Study shows young people not as concerned with driving high as drunk driving

A new study by the University of Victoria and the Vancouver Island Health Authority has found stress is leading youth to engage in dangerous behaviour.

Nearly 700 people between the age of 12 and 18 years old were tracked over the course of a decade, and the results show some disturbing trends.

More than 35 per cent admitted to driving after consuming marijuana or got in a vehicle with a driver who had.

Report author Bonnie Leadbeater said: “There is a risk in using marijuana, particularly if it’s being co-used with alcohol, which it frequently is. We have a sense that it’s probably safe, that police can’t detect it. Those things are actually not true.”

But students at the University of Victoria say the behaviour just doesn’t have the same social stigma that’s come to be associated with drinking and driving.

“I can definitely see someone willing to get into a car with someone who is high than who is drunk,” said one student.

“They think it’s not a big deal, some people say they drive better high,” said another.

“The fact is that it does impair judgement, speed, lane-changing and decision making,” provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, said.

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With the federal government set to make good on its promise to legalize the drug, the task force on the legalization of marijuana is looking at how to implement policies to tackle drugged driving.  The challenge is unlike drunk driving; there is still no test to accurately measure impairment.

But Dr. Kendall says legalization could lead to new ways of addressing the issue.

“We can actually talk about it honestly in schools and tell people what are safe ways to use it, what are dangerous ways to use it, when you are of age to use it.”