Deadly Crashes Involving Marijuana Users Doubled In This State

A new study says lawmakers should not set legal limits related to marijuana use and driving because the drug affects users differently

The number of deadly road accidents related to marijuana more than doubled in Washington after it became one of the first states to legalize the drug for recreational use, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
In 2014,
the percentage of drivers involved in deadly accidents who had recently used marijuana spiked to 17—up from eight percent a year earlier, the Washington-D.C. based organization said.

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“The significant increase in fatal crashes involving marijuana is alarming,” Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in a news release about the organization’s findings. “Washington serves as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug.”
Washington state, along with at least five other states, have set what are known as per se limits—limits on how much active THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis plants, a driver can have in his or her system, the AAA foundation says. But the safety foundation described such limits as “arbitrary” and “unsupported by science,” and has called on law enforcement to instead test for recent marijuana use and determine if there’s physiological and behavioral signs of impairment in a driver.