Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Half-a-Brain

Well last week it happened! Anyone with half-a-brain anticipated that it would happen and it did. Actually the only question was, “How big would the increase be?”

Again not a big surprise as similar scenarios occur all the time with alcohol. For example in Naples, Florida there is a group of bars clustered fairly close together in a small mall like area. On the weekend for the young set this is the happening place, and the alcohol flows freely till 2a.m. The police are very cognizant that the vast majority of the young clientele will be exiting the funnel shaped area on the one main road that leads to the highway, and so they patrol that road from 12:30 a.m. until 2:30 a.m. Anyone with half-a-brain knows what’s going to happen, yet the young drivers are surprised every weekend when they are pulled over. Likewise if the police did not patrol this area, with many lubricated drivers behind the wheel between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m., those with half-a-brain would anticipate an increase in auto accidents on that road.

Like I said, last week it happened . . . The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that traffic accidents are rising in states that have legalized recreational marijuana. After retail sales of cannabis began, the frequency of collision insurance claims in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada rose about six percent higher than in nearby states where marijuana is still illegal.  Similarly in a separate study, IIHS saw a five percent increase in the rate of crashes reported to the police in Colorado, Oregon and Washington compared to neighboring states that haven’t legalized the drug. Was this anticipated? For anyone with half-a-brain the answer is “Yes, certainly, this result was anticipated.”
Recreational marijuana has been legalized in many other states including California, Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Will anybody be surprised when there is a reported increase in auto accidents in these states? Will the other states that are considering referendums or legislation to legalize cannabis pay any attention to what is happening on the roadways in states where it is already legal? . . . Extremely unlikely!
As David Harley, president of the Insurance Institute, said, “With marijuana impairment we are just now starting to understand what we don’t know.” Anyone with half-a-brain might respond to that statement by saying, “Why are we legalizing something before we actually comprehensively know it’s effects?”  The answer, unfortunately, is that the majority of the voters and a lot of the state legislators rarely use half of their brains!

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