The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently studied car crashes in California, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon and found a concerning statistic. These states have fully legalized cannabis and have had numerous pot shops open. Since doing so, car accident injuries have increased by almost 6% according to the Daily Mail.
‘The legalization of marijuana doesn’t come without a cost,’ said Charles Farmer, the lead researcher on the car crash survey.
Traffic data from 2009 was compared to 2019 in legalized states and those that kept restrictions on the drug.
The legalization of marijuana makes it readily available and led to an increase in less-attentive, intoxicated drivers. Intoxicated drivers have slower reaction times and less tendency to stay in their lanes.
The five named states experienced an increase of 4.1% in fatal crashes. Colorado saw a 17.8% leap in crash injuries, and California a 5.7% increase in car crash injuries.
At the same time, Senator Chuck Schumer has announced a bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level rather than letting states decide at a more local level. He likens restricting drugs to a “war on people” and in typical democrat fashion calls it racist.
For far too long, the federal prohibition on cannabis and the War on Drugs have been a war on people, and particularly people of color.
The bill I’m introducing today with @RonWyden and @SenBooker will be a catalyst for change.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 21, 2022
Sen Ron Wyden echoed Schumer saying the federal laws prohibiting cannabis are “harmful and out of touch”.
It's past time for Congress to bring our nation's harmful, out-of-touch cannabis laws into the 21st century.
Today @SenSchumer @SenBooker and I introduced our legislation to end federal cannabis prohibition.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 21, 2022
The harmful statistic connected with Cannabis is not prohibition, but rather that users are 22 percent more likely to end up in a hospital emergency room than non-users.
