{"id":2556,"date":"2021-11-22T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenentrepreneur.com\/article\/398280"},"modified":"2021-11-22T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:00:00","slug":"this-new-study-completely-debunks-a-major-anti-cannabis-talking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=2556","title":{"rendered":"This New Study Completely Debunks a Major Anti-Cannabis Talking Point"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/this-new-study-completely-debunks-a-major-anti-cannabis-talking-point.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Canada was not the first nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. That title will always go to Uruguay, which legalized cannabis roughly half a decade before Canada.<\/p>\n<p>However,&nbsp;Canada was the first G-7 nation&nbsp;to legalize cannabis for adult use, and still remains the only G-7 country to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s legalization model is much more open compared to Uruguay, with anyone of legal age being able to make a purchase since the start of legalization in Canada in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The North American country instantly became a unique public policy experiment, and lawmakers and cannabis enthusiasts from around the globe have watched closely as things have unfolded.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that cannabis opponents claimed would happen is an increase in issues on public roadways, predicting a type of inevitable \u201cstoned driver epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A new study sheds light on why that claim is proving to be false as time has gone by.<\/p>\n<p><b>RELATED:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenentrepreneur.com\/article\/393463\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\">A Breathalyzer Test For Cannabis? These Scientists Think They Have It<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-no-increase-in-traffic-injuries\"><b>No increase in traffic injuries<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>A study at the University of British Columbia, led by affiliate associate professor Dr. Russ Callaghan, recently explored traffic crash data in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The goal of the study was to see if traffic injuries spiked after Canada legalized cannabis for adult use, which as previously mentioned, was an expressed concern of cannabis opponents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe project reviewed all&nbsp;Ontario and Alberta&nbsp;emergency department data from April 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2019. The team found that, immediately after cannabis legalization, there was no evidence of significant changes in traffic-injury emergency department visits among all drivers or youth drivers,\u201d the researchers stated in a&nbsp;press release&nbsp;announcing the study\u2019s results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplementation of cannabis legalization has raised a common concern that such legislation might increase traffic-related harms, especially among youth,\u201d stated Dr. Callaghan in the press release. \u201cOur results, however, show no evidence that legalization was associated with significant changes in emergency department traffic-injury presentations.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><b>Never drive while under the influence<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>It is always worth noting that no one should ever drive while under the influence of cannabis, or any other intoxicating substance.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a matter that everyone should always take very seriously. Public roadways need to be safe so that no one ever gets injured, or even worse, loses their life.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it\u2019s important that people, policymakers especially, understand that just because someone has cannabinoids in their system it doesn\u2019t automatically equate to intoxication.<\/p>\n<p>Motor vehicle policies need to be based on science to help ensure that truly intoxicated drivers are identified and that non-intoxicated drivers are not penalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada was not the first nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. That title will always go to Uruguay, which legalized cannabis roughly half a decade before Canada. However,&nbsp;Canada was the first G-7 nation&nbsp;to legalize cannabis for adult use, and still remains the only G-7 country to do so. Canada\u2019s legalization model is much more open compared to Uruguay, with anyone of legal age being able to make a purchase since the start of legalization in Canada in 2018. The North American country instantly became a unique public policy experiment, and lawmakers and cannabis enthusiasts from around the globe have&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}