Cannabis danger more than booze
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Driving after smoking cannabis could be a greater danger than drink-driving—and as many as three million people could be driving under the drug's influence, the RAC warned last week.
It claims that 10% of the UK driving population regularly smokes cannabis. And according to DOT research, 12% of the drivers killed in road accidents have traces of the drug in their bloodstreams.
Cannabis slows reaction times and impairs driving ability in similar ways to alcohol. "Yet ironically because of the illegality (and therefore social invisibility) of cannabis, driving after using it does not carry the same social stigma as drinking and driving," says the RAC.
The DOT is in the middle of a three-year study into drug-driving; 12-month figures will be available soon.
Transport Minister Gavin Strang was last week giving evidence to a House of Lords select committee on the problems of dealing with drug-dri ving. Issues raised include the lack of roadside drug-testing equipment available to police.
In the US, commercial driving licence holders have been the subject of a mandatory random drug testing programme since 1989. And some operators run their own tests (see page 30).
E Last week Strang gave the strongest clue to date that he is considering the introduction of a two-tier drink-driving system.