Pubdate: Sat, 20 Sep 2003
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.thewest.com.au
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495

DRIVING 'TEST' SHOWS POT RISK

MARIJUANA use on university campuses is hardly a new thing.  But the young 
men and women smoking joints on the third floor balcony of Swinburne 
University's Hawthorn campus in Melbourne are not in it for the buzz.

After a stopwatch-controlled toke on an imported spliff, they go back 
indoors to a driving simulator and test their drug-hazed brains against the 
hazards of computer-generated roads.

Centre for Neuropsychology researcher Dr Katherine Papafotiou says 
participants, even long-time users, were often surprised by their 
drug-damaged driving abilities when demonstrated in a scientific laboratory.

"Regular users were under the impression that they may not be impaired by 
low levels of drug use," she said.  "They would come out of the test 
thinking they had not performed that badly, and were surpsised by what the 
statistics showed."

If a group of friends took drugs together and then went for a drive, none 
of them would be aware of the risk.

"Nobody is sober enough to say 'you're driving like an idiot'," Dr 
Papafotiou said.

The Swinburne team has already completed studies on the effects of 
marijuana and amphetamines on driving and is now studying how alcohol and 
marijuana work in combination.

Early results show that even a small amount of alcohol - below 0.05 blood 
alcohol level - in combination with marijuana can severely increase impairment.

The researchers are still looking for volunteers to take part in the 
study.  They say advertisements always get a big response, but many are put 
off by the blood tests that are part of the experiment.

Next the team plans to examine the effect of ecstasy on driving ability.
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MAP posted-by: Beth