Toronto saw a 9% reduction in traffic crashes immediately following Canada’s legalization of marijuana, according to a new study being published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review and published online ahead of print by the US National Library of Medicine.
Conducted by researchers at the Université de Sherbrooke, this study “examines the association between the enactment of Canada’s Cannabis Act (CCA) and the number of cannabis stores (NCS) with traffic injuries in Toronto.”
For the study researchers applied two methods: hybrid difference-in-difference (DID) and hybrid-fuzzy DID. They used “generalised linear models using CCA and the NCS per capita as the main variables of interest”, and “adjusted for precipitation, temperature and snow.”
Information was gathered from Toronto Police Service, Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and Environment Canada. The period of analysis was from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2019.
Researchers found that “Regardless of the outcome, neither the CCA nor the NCS is associated with concomitant changes in the outcomes.”
In hybrid DID models, the CCA was associated with “decreases of 9% (incidence rate ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.74,1.11) in traffic crashes” and in the hybrid-fuzzy DID models, the NCS are associated with “decreases of 3% (95% confidence interval – 9%, 4%) in the same outcome.”
Researchers concludes by noting that “This study observes that more research is needed to better understand the short-term effects (April to December 2019) of NCS in Toronto on road safety outcomes.”
The full study can be found by clicking here.
A seperate study published last month by the peer-reviewed journal Addiction found that there “were no statistically significant changes in rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for motor vehicle or pedestrian/cyclist injury” following Canada legalizing marijuana.
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