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Marijuana Users’ Risk of Automobile Crashes Nearly Three Times Higher than Non-Users
In a new review of accident studies and statistics, drivers using marijuana are at a much greater risk of being involved in automobile crashes and even of dying in one. The study’s author, Dr. Guohua Li of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, found that this risk also extends to users of other drugs besides marijuana.
In fact, in a large U.S. survey in 2009, it was estimated that more than 10 million people had driven under the influence in the prior year. Also, it revealed that in tests of drivers who had died in a car crash, 28 percent had tested positive for drugs other than alcohol. More than eleven percent of drivers in general also tested positive for drugs other than alcohol.
Marijuana is the second most commonly found drug after alcohol. And, as might be expected, the risk is even higher if the driver had also been drinking alcohol.
Authors of this study published online Oct. 4 in Epidemiologic Reviews believe their findings are especially relevant in light of recent moves to legalize medical marijuana in many states. However, none of the studies in this group looked directly at the use or effect of medical marijuana, now legal in 16 states plus the District of Columbia.
Experts cite that marijuana may interfere with reaction times and coordination, among other effects. The immediate effects of taking marijuana include rapid heart beat, disorientation, lack of physical coordination, often followed by depression or sleepiness. Some heavy users suffer panic attacks or anxiety. Marijuana is a hallucinogen which means that it is a substance that distorts one’s perception of the world around him.
The authors of the new study said it is critical to determine the crash risk related to marijuana in different doses, strengths, and administration methods, such as smoking versus vaporization.
They did conclude that the more the drug that was smoked, both in terms of frequency and potency, the greater was the likelihood of a crash.
These studies looked at effects on drivers in different time frames: some assessed marijuana use as little as one hour before driving while others looked at use as long ago as one year. According to one study cited, driving skills are acutely affected for three to four hours after use.
Couple these findings with the fact that marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world, and that more than 14.4 million individuals reported that they had smoked marijuana at least once during the previous month, according to a 2007 survey in the U.S., and the future of automobile safety policy comes into question.
Despite some people’s opinions, marijuana is addictive and people often cannot stop using it when they want to, thus increasing their risk of accidents, causing harm to themselves and others.
Narconon has been successfully rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts for the past 45 years, with its very effective, drug-free methods of withdrawal. Narconon has centers in 50 countries and offers residential rehabilitation as well as outpatient options in some places.
If you know someone who has a drug abuse problem call a Narconon drug rehab counselor today.
Resources:
- http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-10-14/Pot-smoking-may-more-than-double-crash-risk/50774786/1
- http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/10/04/epirev.mxr017.abstract
- http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana.html
Smuggling Efforts Reach New Highs in Sonora, Mexico Reports Narconon Spokesperson
With the billions of dollars of profits that are raked in each year in the illicit drug trade, there is enormous motivation for traffickers to innovate new smuggling methods. The last year has seen homemade submarines bringing loads of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, cocaine smuggled into the US in Easter eggs, and new, sophisticated tunnels dug under the US-Mexico border. And then there are the usual vehicles with drug packages hidden in the frames, seats, doors, roofs or gas tanks, and pedestrians with drugs taped to their bodies or hidden among their belongings.
In late January 2011, traffickers in the Mexican state of Sonora came up with a new one: a nine-foot catapult that would sling packages of marijuana far across the international border.
The US National Guard in Arizona monitoring a remote video feed spotted the primitive catapult that was hauled into place next to the international border by a team of men, and then was used to toss four-pound packages of weed over the border. The National Guard tipped off the Mexican military and military personnel disrupted the operation, seizing 45 pounds of marijuana and the catapult but making no arrests.
“The efforts of drug cartels to get their products into our neighborhoods is never-ceasing,” stated Narconon spokesperson Bobby Wiggins. Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and education. “Once the drugs are in this country, traffickers and the drug dealers distributing the products on the street draw no lines. They will sell their addictive wares to anyone without concern for destroying lives. The only protection comes from avoiding substance abuse and finding lasting recovery from addiction.”
Wiggins cited the report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that said that nearly half of all addiction treatment admissions were repeats. When the addictive substance was an opiate, the proportion of repeat treatments went up to 60 percent. “As long as addiction treatment fails, Americans will continue to be customers of the drug cartels. That is why Narconon centers have developed a workable system of helping people achieve a lasting recovery. Since 1966, drug addicts have been learning to live clean and sober, the Narconon way.”
In more than 100 Narconon centers around the world, seven out of ten graduates succeed in staying clean after they go home. For more information on the Narconon drug rehab program, visit http://www.narconon.org
Narconon Spokesperson Asks: “Are Schools in American Losing the Battle with On-Campus Drug Use?”
If you examine reports from schools around the country, it could very well appear that schools are losing the battle to keep drugs off campus. The signs are pretty unmistakable.
In Placerville in the California foothills, parents of students at the area’s high schools can buy a $40 drug test for just $10. The test screens for ten drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy. These tests were offered after a survey of one of the high schools in the area showed that half of the students were using marijuana.
In Litchfield Park, Arizona, parents can get the tests for free. And they are going to need them. In February 2011, six boys at a middle school in Litchfield Park shared a handful of prescription pills on the basketball court during lunch. Since no one knew exactly what they had taken of how much, they were sent to a local hospital as a precaution.
On Long Island, drug sniffing dogs have been searching schools for contraband for two years. Before they started their randomly-scheduled rounds, about one student was found with marijuana each month. Since the dogs went on duty, none have.
