how long do you stay high

New Study Shows How Long A Cannabis High Really Lasts – Important Information for Drivers and Law Enforcement

While there is growing evidence quantifying many things about cannabis, there is still so much we don’t know about it.

One is how long a high lasts. Understanding how long a marijuana high lasts has several implications, particularly when it comes to driving and performing other tasks after using marijuana, and changing laws to more accurately reflect how cannabis works in the human body.

This has been a major obstacle to the development of a suitable breathalyzer for marijuana, although one for alcohol has long existed. The standard blood alcohol limit is at a concentration of at least 0.08%, but unlike alcohol, even experts have trouble quantifying how to tell if the driver is still high behind the wheel because of THC levels in the blood can still reflect the cannabis use of days ago.

For example, a 2014 New Zealand study found that drivers who tested positive for marijuana tended to have a slightly higher risk of an accident than those who did not use marijuana or alcohol. The researchers also found that risk is not positively correlated with higher levels of THC in the blood.

Instead, the analysis, published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, found that drivers who tested positive for alcohol were more likely to be involved in fatal accidents.

But new research from 2021, led by USYD (University of Sydney) nutritionist Danielle McCartney, helped shed some light. The team conducted a meta-analysis of 80 studies, in which the researchers reviewed the existing relevant literature on the topic and then cross-referenced the results to generate insights.

“THC can be detected in the body weeks after cannabis use, while it is clear that the impairment lasts for a much shorter period of time,” explained Iain McGregor last year. “Our regulatory frameworks likely need to catch up and, as with alcohol, focus on the interval where users pose a greater risk to themselves and others. Prosecution based solely on the presence of THC in blood or saliva is obviously unjust,” he adds.

The team analyzed 1,534 metrics, called “performance scores,” from people who used cannabis. These measured the performance of people driving a car or other similar cognitive tasks that they were asked to perform at various stages after consumption. They discovered that the duration of cannabis impairment varied depending on the THC dose, how the cannabis was taken (inhaled or orally through edibles or drops), and how often the person used cannabis.

“Our analysis shows that the impairment can last up to 10 hours when high doses of THC are taken orally. However, a more typical duration of impairment is four hours when consuming lower THC doses through smoking or vaping and performing simpler tasks,” McCartney explained. “This impairment can last up to six or seven hours when inhaling higher doses of THC and evaluating complex tasks like driving,” McCartney added.

They also had some interesting discoveries, such as regular cannabis users being able to develop tolerance. Once they did, they actually had better performance on the cognitive tasks compared to casual users, even when consuming the same amount of marijuana. Because of this, it can be difficult to determine exactly how much marijuana use causes impairment from one person to another, and how long it remains impaired.

“We found that impairments are much more predictable in occasional cannabis users than in regular cannabis users,” said Thomas Arkell, behavioral pharmacologist at USYD.

other studies

Another recent study by Dr. Jeff Brubacher, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and his team studied THC levels in drivers’ blood after Canada legalized marijuana. They found that they had since observed an increase in car accidents among drivers with THC in their blood.

Notably, THC blood concentrations doubled. Similar trends have been observed in US states including Washington. He also made it clear that even if THC was detected in drivers’ blood, even if it is above 2 nanograms per milliliter, it does not necessarily mean that the drivers were affected by cannabis use, leading to an accident.

“The drivers we’re most worried about are the ones with higher concentrations,” Brubacher told NBC News. They found that prior to legalization, drivers suffering from moderate injuries had THC concentrations greater than 5 nanograms per milliliter, which increased from 1.1% to 3% after legalization. “Which isn’t important,” he said. “But it’s still far less than what we’re seeing for drivers with alcohol above the legal limit. The collision risk for alcohol above 0.08 is sky high with about a 500 percent increased risk. With THC, it’s a much lower risk. It’s not nothing, there’s a risk, but it’s less than alcohol,” he added.

Cannabis should not be treated like alcohol – especially when it comes to driving

Ultimately, cannabis and alcohol are two very different substances that work differently in the human body. Yes, there are studies linking THC blood levels to traffic accidents, but it’s so much more complicated than that.

One study states: “…More complex tasks that require conscious control are less affected, which is the opposite pattern to that seen with alcohol. Because of this, and an increased awareness that they are impaired, marijuana smokers tend to effectively compensate for their impairment by employing a variety of behavioral strategies, such as driving more slowly, overtaking less, and allowing more distance between them and the cars in front.”

The same cannot be said about alcohol.

Standardizing how badly marijuana affects drivers will be critical for both law enforcement and drivers going forward. Getting caught with a DUI can have serious repercussions on the employment and life chances of everyone involved, so understanding this matter better is crucial.

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