Marijuana and other drug use among automobile and motorcycle drivers treated at a Level I trauma center

Soderstrom, Carl A.; Dischinger, Patricia C.; Kerns, Timothy J.; Trifillis, Anna L.

Affiliations

¹Department of Surgery, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS)

²Charles McC. Mathias National Study Center for Trauma and EMS

³Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland USA

Abstract

Serum from injured automobile (AUT) and motorcycle (MTC) drivers treated at a trauma center was tested for d-9-tetrahydrocanna-binol (THC) activity to determine pre-crash marijuana use. From June 1990 to March 1991, samples from approximately 20 AUT drivers per month and all MTC drivers were available for testing. Also, toxicology screens were performed for ethyl alcohol (ETOH), cocaine (CO), and phencyclidine (PCP) among the driver groups. Six (2.7%) of the 225 AUT drivers and 34 (32.0%) of the 106 MTC drivers were THC+ (P<0.001). Compared with a prior study, the THC+ rate decreased significantly from 31.8% among AUT drivers (P<0.001) but had not changed significantly from the 38.6% rate among MTC drivers. Positive toxicology rates were higher among the 1077 AUT and 261 MTC drivers tested for ETOH, CO, and PCP, being 35.2% vs 47.1% (P<0.001), 5.0% vs 8.0% (P<0.08), 1.5% vs 3.1% (NS), respectively.

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Cited By (1)

Year	Entry
1995	Waller PF, Blow FC, Maio RF, Singer K, Hill EM, Schaefer N. Crash characteristics and injuries of victims impaired by alcohol versus illicit. In: 39th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 1995; Chicago, IL.89-104.