New Study Reviews the Effects of Cannabis Retail Outlets on Traffic Collisions, Fatalities and Other Traffic-Related Outcomes

• Post by: Olivia Teresa Caruso
• 4:28PM Sep 27, 2021
• No Comment

A team of researchers led by Evelyn Vingilis with Jane S. Seeley, Patricia Di Ciano, Christine M. Wickens, Robert E. Mann, Gina Stoduto, Tara Elton-Marshall, Branka Agic, Camila de Souza, André McDonald, Jason Gilliland, and Tanya Charyk Stewart published a study entitled: “Systematic review of the effects of cannabis retail outlets on traffic collisions, fatalities and other traffic-related outcomes.”

In recent years, many jurisdictions have legalized medicinal and/or recreational cannabis. Yet, limited information is available on the effects of cannabis commercialization (provision of legal supply of cannabis to adults through licensed retail outlets) on adverse outcomes, such as traffic fatalities.

To study this the research team searched eight electronic bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, PUBMED, PsychINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus, Dissertation Abstracts, Google Scholar) to identify documents of original research on effects of cannabis retail outlets on traffic-related outcomes, including hand searches and a canvass of all members of the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. They used guidelines and rating criteria by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network to inform their review.

This systematic review indicates that two thirds of reviewed studies found some positive association between cannabis commercialization and fatality outcomes. However, the few studies available and the quality grading for the studies suggest only a moderate probability of causal attribution. Future studies need to move beyond examining only fatalities or assessing mere presence of cannabis; reliable measures indicating driver impairment at time of collision are needed to establish better causal attribution and to provide greater utility for policy development and implementation.

Citation: Evelyn Vingilis, Jane S. Seeley, Patricia Di Ciano, Christine M. Wickens, Robert E. Mann, Gina Stoduto, Tara Elton-Marshall, Branka Agic, Camila de Souza, André McDonald, Jason Gilliland, and Tanya Charyk Stewart. “Systematic review of the effects of cannabis retail outlets on traffic collisions, fatalities and other traffic-related outcomes.” Journal of Transport & Health  22, 101123 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2021.101123