Driver deaths due to illicit drugs on the rise
19 July 2002
Driving under the influence of illicit drugs is on the rise, but most users do not realise the dangers, a Brisbane conference has heard.
Police and public health experts told the Drug and Alcohol Foundation of Queensland's annual Winter School in the Sun conference last week that high levels of illicit drug-taking showed up in reports on road accidents, but there was no routine collection of data.
Director of the NSW Central Coast health promotion unit Douglas Tutt said Central Coast coronial records revealed that over the past 6 years more drivers aged under 45 years were positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC — the active ingredient of marijuana) than for alcohol. And there were 6 drivers who were positive for both at the time of their fatal crash, he added.
Recent focus interviews with 200 drug users revealed that most did not avoid driving, and some believed their driving skills were actually enhanced while intoxicated, Dr Jeremy Davey, director of the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety at the Queensland University of Technology, said.
There was evidence that cannabis exerted its effect on the brain within the first half-hour of smoking, Mr Tutt said. It then takes around 4 hours for normal metabolism in brain cells to be restored.
He added that it is vital to understand that blood levels of THC, the impairing compound in cannabis, do not correlate with the level of neurological dysfunction, and that the body's metabolism of alcohol and the way it deals with it is different to the way it does cannabis.
Last Reviewed: 23 July 2002
- 1. Medical Observer Weekly 19/7/02
