cannabisnews.com: Drinking Plus Pot Smoking May Equal More Injuries Drinking Plus Pot Smoking May Equal More Injuries Posted by CN Staff on January 16, 2003 at 12:01:29 PT By Reuters Source: Reuters Problem drinkers who also use marijuana may be particularly injury-prone, according to a study of emergency room patients. Rhode Island researchers found that among 433 injured patients considered problem drinkers, those who said they also smoked pot appeared more accident-prone than others. Compared with patients who said they didn't use marijuana, users were more likely to have had another injury in the past year, particularly an alcohol- or driving-related one. Overall, nearly half of the study participants said they had smoked pot in the past three months, according to findings published in the January issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.It is not known whether these ER patients had actually used an alcohol-pot combo before they were injured, the study authors point out. Nor could they tell whether marijuana use alone is an injury risk factor."Isolated use of marijuana may or may not contribute to injury," write the researchers, led by Dr. Robert Woolard of Brown University Medical School in Providence.Still, they conclude, the findings do suggest that problem drinkers who also use pot may be especially vulnerable to injury.According to the researchers, ER doctors need to be aware that many of their injured patients may need counseling for both alcohol and marijuana use--and not just alcohol alone.However, they point out, few emergency departments routinely screen all injured patients for alcohol and other drugs. And when problem drinking is clearly the culprit, the researchers add, "screening for other drugs is unusual."Problem drinkers in this study were identified either by breath testing in the ER, patients' own reports of drinking shortly before the injury, or by scores on a standard screen for "hazardous" drinking.Those who also reported marijuana use tended to be young, white males with relatively less education--although many patients overall, the researchers note, were college students.SOURCE: Academic Emergency Medicine 2003;10:43-51.Source: Reuters Published: January 16, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Reuters News ServiceWebsite: http://www.reuters.comContact: http://about.reuters.com/custhelp/Related Articles: Marijuana Abusers - John P. Walters http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14983.shtmlReefer Madness - Bill Kellerhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14857.shtml Drug Czar Walters: Marijuana Most Abused Drughttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14100.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by Sireal on January 19, 2003 at 18:12:11 PT I love the way they call em Problem drinkers....uh folks,..they're called alcoholics,..addicted to alcohol....who happen to enjoy the occasional acompanyment of a fatty once and a while [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on January 17, 2003 at 04:44:55 PT ERrata I know one case of someone going to the ER because they smoked pot alone. It happened when two people I know smoked up in a car, and the passenger started freaking out and asking the driver to go to the hospital, where the diagnosis was a panic attack, and the nurses had a good laugh. True story. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by SWAMPIE on January 16, 2003 at 22:48:10 PT OBVIOUSLY FLAWED.... STUDY.Yes,alcohol and cannabis will give you more of a buzz.Can people control it? [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by BigDawg on January 16, 2003 at 14:28:29 PT Oops I forgot VV (Insert sarcasm below) VV [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by BigDawg on January 16, 2003 at 14:26:23 PT Let me think about this... People who are *problem* drinkers and smoke cannabis are more injury prone.So lets jail pot smokers. Not *problem* drinkers.Makes sense to me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by delariand on January 16, 2003 at 13:39:58 PT Wow, another amazing study. You mean, getting all fucked up on pot and alcohol and then driving is a BAD idea?! Oh my god, this takes me completely off guard! Good thing all these genius scientists are researching this kind of stuff for us poor stupid stoners [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by PonziScheme on January 16, 2003 at 13:28:35 PT Marijuana rarely mentioned alone in ER visits "Moreover, marijuana is rarely mentioned independent of other drugs. In fact, marijuana mentions alone accounted for less than 4 percent of all drug-related hospital emergency department visits (a level on par with common household pain relievers like Acetaminophen), and only about one quarter of one tenth of one percent of all emergency room visits." http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5513 [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by medicinal toker on January 16, 2003 at 12:38:05 PT ask ER workers And they'll tell you alcohol is the biggest problem.I've seen it myself while waiting in ERs, the drunks who make it harder for folks to treat them, being obnoxious, resisting treatment, generally being fools.ER workers know pot isn't the problem. What a waste of time this study is! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Duzt on January 16, 2003 at 12:18:13 PT just caught something else this is the standard for anti-cannabis studies. "It is not known whether these ER patients had actually used an alcohol-pot combo before they were injured, the study authors point out. Nor could they tell whether marijuana use alone is an injury risk factor." So what is the point???? If they don't know whether alcohol and cannabis were used together at the time of the accident then what the hell are they trying to prove? How can they say it causes more accidents when used with alcohol but were not sure if those accidents were caused by the use of alcohol and cannabis together. So basically they aren't saying anything???? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 16, 2003 at 12:15:38 PT A Question I'd like to know how many emergency room visits were strickly for marijuana that was smoked within the last 12 to 24 hours before the emergency room visit? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Duzt on January 16, 2003 at 12:14:04 PT More BS Strange how it's so easy for them to come to the conclusion that using cannabis with alcohol causes more injury but they don't know whether using cannabis alone does or not. Of course they know that it doesn't. If they have statistics for injuries with alcohol use alone and alcohol use with cannabis then obviously they would need statistics on cannabis use alone or the study means absolutely nothing. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment