The Sydney Morning Herald, April 30th published an article entitled.
Australian study finds vehicle crashes are a common factor in cannabis deaths
In which the newspaper asserted amongst other things…..
Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of cannabis-related deaths in Australia, and mixing marijuana with other drugs or alcohol contributes to most of these.
Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre identified 559 cannabis-related deaths between 2000 and 2018 using data from the National Coronial Information System.
“These are people smoking it everyday and probably most of them throughout the day,” he said.
“So they’re more at risk of stumbling into the road and getting hit by a car, or if they drive, getting behind the wheel and not being quick to respond to some sort of emergency they find themselves in and causing accidents, or if they’re really unlucky, killing themselves.”
Read more fairly fatuous clickbait type statements at. https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-study-finds-vehicle-crashes-are-a-common-factor-in-cannabis-deaths-20200429-p54obq.html
Cue Tom Brown of cannabis education outfit honahlee who has responded to the newspaper with a full article that analyzes the research with some measure of critical discipline ……
Tom writes…
Cannabis related deaths make up less than 1% of overall Australian fatalities each year, taking into account that the majority of cannabis access is from the black market. When we compare cannabis related deaths to alcohol related deaths, the figures are even more surprising.
The question of cannabis vs alcohol and which is worse is almost constant these days. In an article entitled “vehicle crashes are a common factor in cannabis deaths”, published by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), the author along with sources allude to three things:
- Cannabis is a significant contributing factor in an increasing number of deaths.
- When mixing cannabis with other substances, the risk of death or injury increase (note: this is true).
- The risks of using cannabis and alcohol are similar.
While the stats provided in the article may be correct, it’s important to have context for the cannabis and driving, cannabis and death, and cannabis and alcohol conversations. When speaking about cannabis, we must compare the stats and facts alongside other ‘normalised’ drugs, like alcohol and opioids.
Alcohol, cannabis and driving were the focusses of the SMH article. In this article, we’ll give you the facts on cannabis, driving and alcohol, in a less alarmist manner.
When you speak or read about drugs of any kind, make sure you’re getting all of the context along with all the relevant facts.
Read Tom’s full article at https://honahlee.com.au/articles/cannabis-vs-alcohol-driving/
