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Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

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Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#421

Post by nateb2022 »

michaelteter wrote: post #409

This seems like an intentionally misleading title, since they don't mention that the study was for one county (Montgomery County) in Ohio, which is basically just Dayton, OH and surrounding rural area - I'm sure you can pick other counties in the US which have either very high representation of THC users or very low representations. Without knowing how other counties score in terms of driver fatalities and THC, this…

To give some statistical context, as of 2023, about 16.11% of people in the US have used cannabis in the past year; per that same dataset, about 16.53% of Ohio residents. [1] Given that Ohio’s usage metrics align closely with the national mean, I think it's fair to use the state as a proxy for broader domestic trends.

Per more Pew Research data, also from 2023, Ohio seems to have an average, if not a less than average, concentration of cannabis dispensaries, compared to other states where CBD products were legal. Montgomery County, OH is located in the bottom-left quarter of Ohio, and sits in a region with lower dispensary density than many comparable U.S. districts. [2]

Given that usage metrics mirror the national mean despite a lower-than-average retail presence, I think this dataset is a pretty fair "middle america" benchmark.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/723822/cannabis-use-with... [2] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/29/most-amer...

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#422

Post by alfiedotwtf »

michaelteter wrote: post #409

This seems like an intentionally misleading title, since they don't mention that the study was for one county (Montgomery County) in Ohio, which is basically just Dayton, OH and surrounding rural area - I'm sure you can pick other counties in the US which have either very high representation of THC users or very low representations. Without knowing how other counties score in terms of driver fatalities and THC, this…

Upvoted!

I’ve applied this same rule when reading news or watching tv - if your immediate reaction is shock, surprise, or anger, think of a list of organisations who would monetarily benefit [1] from that article or show etc.

Nobody does a news story for the fun of it unless it genuinely IS news, but it’s been shown [2] that over 70% is PR pieces trying to make you think one way or another.

[1] money talks, and bullshit walks

[2] Australia’s Media Watch ran a piece about this a few years ago

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#423

Post by tsunamifury »

michaelteter wrote: post #409

This seems like an intentionally misleading title, since they don't mention that the study was for one county (Montgomery County) in Ohio, which is basically just Dayton, OH and surrounding rural area - I'm sure you can pick other counties in the US which have either very high representation of THC users or very low representations. Without knowing how other counties score in terms of driver fatalities and THC, this…

You sound like the people who were outraged when drinking and driving was first banned. They had all sorts of made up logic to get around wanting to consistently being a hazard to others.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#424

Post by kristopolous »

Aurornis wrote: post #159

Some helpful context: The number of Americans age 12 and older who report using any marijuana product at least once in the past year is around 20% (Source https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-cannabis-alcohol-use-di... ) if I use one of the highest reported use numbers I can find. Even if you dismiss all of the questions brought up in these comments like the use of mean levels instead of median, not accounting for to…

No not at all. Let's do it this way:

What percentage of people who drive drunk have consumed thc within the time window of blood detection?

Now this is a more reasonable number

I really don't know why this number is significant. Accidents are situational and people who engage in situations where accidents are more frequent likely make other decisions about consumption and lifestyle which involve things like cannabis

Who cares?

You aren't going to elevate the behavior of the population by regulating a plant

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#425

Post by golem14 »

It will be interesting to read the actual study when it comes out.

Interesting questions: * What is the baseline of consumption / THC level?

* what was the alcohol level in decesased drivers ? (e..g how many people only had alcohol, how many only THC, how many had both, how many had nothing.

* Are there other test scenarios where THC screening is mandatory that could help getting to the baseline ? Are there ways to get an approximate answer from sewers, like they did for Covid?

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#426

Post by rixed »

MichaelNolan wrote: post #397
Mawr wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cars bring a lot of benefits like autonomy and decentralization, how do we keep that but kill fewer people? 'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens This is a solved problem: look at the current state-of-the-art road design documents from the Netherlands. Apply. Problem solved.

Per 1 billion vehicle-km the US has 6.9 deaths and the Netherlands has 4.7 deaths. That’s obviously better much but I wouldn’t call it “problem solved”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... (Wikipedia links to itf-oecd.org/ where those numbers come From)

My guess is better road design means less miles driven by cars (as opposed to other, safer vehicles) and therefore fewer accidents overall, even if car crash statistics remain the same.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#427

Post by [deleted] »

tsunamifury wrote: post #423
michaelteter wrote: post #409

This seems like an intentionally misleading title, since they don't mention that the study was for one county (Montgomery County) in Ohio, which is basically just Dayton, OH and surrounding rural area - I'm sure you can pick other counties in the US which have either very high representation of THC users or very low representations. Without knowing how other counties score in terms of driver fatalities and THC, this…

You sound like the people who were outraged when drinking and driving was first banned. They had all sorts of made up logic to get around wanting to consistently being a hazard to others.

[deleted]

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#428

Post by porridgeraisin »

throaway123123 wrote: post #180
porridgeraisin wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I always wonder why we can't have an "n strikes and you get the electric chair" type of law, where n can be decided. Clearly at that point that person is better off not alive.

Yeah I definitely want the person who costs Wal-mart a couple thousand bucks to face execution. great idea.

It's not that walmart lost something, it's that it's a general menace to others, and if you do it once fine but if you do it 10 times you're out. Get them to leave the country, if execution is not your thing.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#429

Post by EnPissant »

michaelteter wrote: post #409

This seems like an intentionally misleading title, since they don't mention that the study was for one county (Montgomery County) in Ohio, which is basically just Dayton, OH and surrounding rural area - I'm sure you can pick other counties in the US which have either very high representation of THC users or very low representations. Without knowing how other counties score in terms of driver fatalities and THC, this…

You think 40% of the people in that area have THC in their system?

Of course you don't. So why make this argument?

Are you funded by Big Cannabis™?

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#430

Post by seanmcdirmid »

cogman10 wrote: post #358
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we know what the THC levels are in (1) drivers who didn't die, and (2) the population in general? It could just be that 40% of the population is over the limit on THC all the time. Unless we can compare this against something else, and we can somehow normalize the comparison for other factors like age, I don't know how we can use the data.

This is a knowable thing, it just needs to be studied (I'm actually surprised it's not been TBH). Give people a standard set of coordination tests and then draw their blood to see what the THC level is.

If we were just interested in outcomes (in an accident or not), we should just be measuring that. But I guess if we can’t measure that, a litmus test is better than nothing.
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