Youth Cannabis Consumption Did Not Lead to More Traffic Injuries
A new study by University of British Columbia (UBC) professor Dr. Russ Callaghan found that youth cannabis consumption did not lead to more traffic injuries. This puts many fears to rest, he said. Dr. Callaghan looked at traffic injuries in Alberta and Ontario before and after cannabis legalization.
“Implementation of cannabis legalization has raised a common concern that such legislation might increase traffic-related harms,” Dr. Callaghan said. That was especially true regarding youth cannabis consumption, he said. “Our results, however, show no evidence that legalization was associated with significant changes in emergency department traffic-injury presentations.”
In fact, youth injuries due to car accidents in Alberta decreased by 0.66 visits, while in Ontario they increased by only 0.09 – statistically insignificant and impossible to trace to any one factor. Researchers focused on Alberta and Ontario because they are only two provinces that capture all emergency department visit data. Youth were defined as those 14- to 17-years old in Alberta, 16- to 18-years old in Ontario.
Dr. Callaghan said that the results surprised him.
“I predicted that legalization would increase cannabis use and cannabis-impaired driving in the population,” he said. He added that he thought this youth cannabis use would lead to increases in traffic injuries.
Dr. Callaghan believes that stricter laws against driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs may have had an impact.
“It is possible that our results may be due to the deterrent effects of stricter federal legislation, such as Bill C-46, coming into force shortly after cannabis legalization. These new traffic-safety laws imposed more severe penalties for impaired driving due to cannabis, alcohol, and combined cannabis and alcohol use.”
Youth Cannabis Consumption Shouldn’t Be a Factor, All Things Being Equal – LPC
However, the fact that youth cannabis consumption didn’t lead to a spike in car accidents shouldn’t be a surprise. One of the goals of legalization is to keep cannabis out of the hands of youth. In fact, studies show that youth cannabis usage likely declined or remained steady after legalization. Other research found that youth cannabis use can cause problems with concentration and memory – making it all the more important to keep it out of their hands.
Further, there wasn’t any cannabis spike in Canada after legalization, despite fears.
Interestingly, the study did find a slightly higher number of traffic accident injuries when taking into account the whole population. In Alberta the weekly average of emergency department visits increased by 9.17 after legalization, while in Ontario it increased by 28.93 visits. However, based on the population size – 4.3 million and 14.5 million respectively – these too are statistically small amounts and couldn’t be connected to any one factor.
Read the Original CTV News Story Here
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