Cannabis and Driving
Email this pagePresentation of Yehuda Baruch on Cannafest Prague 2015. The lecture is in the original version. Brief synopsis can be found in the description below.
With medical use of cannabis becoming more common around the world, there are still valid questions about what restriction the patient should be informed. One of the main topics of concern is driving under the influence of cannabis. We know that consumption by vaporizing or smoking causes high elevation of THC in the plasma within minutes that abates within 4 hours, even when taking to account that the individual response curve is variable. High Plasma levels of THC are known to cause deterioration of motor ability by lowering reaction time, ability to judge distance and ability to maintain awareness and alertness – thus impairing coordination and reducing the capacity for safe driving. Drivers who claimed to be regular users of cannabis were less often judged as impaired (32% vs. 55%, p < 0.01, χ2-test), but there was no difference in THC concentration between regular users and non-regular users. The risk for fatal road crashes (and responsibility) has a significant dose effect and relates to THC blood levels. These occur usually with THC over 5 ng/ml in whole blood (10 ng/ml in plasma).
Conclusions and recommendations: The Upper Limit for Driving should be 5 ng/ml in whole blood and patients should be advised not to drive for six hours after the cannabis consumption.
Your are cordially invited to the annual conference at Cannafest, the international trade fair of cannabis and medical herbs that will take place on November 11-13, 2016 at the Prague Exhibition Holesovice. The conference presentations will be simultaneously interpreted into English and Czech.