Deadly car crashes involving both cannabis and alcohol consumption have more than doubled in the United States in the past two decades, as have car crash deaths involving just cannabis, researchers report.

For the study in American Journal of Public Health, researchers analyzed 19 years of data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a national database of fatal crashes on public roads. They found that from 2000 to 2018 the percentage of crash deaths involving cannabis increased from 9% to 21.5%, and the percentage of deaths involving cannabis and alcohol also more than doubled, from 4.8% to 10.3%.

Their results also show that cannabis-involved car crashes are more likely to involve the deaths of passengers, as well as individuals younger than 35, compared to crash deaths not involving cannabis. Analyses were conducted to account for drug testing rates and alcohol policies, and the results remained consistent.

Read the full article about cannabis related car accidents by Jessica Colarossi at Futurity.