A review examines the evidence base for developing cannabis-impaired driving safety policies, addressing the gap between growing cannabis legalization and inadequate driving guidelines.
Policymakers, traffic safety researchers, law enforcement, and cannabis consumers who drive.
Policy gapGrowing cannabis legalization outpaces development of evidence-based driving safety guidelines
What the researchers found
Current evidence highlights significant challenges in developing cannabis driving policies, including the poor correlation between blood THC levels and actual impairment, the lack of validated roadside tests, and the need for evidence-based rather than arbitrary safety thresholds.
Why it matters
As cannabis becomes legal in more jurisdictions, the absence of scientifically validated driving safety guidelines creates both public safety risks and potential injustice for cannabis users.
The numbers in context
The review addresses the growing regulatory frameworks concerning cannabinoid consumption and their effects on cognitive and psychomotor skills relevant to driving.
How the study worked
Review synthesizing evidence on cannabis effects on driving performance and existing regulatory approaches to cannabis-impaired driving.
Who was studied
Cannabis users who drive, examined through research on cognitive and psychomotor performance.
What this study cannot tell us
Evidence base is still developing; individual variation in impairment makes universal thresholds difficult; comparison across jurisdictions complicated by different legal frameworks.
How to read the evidence
Review of existing evidence; highlights gaps rather than providing definitive thresholds.
When this study was published
Recent review addressing an increasingly urgent policy need.
The bigger picture
The cannabis-driving policy challenge mirrors earlier alcohol-driving research but is fundamentally more complex due to THCs pharmacokinetics and the poor correlation between blood levels and impairment.
Replication
Synthesizes existing driving research; consistent with other reviews identifying the THC-impairment correlation problem.
Funding
Not specified
Conflicts of interest
Not specified
Questions still open
- Can performance-based tests replace blood THC levels?
- What evidence threshold is needed for policy adoption?
- How should medical cannabis patients be treated in driving policies?
Read the original research
Cannabis and Driving: Developing Guidelines for Safety Policies.
Current pharmaceutical biotechnology, 24(6), 719-727
Citation
Manetti, Federico; Chericoni, Silvio; Marrocco, Anna; Scopetti, Matteo; Padovano, Martina; Santurro, Alessandro; Frati, Paola; Gabbrielli, Mario; Fineschi, Vittorio. (2023). Cannabis and Driving: Developing Guidelines for Safety Policies.. Current pharmaceutical biotechnology, 24(6), 719-727. https://doi.org/10.2174/1389201023666220616160459