Cannabis users may think they're ready to drive too soon after smoking

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-01-27 03:00

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While it takes about four hours after using cannabis for someone to return to their usual driving ability, cannabis users may underestimate how impaired they are before that time according to international research. The team tested the driving ability of about 200 people after either smoking either cannabis or a placebo. Those who had the cannabis were significantly worse at driving than the placebo at 30 minutes and 1.5 hours after smoking with borderline differences at 3.5 hours and no difference at 4.5 hours. However, 68.6 per cent of participants who had cannabis reported they were ready to drive at 1.5 hours, suggesting they were comfortable driving while still impaired by the drug.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of California San Diego, USA

Funder: This work was funded by the State of California via Assembly Bill 266 (Bonta/ Cooley/Jones-Sawyer/Lackey; agreement #907).

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