Massapequa Takes Action Coalition’s new prevention campaign, Kids & Weed Don’t Roll Together, outlines unique and informative facts and education to help parents talk with their kids about how marijuana use affects their brain, health and safety. National and state data shows an increase in car crash risk associated with marijuana use.
Since recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, traffic deaths involving drivers who tested positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 in 2013 to 129 people killed in 2019. This equates to one person killed every 3 1/2 days in 2019 compared to one person killed every 6 1/2 days in 2013 (The Legalization Of Marijuana In Colorado: The Impact-Volume 7 September 2020 Rocky Mountain High Intensity). Ten percent of Massapequa's 11th and 12th graders, who drove in the past 30 days, reported driving a vehicle after using marijuana (2018 YDS Survey).
Marijuana's effect on driving include poor attention to task, poor time and distance perception, slower braking and reaction time, poor speed maintenance, poor lane tracking and more steering corrections (Compton and Berning, 2015; Hartman and Huestis, 2013; Hartman et al., 2015; Kelly-Baker, 2014). To learn more about the dangers of youth marijuana use, go to mtacoalition.com or like/follow Massapequa Takes Action Coalition on Facebook.
For more information about MTAC’s strategies to reduce underage drinking and youth substance misuse and how to be a part of the solution, contact Brooke Langella, MTAC Project Coordinator at (516) 799-3000 x 131 or email at mtacoalition@yesccc.org.
You can also Like MTAC on Facebook!