage rates will rise after legalization, nor any reason to assume cannabis-impaired driving will go up. There has been no significant increase in cannabis-use rates in Washington state. Far from being a "gateway" to other drugs, cannabis is an economic substitute for alcohol and other more impairing substances, such that when cannabis use goes up, drinking and other drug use go down, along with drug-related traffic collisions. Indeed, traffic crashes have been steadily declining in Washington state. Matthew M. Elrod Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: