VANCOUVER, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- New research by the University of British Columbia (UBC) found a 12-percent increase of fatal traffic crash risk across the United States on April 20, an annual cannabis celebration day.
Researchers from Canadian universities examined 25 years of official crash data from the United States, comparing the cases that happened after 4:20 p.m. on April 20 with the ones on control days from 1992 to 2016.
The "420 marijuana day" is popular mainly in the United States and Canada. The counterculture holiday gathers tens of thousands of people to celebrate and consume marijuana, as well as to appeal for the weed's legalization.
Study results showed the risk of drivers younger than 21 years involved in fatal crashes on April 20 is 38 percent higher than the same time intervals on control days one week earlier and one week later.
"Assuming fewer than 10 per cent of Americans drive while high on April 20, our results suggest that drug use at 4/20 celebrations more than doubles the risk of a fatal crash," said co-author of the report Donald Redelmeier from the University of Toronto.
Published Monday online in the U.S. journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the report results should be considered when liberalizing marijuana laws, the authors suggested.
"We hope that legalization doesn't lead to more people driving while high," lead researcher John Staples was quoted as saying by the UBC.
Particular attention is needed to regulate and enforce strategies to curtail drugged driving, the report added.
