As state lawmakers consider legalizing marijuana for recreational adult use, some Delawareans are thinking about the implications for impaired driving in the First State. “There is the potential for legalizing marijuana to make the roads less safe for a couple reasons,” said Tammy Anderson, a University of Delaware sociology professor focused on alcohol, drugs and crime. “There is an emergent problem developing called drugged driving. In some respects, drugged driving is approaching rates of drunk driving,” Ms. Anderson said. “We sort of have an awareness right now of drunk driving. There’s been this development of an ethic that I should not drive after I’ve been drinking.” She said fewer people have developed that same sensibility when it comes to driving after smoking weed.. Ms. Anderson said alcohol, a depressant, impacts people in a very different way from marijuana that it’s hard for experts to classify marijuana in the same way as other drugs like heroin or cocaine. While those are straightforward narcotics and stimulants, respectively, marijuana straddles several categories. “It has both sedative and dissociative qualities to it,” the professor said. “Technically, it’s classified as a mild hallucinogen, but it, of course, has sedative qualities to it. That’s what makes it a hybrid in terms of its effects on the brain.”
