The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Pay attention, stoner wannabees...

The number of car crash injuries has risen by nearly six percent in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use — the latest study in a slew of negative reports to sound the alarm over the dangers of decriminalization.

Research this week from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed a 5.8 percent rise in traffic crashes in Colorado Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada after those states legalized cannabis and ‘pot shops’ sprang up. It was the latest in a series of studies on everything from teenage addiction to unhealthy relationships to cast doubt on this week’s Democratic effort to end the federal prohibition on cannabis.

Cannabis fans say the drug has health benefits and is far less harmful than alcohol, which is legal. It is also a lucrative business, netting an estimated $30 billion in the US last year, offering windfall taxes for permissive states. 

‘The legalization of marijuana doesn’t come without cost,’ said Charles Farmer, the lead researcher on the car crash survey, which compared traffic data from 2009 to 2019 in states that both legalized and kept up restrictions on the drug.

 

Legalization ‘removes the stigma of marijuana use’ and makes it readily available, leading to more intoxicated and less-attentive drivers with slower reaction times and a tendency to veer outside their lanes, he said. Overall, the five named states saw a 4.1 percent rise in fatal crashes. The increases  were not universal. The worst-affected state, Colorado, saw a 17.8 percent jump in crash injures. In California, incidents rose by 5.7 percent.

A University of Michigan study this month raised alarms that children as young as nine were becoming curious about trying marijuana. Many were influenced by ‘messaging from parents’ who did not impose rules on drug use, researchers said.

 

 

Also this month, University College London and King’s College London researchers revealed that adolescents were more than three times as likely as adults 'to get addicted to cannabis', increasing their chances of experiencing depression or anxiety.

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