Is cannabis a slippery slope? Associations between psychological dysfunctioning, other substance use, and impaired driving, in a sample of active cannabis users
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310958
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Summary
This study investigates whether cannabis use serves as a "slippery slope" leading to other substance misuse and impaired driving, specifically examining the roles of psychological dysfunctioning and dependence. Motivated by rising cannabis prevalence in Australia and concerns regarding its association with poly-substance use and increased crash risk, the research aimed to determine if cannabis users are more likely to engage in other substance use and impaired driving compared to non-users, and to identify which psychological and usage factors predict these behaviors. Additionally, the study sought to compare behavioral and psychological profiles between medicinal and black-market cannabis users. The researchers employed a cross-sectional design involving 200 active adult cannabis users recruited via an online survey in Queensland, Australia. Participants were required to hold a valid driver’s license and have used cannabis flower in the past month. For comparison, existing data from 833 non-cannabis users was utilized. The study measured cannabis use patterns, dependence (using the Severity of Dependence Scale), substance use frequency, and impaired driving behaviors over the past 12 months. Psychological variables included emotion dysregulation (Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale) and psychopathology symptoms of anxiety, depression, and anger. Data analysis involved bivariate correlations, multiple regressions to predict substance use and driving behaviors, and ANOVA to compare user groups. Results indicated that cannabis users were significantly more likely to have used other illicit substances in the past 12 months compared to non-cannabis users. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the degree of cannabis use, likely dependence, psycho-social motives for use, emotion dysregulation, and psychopathology were positively associated with the frequency of using other substances and driving under the influence. Specifically, individuals with higher levels of emotional dysregulation and psychological distress were more prone to poly-substance use and impaired driving. Contrary to some expectations, the ANOVA results showed no significant differences in substance use behaviors, motives for cannabis use, or psychological dysfunctioning between medicinal and black-market cannabis users, with the exception of age. The findings suggest that cannabis use is strongly linked to broader substance misuse and risky driving behaviors, mediated by underlying psychological vulnerabilities such as emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. The lack of distinction between medicinal and black-market users implies that the source of cannabis does not mitigate these risks. The authors conclude that road safety initiatives should incorporate self-regulatory concepts and address psychological dysfunctioning to effectively reduce the interconnected issues of substance misuse and impaired driving among cannabis users.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-20 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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