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THURSDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Getting astern the wheel within three hours following using marijuana nearly doubles a driver's peril of having an accident, a extensive new research review finds.

The hazard is especially high for fatal crashes, and the peril is only a little less than that of the multitude who drive drunk, Canadian researchers tell.

"On the whole, alcohol increases the peril of a crash at a higher bring to the same ~ than cannabis [marijuana]," said lead researcher Mark Asbridge, each associate professor in the community freedom from disease and epidemiology department at Dalhousie University, in Halifax.

But marijuana makes it harder to arbitrator distance and drivers often tailgate and bend from lane to lane, which cuts from a thin to a dense state their reaction time and leads to crashes, he explained.

Although the extent of the problem isn't known, more studies have found that 5 percent of the million report driving after using marijuana; and during the term of those under age 25, as multiplied as 20 percent, Asbridge said.

Studies on the effect of driving under the power of impelling of marijuana have had mixed results, he uttered.

"There were some studies finding that cannabis really had a negative association with crash risk, so people were actually safer using cannabis driving than then they weren't, but these were insufficiently designed studies," Asbridge said.

"So our study gives some clarity to the issue in showing a doubling of the risk in the real best studies that are out there and adds some level of vindication to existing policies that restrict drug-impaired driving," he said.

The narrative was published in the Feb. 10 online impression of the BMJ.

To see in what state marijuana affected driving, Asbridge's team reviewed nine studies that included more than 49,000 people. This conduct -- called a meta-analysis -- looks in spite of patterns across studies.

The researchers place that those driving under the influence of marijuana were nearly twice at the same time that likely to have a car dash in pieces as those who were not ~ the load of the influence.

Studies outside the reconsider have shown that drivers aged 35 and junior are more likely to have car accidents succeeding using marijuana, the authors noted.

"These tools and materials reaffirm many of our accepted understandings concerning acute cannabis intoxication and psychomotor playing," said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML (the National Organization according to the Reform of Marijuana Laws). "That is why operating a motor vehicle while acutely impaired ~ the agency of cannabis is presently a criminal offense in everything 50 states."

This risk appears to be greatest in less-experienced cannabis users, younger drivers, and among those who mix the use of cannabis and pure spirit, Armentano pointed out.

"That said, it should farther be noted that cannabis-induced changes in production are typically subtle, short-lived and less dramatic in more experienced cannabis consumers, who come into court to develop tolerance to some of the physic's behavioral effects," he added.

"Further, this overall elevated hazard is far less than the elevated expose to danger of accidents associated with the decline of alcohol, including its use in lawful quantities," Armentano said.

While some hint that drivers should be tested as far as concerns marijuana, so far, no effective experiment exists that can be done at a commerce stop to accurately pinpoint when a driver used the unsalable article.

"This evidence makes a case ~ the sake of introducing policies to reduce cannabis-impaired driving," afore~ Wayne Hall, from the University of Queensland Centre in favor of Clinical Research in Brisbane, Australia. He wrote each accompanying editorial for the journal.

He before-mentioned that roadside drug testing, such in the same manner with that used for alcohol, may have ~ing a useful approach.

But there are none handy devices, such as a breathalyzer, to acquaint if someone has recently used marijuana, Asbridge noted.

"The challenge is defining a fit that equates with impairment. A contain of countries have already introduced roadside testing through deciding that any detectable evidence of late use constitutes impaired driving. However, we grant not know how effective testing has been for the policy has not been evaluated," Hall uttered.

Another expert outlined the problems with such tests.

"Because THC, the industrious ingredient in marijuana, can be detected distinct weeks after use of marijuana, it is coarse to determine with certainty if a driver testing stubborn for marijuana is indeed impaired through the substance at the time of testing," declared Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University in New York City.

So other thing research is needed. "This issue is especially pressing and important in light of the ongoing prevailing of drugged driving and increased permissibility and availability of marijuana worldwide," Li before-mentioned.

While recognition that driving under the ascendency of marijuana is a problem is a rudimentary step in finding ways to restraint it, Jan Withers, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), set forth that "drunk driving remains the principal threat to our families on the course."

However, she added, "this study underscores the weightiness of the work that MADD is doing to bread people who have been victimized by drugged driving and recognize law-sanction's efforts to pioneer effective strategies to impede drugged driving. Notably, it shows the increased peril posed by those drivers using both alcohol and drugs."

More information

For besides about drugged driving, visit the U.S. National Institute steady drug Abuse.

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