Marijuana or Alcohol? College Students More Likely to Drive Under the Influence of Cannabis

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) are probably torn over the results of a recent University of Massachusetts at Amherst study that found college freshman are more likely to drive under the influence of marijuana than alcohol.

The researchers found that although more college students drink than smoke marijuana, 31% of pot smokers have driven or would drive after smoking compared to 7% of drinkers. The study aimed to examine the prevalence, sex differences, and risk factors associated with underage college students getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana.

A total of 315 college freshman were surveyed from two public universities and were asked to self-report their past 28-day period and whether or not they drove after marijuana use, drove after alcohol use, and rode with a driver who was under the influence of either substance. A total of 65% of the respondents drank alcohol in the past 28 days compared to 20% that used marijuana.

"(The) study findings speak to the changing nature of impaired driving and bring needed attention to the issue of marijuana use before getting behind the wheel," said Mark Asbridge, a researcher with the Community Health and Epidemiology department at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, in response to the study's results. "We need to sort of take a multi-pronged approach to this which involves an education piece, the social awareness piece as well as solid legislation and a commitment to enforcement of that legislation," he added, in this Reuters article.

Of the marijuana users, 43.9% of male users drove after smoking and 8.7% of female users did as well, compared to 12% of males and 2.7% of females driving after drinking alcohol. The study, "Marijuana-Using Drivers, Alcohol-Using Drivers, and Their Passengers," was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday.

The study sheds light on a declining rate of underage drunk drivers, who in 2012 accounted for 11% of drunk driving fatalities. Additionally, the number of drunk driving crashes among underage drivers decreased from 5,215 in 1982 to 1,174 in 2012. Asbridge believes that education, awareness, and legislation can help decline the rates of those who drive after smoking marijuana. Such measures helped reduce drunk driving numbers.