From: NORML California <[canor m l] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Date: 28 Feb 94 00:24 PST
Subject: Alcohol Worse Accident Hazard than

NHTSA Accident Study Finds Alcohol, Not Drugs
the Big Danger on the Road;  
Marijuana By Itself Not an Apparent Driving Hazard

Contact: Dale Gieringer,  Coordinator, California NORML   (415) 563-
5858.
      A newly released National Highway Transportation Safety 
Administration study indicates that alcohol is by far the leading 
cause of drug-related traffic accidents, while marijuana poses 
negligible danger except when combined with alcohol. 
      The study,  the most comprehensive drug accident survey to date, 
is dated October 1992, but is only now being released.  A researcher  
familiar with the project says this is because it contradicts the 
government's official anti-drug line that illicit drugs are a major 
public safety hazard.
      The study investigated blood samples from 1882 drivers killed 
in car, truck and motorcycle accidents in seven states during 1990 - 
91.  Alcohol was found in 51.5% of the specimens.   Just 17.8% 
showed traces of other drugs; marijuana was a distant second to 
alcohol at 6.7%, followed by cocaine (5.3%), benzodiazepine 
tranquillizers (2.9%) and amphetamine (1.9%).   Two-thirds of 
marijuana- and other-drug-using drivers were also positive for 
alcohol.
      The report concluded that alcohol was by far the "dominant 
problem" in drug-related accidents.    A responsibility analysis 
showed that alcohol-using drivers were conspicuously culpable in 
fatal accidents, especially at high blood concentrations or in 
combination with other drugs, including marijuana.  However, those 
who used marijuana alone were found to be if anything less culpable 
than non-drug-users.  The report concluded, "there was no indication 
that marijuana by itself was a cause of fatal accidents."  
      Although California NORML's "Health Tips for Marijuana 
Smokers," by California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer, lists 
accidents and respiratory disease due to smoking as the two leading 
health hazards of marijuana, these findings are consistent with 
other studies, which have generally found that marijuana is rarely 
involved in driving accidents except when combined with alcohol.
      The NHTSA report, "The Incidence and Role of Drugs in Fatally 
Injured Drivers,"  by K.W. Terhune, et al.  of the Calspan Corp. 
Accident Research Group in Buffalo, NY (Report # DOT-HS-808-065) 
is available from the National Technical Information Service, 
Springfield VA 22161.