• 20
  • January
    2012

A new study is suggesting that states where medicinal marijuana has been legalized are experiencing significantly fewer motor vehicle-related fatalities, according to news reports.

Car accident experts note that the study, which gathered data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, as well as additional sources, found that traffic-related deaths decreased by nine percent in states where medicinal marijuana has been legalized.

The results were the opposite of what researchers thought they would find when they began the study. One of the researchers involved in the study theorizes that one explanation could be less drinking and driving among minors due to easier access to, and preference toward, marijuana.

If true, proponents of more widespread legalization of marijuana could use such research to justify marijuana's reduced safety risk in contrast to alcohol.

Although the research produced from the study failed to provide evidence that marijuana is less impairing than alcohol when driving, it remains a possibility.

Sixteen different states in the United States have legalized medicinal marijuana in some capacity.

North Carolina is not one of them. A bill introduced last year into the North Carolina House of Representatives by three of its members proposed medicinal cannabis supply centers and a registry identification card program. Although the bill passed the first reading in the House, it was killed after it failed to meet a subsequent mandatory deadline.

The research findings were published on the website of the Institute for the Study of Labor.

Source: Huffington Post, "States that legalized medical marijuana saw fewer traffic deaths" Dec. 30, 2011