A recent study on drug driving, by a team of University of Cincinnati researchers, shows that a large percentage of individuals reported using marijuana and other illegal drugs while working behind the wheel.
“We need to focus our efforts on drug driving, as well as drink driving, because drug driving causes such a high level of fatalities,” said Andrew Yockey, a doctoral student there. UC College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and a researcher at the UC Center for Prevention Science.
Yockey is the lead author of the study “Drug driving among U.S. adults: Findings from the 2016-2018 national study on drug use and health” – published in the Journal of safety inspection.
Even with fewer people driving, drugs are on the rise and are becoming more widely reported in U.S. drug driving. “
Andrew Yockey, Doctoral Student, and Researcher, UC Center for Prevention Science
The study found that while 8.52% of adults reported driving under the influence of alcohol, compared to 4.49% who drove under the influence of marijuana, a large number of adults used both marijuana and other drugs while under the influence of alcohol.
Marijuana and opioids are the most commonly used drugs while driving drugs, with nearly one in five reporting marijuana use while driving a vehicle, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition, the study states:
- Sexual minorities drove under the influence of alcohol more often than heterosexuals, and a large percentage also used marijuana and other drugs including inhalants (70.34%), cocaine (68.9%) and hallucinogens. (63.7%) while driving.
- Heterosexual individuals had become more involved in driving under the influence of marijuana.
- Males were significantly more likely than females to engage in drug driving.
The research looked at sample data in the United States, the most recent available at the time of the study collected from the National Drug Use and Health Survey; researchers say conventional estimates go the same way, despite fewer people driving through the pandemic.
According to the latest data from the National Institutes of Health, in 2016, among people killed in driving accidents that year were 43.6% of drivers who were diagnosed with drugs and had positive results: 50.5% were positive for two or more drugs and 40.7% were positive for alcohol.
The UC study is the first of its kind to study drug driving over several years among adults in the U.S., says Yockey and co-authors of the study: Keith King, director of the center, and co-director of Rebecca Vidourek, both professors at the UC School of Human Services.
As legal marijuana and other drugs become more common, King says, “There are serious concerns about how legal will affect adult driving behavior,” adding that more research is needed to assess in particular the legal impact, especially among the most vulnerable such as sexual minorities.
While the team will use research to identify the risk factors, their efforts will also focus on education, perhaps at an early age, and identifying culturally relevant prevention strategies.
For example, Vidourek says that some cultures and communities are less likely to see marijuana as a potentially harmful drug and substance, which can affect its use while you are smoking. driving. “It is vital that culturally relevant messages and strategies are identified,” she says.
“We have to be vigilant because the movements are increasing,” said Yockey.