Narconon spokesperson Bobby Wiggins stated, “If the only way we can keep drugs out of schools is to distribute free drug tests, ban student lockers and have dogs patrol the halls, this is a tragic statement about our ability to provide adequate drug education.” Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and education. “Our students need to be given straight information about drug use that enables them to make their own wise decision when they are offered drugs. And there are very few children who will not be offered drugs.”
Narconon centers around the world provide drug education classes that have been proven to lower substance abuse rates in monitored delivery situations in Hawaii and Oklahoma. “Some parents might be appalled to learn that some drug education courses measure their success by how many students remember what was taught,” said Wiggins. “At Narconon, the only criteria that count are ‘Are fewer kids using drugs? Have some of the students made the decision to stay drug-free and are they succeeding?’ We are successfully teaching kids how and why to make the drug-free choice when faced with drugs being used around them or offered to them.”
For more information about the Narconon drug education classes, visit www.narconon-news.org
Narconon Spokesperson Cites Substance Abuse Expert’s View on Giffords Tragedy: A Connection Between Tucson Shooting and Marijuana?
The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and nineteen others in Tucson shocked the nation. As soon as the dead and injured were reported, what people wanted to know was WHY? Why would someone take this kind of destructive action. What could have led Jared Loughner to such an act of violence?
While we may never know what was at work in this young man’s mind, it has been reported that he was rejected by the Armed Forces due to his marijuana use. His friends stated that he was into smoking weed and using psychedelics. Psychdelic drugs are those that induce states of altered perception and thought, with apparent higher awareness but very often little control over what is experienced, drugs like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin.
Narconon spokesperson, Bobby Wiggins cited the article by Chairman Joseph Califano of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University that drew a connection between psychosis and marijuana use. After he examined news reports on the tragedy, Chairman Califano wrote, “There has been no mention of the potential of marijuana to spark latent psychosis and exacerbate schizophrenia and other mental illnesses…Is Jared Loughner an individual whose psychosis was prompted or exacerbated by the use of marijuana?”
Wiggins commented, “It’s understandable that people would be confused about problems connected with marijuana use. After all, marijuana is prescribed by doctors for medical conditions. Can it be all that bad? Media that run the sensational stories about marijuana coffee shops, medical use and legalization issues manage to overlook the studies that outline the drug’s dangerous effects.” Narconon is an international organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and drug education.
In 2008, more than half a million people entered drug treatment facilities in this country for addiction problems with marijuana as a primary drug or secondary drug (very often with alcohol). More than 28 million Americans used marijuana last year, and nearly half of all high school graduates have used the drug at least once.
“With statistics of marijuana use and addiction being as high as they are, it is evident that people do not know the real story of the dangers of the drug,” concluded Wiggins. “It is my job as a Narconon spokesperson to make people realize that there is more to the story than simply legalization or medical use arguments. It’s possible that Jared Loughner is a warning that lives may be at risk due to the prevalence of this drug.”
Around the world and across America, people needing to leave a drug habit behind come to Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and find lasting recovery. In seven out of ten cases, graduates remain clean and sober after they go home, proving the workability of the holistic, drug-free program.
www.narconon-news.org
Narconon Drug Recovery Centers Work Tirelessly to Counter Efforts of Drug Cartels
In the early morning hours on the 17th of October, federal police in Tijuana decided to stop a convoy of three tractor-trailers and one smaller truck traveling through Centenario, a district in Western Tijuana. The inspection turned up a marijuana shipment. The shippers opened fire on the federal police. When the dust settled and two more raids had been carried out, 150 tons of marijuana had been seized. It is the biggest haul ever of illicit drugs, most certainly destined for transfer into the U.S.
That’s enough marijuana to roll more than 190 million joints, worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million. The marijuana was burned in a public ceremony three days later.
Marijuana is still a very big business. A good, money-making business for the likes of the three cartels operating in the northern Baja California peninsula, said to have recently formed an alliance instead of fighting over turf.
“This huge quantity of drugs headed into our country makes it all too obvious that the problem must be fought from both the supply side and the demand side,” stated Clark Carr, president Narconon International. “The government can fight supply all it wants, but those in this country who are addicted to drugs will find a way to get their next fix of heroin, cocaine or marijuana. And yes, based on the number of people who come to Narconon to overcome a marijuana addiction, marijuana is addictive.”
Across the nation, millions of people live productive, sober lifestyles until they come in contact with the drug pusher that works at the desk next to them, who just moved into their neighborhood, or who is in their class at school. Those small, supposedly inconsequential “deals” amount eventually to sums of money that are subverting whole countries. Thoughtless of the lives being ruined, the cartels and their representatives on the street rake in their profits and condemn millions to the loss and pain of addiction and even death due to overdoses.
In Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers across the country, those addicted to alcohol, methamphetamine, prescription or other drugs use the eight-step Narconon drug treatment program to claim their lives back from the cartels. With seven out of ten Narconon program graduates remaining clean and sober and with more than 30,000 graduates from the 140 Narconon drug treatment or education centers around the world, that’s a lot of people who are no longer customers of the cartels.
“Every person deserves a chance to grow up and live drug-free,” added Mr. Carr. “But the cartels do their best to take this chance away. We help give life back to people every day, in every Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.”
For more information on Narconon drug recovery centers around the world, visit www.narconon-news.org.
