Cannabis use in older drivers in Colorado: The LongROAD Study
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2019.105273
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Summary
This study investigates the epidemiology of cannabis use and its association with driving outcomes among older drivers in Colorado, a state that legalized both medical and recreational cannabis. The research addresses a gap in literature regarding how increasing cannabis prevalence in adults aged 65 and older impacts driving safety, particularly in jurisdictions where use is legal. The motivation stems from rising national trends in older adult cannabis consumption and concerns about impaired driving, despite limited data on specific driving behaviors related to cannabis use in this demographic. The analysis utilized baseline data from the LongROAD prospective cohort study, specifically the 598 participants aged 65–79 residing in Colorado, the only site that collected cannabis use data. Participants were recruited from primary care clinics in the Denver metropolitan area between August 2015 and March 2017. The study assessed self-reported past-year cannabis use and its relationship to four primary driving outcomes: self-rated abilities for safe driving, lapses/errors/violations (measured via the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire), drinking and driving, and crashes/citations. Regression models adjusted for sociodemographic factors, health conditions, and cognitive function. Key findings indicate that 40.8% of participants had ever used cannabis, while 9.0% reported past-year use. Past-year users were significantly younger, less educated, had lower incomes, and reported worse mental, emotional, social, and cognitive health status compared to non-users. Notably, past-year users were four times as likely to report having driven when they may have been over the legal blood-alcohol limit (adjusted OR = 4.18; 95% CI: 2.11, 8.25). However, no significant association was found between past-year cannabis use and self-reported crashes or citations in the past year. Additionally, users and non-users had similar scores for self-rated driving abilities and driving-related lapses, errors, and violations after adjusting for confounders. Only 9.3% of past-year users reported driving within one hour of cannabis use. The significance of these findings lies in the identification of a distinct profile of older cannabis users who exhibit higher rates of alcohol-impaired driving and poorer mental health, yet do not report increased crash involvement. The high prevalence of past-year use (9.0%) in this cohort exceeds national estimates for older adults, likely influenced by Colorado’s legalization laws. The results suggest that while cannabis use in older drivers is associated with risky behaviors like alcohol-impaired driving, it does not necessarily translate to immediate crash risk in this sample. Further research is needed to isolate the specific driving risks associated with cannabis use independent of other comorbid factors.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.8-27b-gittensor | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-08-23 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
Summary generated by qwen3.8-27b-gittensor on 2026-08-23; verification: pending re-verification.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence