2023-06-30 06:00:05
The type of road accidents in which drivers who used cannabis are involved would be different from those involving drivers who used alcohol. This was observed by a team of Canadian researchers following studying nearly 7,000 road accident victims (The word “road” derives from the Latin (via) rupta, literally “way”), 30% of whom had alcohol or THC in the blood.
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These people were assessed between January 2018 and December 2021 in the emergency room of one of the 15 trauma centers that participated in the study. A blood sample was taken from these patients within six hours of the accident. “These samples were taken for medical reasons and not because it was suspected that there had been consumption of alcohol or cannabis”, specifies one of the authors of the study, Eric Mercierthe Faculty of Medicine (Medicine (from the Latin medicus, “healing”) is science and the…) and the Research Center (Scientific research designates in the first place all the actions undertaken with a view to. ..) from the CHU de QuĂ©bec – Laval University (Laval University is one of the largest universities in Canada. It has like…).
The research team, which also includes Marcel Emond, from the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University, quantified the concentration of alcohol and THC in the blood of these patients and they related it to the age and sex of the subjects, the place and time (The hour is a unit of measurement:) of the accident as well as the gravity (Gravitation is one of the four fundamental interactions of physics.) injuries. Analyses, published in the journal Addiction, revealed the presence of THC or alcohol in 18% and 17% of patients respectively. They also showed that 4% of patients had a high THC level (≥ 5 ng/ml) and 13% had a high alcohol level (≥ 0.08%).
Among the accident victims, men were overrepresented, both in the high THC group and in the high alcohol group. Young people were also more at risk, particularly in the group of people who used cannabis. “One of the results that struck us is that, among those under 19, 5% had a high THC level while barely 3% had a high alcohol level”, underlines Professor Mercier.
The characteristics of the accident seem indicative of a certain consumption pattern, the results suggest. Thus, crashes involving people with high alcohol levels are more likely to occur at night, on weekends, in rural areas, to involve a single vehicle and to cause injury. serious.
In contrast, crashes involving people with high THC levels are more likely to occur during the day, on a weekday, and to involve multiple vehicles. “This suggests routine cannabis use rather than recreational use in a special context (The context of an event includes the circumstances and conditions surrounding it; the…),” says Éric Mercier.
When health care staff members treat a patient who has had a road accident (A road accident (or accident on the public highway – AVP) is an impact which takes place on the…) typical of those which occur under the influence of cannabis, they should have a conversation with the patient regarding the risks this product poses to driving (An automobile, or car, is a land vehicle that propels itself using a. ..) “Interventions of this kind have shown their effectiveness in the case of alcohol”, recalls Professor Mercier, who is also a doctor (A doctor is a health professional who holds a doctorate in… .) emergency physician and team leader in traumatology at the hospital (A hospital is a place intended to take care of people with …) of the Child Jesus of the CHU de QuĂ©bec.
Government interventions might also be inspired by the results of this study, he continues. “Our data shows that young people under the age of 19 are a particularly at-risk group for driving under the influence of cannabis, which is not the case for alcohol. The zero rule alcohol provided for in the Highway Safety Code for those under 22 may explain this observation. The adoption of a similar measure for THC should be considered.
Finally, awareness campaigns on the risks associated with driving under the influence of cannabis would benefit from targeting young men, a group among whom the correct assessment of the risk is sometimes lacking. “There is a false belief that cannabis has little effect on the ability to drive. A person under the influence of cannabis is in a very poor position to assess his level of intoxication and his ability to drive. It is not bad to to say it once more and to recall that driving under the influence of cannabis can have serious consequences for oneself and for others”, concludes Professor Mercier.
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