CS-29 - Marijuana Decriminalization & Auto Risks

Public acceptance of marijuana continues to increase in the U.S., with more states considering legalization each year. The first half of this talk will assess the impact of marijuana legalization on highway safety – by examining trends in collision claims, injury crash rates, and fatal crash rates. Although crashes trended higher in general after legalization, the results varied by state, as well as by crash severity and the statistical methodology employed. Then again, studies attempting to directly link marijuana use to crash risk have so far been inconclusive. So, unlike the case for alcohol, we cannot yet accurately predict the effects of increased marijuana use.

The second half of the talk will present results from a study released by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) which analyzes the impact of marijuana decriminalization on the vehicular accident experience in Canada and the United States. The research uses several different statistical methods applied to publicly available data to understand the effects.