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POT-RELATED FATAL CRASHES IN WASHINGTON SPIKED AFTER LEGALIZATION

Pot-Related Fatal Crashes in Washington Spiked Upward After Marijuana Was Voted Legal in the Fall of 2012.

For years, the percentage of fatal accidents in which a driver was high on pot stood at about 8 percent.

But from 2013 to 2014, the number of marijuana-related crashes doubled, according to a study by the AAA Foundation of the AAA auto club.

The increase occurred even before pot was available legally in retail pot shops in Washington in July 2014, said Jennifer Cook, a spokeswoman for AAA in Seattle.

The increase in pot-related fatal accidents was traced to September 2013, she said.

Researchers believe legalization led to an attitude among some drivers that it was OK to drive high, Cook said.

"It's definitely a culture change that came with legalization," she said.

The Washington state analysis was part of a national study that showed that identifying and measuring marijuana intoxication is poorly understood and that establishing standards for marijuana intoxication is difficult, unlike alcohol intoxication.

From 2010 through 2014, there were 303 drivers in the state involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana.

Washington has had more than 400 fatal crashes a year during that timespan.

In 2013, there were 49 fatal crashes in which pot was measured in a driver.  In 2014, that number spiked to 106 drivers found to be high on pot.

But there is more to it, Cook said.  "Here is where it gets more interesting," she said.

Of those 303 drivers who tested positive for marijuana in fatal crashes in the five-year span ending in 2014, 34 percent had only marijuana in their systems.

Another 39 percent had both marijuana and alcohol in their bodies, which is considered a particularly dangerous combination for driving, Cook said.

Another 16.5 percent had marijuana and another drug in their blood, while 10.5 percent were under the influence of marijuana, alcohol and another drug.  The other drug might be a narcotic, methamphetamine or cocaine.

The national study went on to say that "researchers examined the lab results of drivers arrested for impaired driving, and the results suggest that legal limits for marijuana and driving are problematic because of a number of factors."

There is no science to establish a specific level of marijuana intoxication.  The active ingredient in marijuana, known as THC, falls quickly after the drug is smoked.  That makes reliable testing a problem.

Marijuana can affect people in different ways.  Also, regular users retain a type of THC converted by their bodies to what is known as a metabolite, which is not as intoxicating but lingers in the body longer.