Young Adult Alcohol and Cannabis Impaired Driving After the Opening of Cannabis Retail Stores in Washington State
DOI: 10.1007/s11121-024-01679-6
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged
Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)
Summary
This study investigates trends in driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA), cannabis (DUIC), and simultaneous use of both (DUIAC) among young adults (ages 18–25) in Washington State, specifically examining the period from 2014 to 2019. This timeframe spans the opening of legal nonmedical cannabis retail stores in July 2014, allowing for an assessment of how legalization impacted impaired driving behaviors. The research addresses a gap in literature that has primarily relied on fatal crash data (FARS), which has methodological limitations, by utilizing self-reported behavioral data to disentangle DUI trends from general substance use trends. The study utilized data from the Washington Young Adult Health Survey, a statewide cross-sectional survey conducted annually from 2014 to 2019, yielding a sample of 12,963 participants. Researchers employed weighted multivariable logistic regressions to assess yearly changes in the prevalence of DUIA, DUIC, and DUIAC. Analyses were conducted both population-wide and among subgroups who reported recent substance use, adjusting for frequency and quantity of use to isolate the effect of impairment from the effect of usage prevalence. Additionally, the study examined moderation effects by age, sex, and urbanicity. Results indicated that while DUIA prevalence decreased significantly among the overall population (AOR = 0.93) and among drinkers (AOR = 0.95), it remained at concerning levels, with 10% of all young adults and 16% of drinkers reporting DUIA in 2019. Population-wide DUIC prevalence did not change significantly (AOR = 0.99), remaining at 11% by 2019. However, among those who used cannabis, the likelihood of DUIC decreased significantly (AOR = 0.91), dropping from 44.7% to 33.0%. DUIAC showed a non-significant decrease in both the general population and among simultaneous users. Males consistently reported higher odds of all three DUI types compared to females. The findings suggest that while some progress has been made in reducing impaired driving, particularly among cannabis users, the prevalence of DUI remains high. The divergence between stable population-wide DUIC rates and decreasing DUIC among users likely reflects an increase in the overall number of cannabis users offset by a reduction in the proportion of users who drive impaired. The authors hypothesize that this shift may be driven by increased use of high-potency THC products, which cause longer-lasting impairment, leading users to avoid driving. The study highlights the need for continued prevention efforts and further research into how perceived risk and enforcement perceptions influence driving decisions in states with varying cannabis legal statuses.
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via scout_discovery on 2026-05-08.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | partial | scout | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-08 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 32 | 2026-08-22 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-08-23 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | semantic_scholar | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-04 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| 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.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.