Everyone knows that drinking and driving is a reckless decision that increases the risk of a violent car wreck that hurts innocent people. Similarly, driving while high on marijuana impairs the driver’s abilities and can lead to a terrible crash.
So it should not come as a surprise that someone who has drunk alcohol and consumed marijuana at the same time should definitely not try to drive. But according to a survey conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), one-third of Americans who combine these two drugs admitted to driving afterward.
Marijuana and alcohol together are worse than either one separately
This is especially troubling because studies indicate that being high on cannabis and drunk at the same time impairs safe driving ability more than either drug on its own does. For example, research suggests that a driver with both marijuana and alcohol in their system is more likely to take dangerous risks than one who is only high on cannabis.
By raw numbers, only a few people surveyed said they had combined alcohol and marijuana in the past year: 5 percent of men and 3 percent of women. But of those who did, 33 percent said they had driven within two hours of using. In surveys like this one, when participants are asked if they have committed a crime or socially unacceptable act, it is likely that some of them lied about never driving while impaired.
Drunk, drugged driving is a menace in Michigan
Driving drunk or high is still against the law. And for good reason. Car accidents caused by impaired drivers kill and injure hundreds of Michiganders every year. Nobody should have to pay the financial cost associated with a life-altering disability or fatal injury caused by a drunk or high driver.