{"id":3903,"date":"2024-03-05T09:37:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T22:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/mclean-hospital-study-finds-marijuana-use-impacts-driving-even-when-sober\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T09:37:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T22:37:42","slug":"mclean-hospital-study-finds-marijuana-use-impacts-driving-even-when-sober","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/mclean-hospital-study-finds-marijuana-use-impacts-driving-even-when-sober\/","title":{"rendered":"McLean Hospital Study Finds Marijuana Use Impacts Driving Even When Sober"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-3902\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SoberWeedDriversBadMClean.jpg\" alt=\"SoberWeedDriversBadMClean\" width=\"332\" height=\"193\" style=\"margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 30px; float: right;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SoberWeedDriversBadMClean.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SoberWeedDriversBadMClean-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SoberWeedDriversBadMClean-1024x595.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SoberWeedDriversBadMClean-768x446.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 332px) 100vw, 332px\" \/><\/strong>A study by McLean Hospital\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcleanhospital.org\/profile\/mary-dahlgren\"><strong>Mary Kathryn Dahlgren, PhD<\/strong><\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcleanhospital.org\/profile\/staci-gruber\"><strong>Staci Gruber, PhD<\/strong><\/a>, and their team from McLean\u2019s Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcleanhospital.org\/news\/foundation-gift-enables-cannabis-research\"><strong>Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;(MIND) program, has found that recreational cannabis use affects driving ability even when users are not intoxicated by marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Published in the&nbsp;<em>Drug and Alcohol Dependence<\/em>&nbsp;journal, the study \u201cRecreational Cannabis Use Impairs Driving Performance in the Absence of Acute Intoxication,\u201d finds that in addition to chronic, heavy, recreational cannabis use being associated with poorer driving performance in non-intoxicated individuals compared to non-users, the researchers linked earlier onset of marijuana use (under age 16) to worse performance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Study at a Glance<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>McLean researchers have discovered that recreational marijuana use affects driving ability even when users are not intoxicated<\/li>\n<li>The study, conducted through driving simulation, concluded that chronic, heavy, recreational marijuana use was associated with worse driving performance in non-intoxicated drivers compared to non-using healthy control participants<\/li>\n<li>Cannabis users had more accidents, drove at higher speeds, and drove through more red lights than non-users<\/li>\n<li>Earlier onset of marijuana use (regular use prior to age 16) was associated with poorer driving performance<\/li>\n<li>Findings may be reflective of increased impulsivity in those who initiate substance use during adolescence; further research will explore this association<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Recreational cannabis use has expanded across the United States in the last several decades and so has public concern about the substance\u2019s impact on activities that present safety issues.<\/p>\n<p>While several studies have examined the direct effect of cannabis intoxication on driving, no other studies until now have examined the effects on driving in heavy marijuana users who are not high.<\/p>\n<p>Gruber, who is among the world\u2019s foremost experts in the cognitive effects of marijuana, said the idea that differences can be detected in sober cannabis users may be surprising to the public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople who use cannabis don\u2019t necessarily assume that they may drive differently, even when they\u2019re not high,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not suggesting that everyone who uses cannabis will demonstrate impaired driving, but it\u2019s interesting that in a sample of non-intoxicated participants, there are still differences in those who use cannabis relative to those who don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also see<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/index.php\/advocacy\/people-against-drink-drug-driving\/1812-cannabis-use-altering-key-functions-like-three-dimensional-vision-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cannabis use altering key functions like three-dimensional vision<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/iindex.php\/advocacy\/people-against-drink-drug-driving\/1656-medical-cannabis-driving-is-it-an-issue-drr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8216;Medicinal\u2019 Cannabis &amp; Driving \u2013 Is it an Issue?<\/a> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcleanhospital.org\/news\/mclean-study-finds-marijuana-use-impacts-driving-even-when-sober\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"button\">For Complete Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A study by McLean Hospital\u2019s&nbsp;Mary Kathryn Dahlgren, PhD,&nbsp;Staci Gruber, PhD, and their team from McLean\u2019s Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core and the&nbsp;Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery&nbsp;(MIND) program, has found that recreational cannabis use affects driving ability even when users are not intoxicated by marijuana. Published in the&nbsp;Drug and Alcohol Dependence&nbsp;journal, the study \u201cRecreational Cannabis Use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-against-drink-driving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}