Patients who consume botanical cannabis over extended periods do not exhibit significant changes in their simulated driving performance, according to data published in the Journal of Safety Research. Australian researchers assessed patients’ simulated driving performance at baseline and 45 minutes after they vaporised prescribed doses of cannabis flowers. Under Australian law, physicians may authorise cannabis products to patients unresponsive to conventional prescription treatments.
“After vaporising one dose of their prescribed cannabis flower, participants exhibited no significant changes in performance on any of the video-based tasks (hazard perception skill, gap acceptance, following distance or speed) compared to baseline”, investigators reported. The study’s authors concluded, “The findings … suggest that a dose of vaporised cannabis (consumed in accordance with prescription) may not affect hazard perception ability or driving-related risk-taking behaviour among medicinal cannabis patients”.
The study’s findings are consistent with those of several others determining that daily cannabis consumers, and patients especially, exhibit tolerance to many of cannabis’ psychomotor-influencing effects. According to the findings of a 2012 literature review published in the journal of the German Medical Association, “Patients who take cannabinoids at a constant dosage over an extensive period of time often develop tolerance to the impairment of psychomotor performance, so that they can drive vehicles safely”.
Original article from NORML. Read the study here.
February, 2025