Drugs And Marijuana – The Lethal Cause For Road Accidents

Putting yourself behind the wheels, especially after getting drunk or on drugs can be fatal as you are putting yourself in line for death. There are various researches and studies which have pointed out that people who are under the effect of alcohol and drugs are five times more likely to cause fatal car accidents and die than those who don’t. Isn’t it surprising? If you check out the epidemiology of accident cases, you are bound to find out that individuals simply forget where they are and what they did at the time of the accident. Their state of mind gets derailed and feelings get intoxicated. As per the studies done by the Columbia University of Public Health, it was found out that the intoxicated drivers have the highest chances of causing road accidents. Among the two sets of data that they took from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator) who recorded the survey taken in 2007 with regard to the road accidents, it was found out that the majority of the people were under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of crashing their car. In regard to those individuals who were not on non-alcoholic drugs, about 45.4% of the individuals were tested positive for medicinal drugs and alcohol usage. This was followed by people who are using narcotics, stimulants, marijuana, etc. This has been a great concern for most of the doctors and traffic authorities. The interaction of drugs along with alcohol has made put an extensive pressure on people who have to advocate on driving safely. Most of them feel that alcohol impaired driving is one of the greatest risk for the traffic safety, and such findings on the drugged driving are quite evident as there is considerable increase in the availability of prescribed opiods and stimulants over a decade. Statistics have shown that about 35-40 people die every day due to alcohol influenced driving, which amounts to about one death in every 48 mins. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), the original figures could be alarming. Adding fuel to the fire is the legalization of marijuana. This has gained a huge momentum in the United States and states like Washington and Colorado have allowed the possession and sale of the drug for recreational and medicinal use. The darkest side to this legalization can be seen in the recent studies which was published in an Epidemiology journal. Fatal car accidents due to the consumption of pot have almost tripled over the last five years. Clearly this shows the great amount of influence marijuana has on a person, especially the one who is driving. The major case is with young drivers who get influenced by alcohol and drugs and end up in losing their lives. Most government agencies all over the world have started to initiate stricter laws with regard to driving and alcohol consumption. A constant checking on such drunken driving and people who are under the influence of intoxicated drugs have to be done on a regular basis.