Search KamloopsBCNow
A report released this month highlight the growing risk of marijuana-related fatal accidents in Canada.
The study is showing that the number of marijuana-related traffic deaths is on the rise.
The study, conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, looked at marijuana use among drivers in Canada between 2000 and 2014.
The number of fatally injured drivers who tested positive for marijuana has steadily increased since 2000, going from 64 to 188 in 2013, and 149 in 2014.
The study also found that while marijuana-related fatalities increased in Canada, they saw a decrease in the percentage of drivers that tested positive for alcohol.
With that being said, the study notes that the percentage of alcohol-positive fatally injured drivers remains larger than the percentage of those who tested positive for marijuana.
“Generally speaking, drivers aged 16-19 years were the age group of fatally injured drivers who were most likely to test positive for marijuana. However, in 2014, a larger percentage of fatally injured drivers aged 20-34 years tested positive,” reads the report.
The study does say that numbers should be interpreted with caution, as a smaller percentage of drivers were tested for drugs between 200 and 2010 compared to between 2011 and 2014.