By Dan Hart

Following the release of a new study showing that almost half of drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents in a large Ohio county tested positive for marijuana use, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated Tuesday that the continued push in the U.S. to legalize the drug is “dangerous.”

Last week, the results of a study were released that examined the coroner records of drivers who were killed in fatal car accidents in a major county in Ohio from January 2019 to September 2024. It found that 41.9% of the drivers tested positive for active delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound found in marijuana that is responsible for causing intoxicating effects.

Akpofure Ekeh, the lead author of the study who serves as a professor of Surgery at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, remarked that he was “surprised” to see such a high percentage of drivers testing positive for a significantly high level of THC. “An average level of 30.7 ng/mL generally means those people must have consumed marijuana at some time close to driving,” he explained. “This isn’t about residual use; it’s about recent consumption.”

The study comes amid a nationwide effort by policymakers to expand the availability of marijuana, which half of U.S. states have legalized for recreational use and several more have decriminalized. As the cannabis industry continues to mushroom into a $38 billion industry, marijuana lobbyists continue to push lawmakers to loosen restrictions on the drug in order to boost free enterprise and increase state tax revenue. In August, President Trump hinted that his administration was considering rescheduling cannabis as a less potent drug in order to aid economic expansion and interstate commerce, even as it was revealed that the president was likely influenced by “a very powerful PR effort” by the marijuana industry.

In addition, public campaigns promoting the supposed “safety” of marijuana use have proliferated in recent years, with many claiming that the drug is a safer alternative to alcohol.

But the new Ohio study on fatal car accidents puts a notable dent in the theory that marijuana use has minimal adverse consequences. As it turns out, serious impairment while driving is just the beginning of the negative effects of cannabis use, according to a multitude of studies. In June, an extensive study of 24 other studies was released, finding cannabis use is associated with a twofold increase in the risk of death due to heart attacks, with daily use associated with a 34% better chance of suffering from heart failure than non-users. A November 2023 study of 160,000 adults also found a 34% elevated risk of cardiac arrest.

Further studies show that cannabis use causes increased risk of psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal thoughts, as well as causing high anxiety, memory loss, lower IQ, severe vomiting, fetal development issues, bronchitis, emphysema, and a higher rate of ER visits.

Meanwhile, some Trump administration officials are beginning to sound the alarm on the dangers of marijuana use. During “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned of the risks of minimizing the dangers of marijuana in light of the new Ohio study.

“We had a lot of conversations in America about drunk driving, right? Find a designated driver. Don’t drive drunk. Well, there’s been this whole movement to liberalize the laws around marijuana and kind of celebrate marijuana,” he observed. “‘Marijuana is way better for you than alcohol. It’s organic.’ The problem is you drive with these drugs in your system, and your response time is way slower. You’re endangering yourself, everyone in your car, and everyone on the road. And we have to do a way better job of talking about the risks of driving with THC in your system.”

Duffy went on to point out that law enforcement’s current ability to detect cannabis use is far behind the capabilities of detecting alcohol use.

“With alcohol, I can look at [the driver]. I can smell if [the driver] has been drinking in the car. There [are] telltale signs. And then I can give him a breathalyzer, and then I can take a blood test later,” he noted. “It’s hard with marijuana. We don’t have the systems in place to tell if you’re smoking marijuana before you got in the car. So the systems aren’t there at a time when culture is pushing and celebrating the use of marijuana. We’re not talking about the risks. We lose 42,000 people on the roads every year — way too many.”

Duffy further acknowledged the pressure that President Trump is under to expand the availability of the drug.

“I understand he’s getting pressure,” he granted. “Listen, I’ve got nine kids. I see what these drugs do. I’m not a supporter of legalizing. And I was a prosecutor. We didn’t send people to prison for a quarter-ounce bag or eight-ounce bag of marijuana. They got a city citation. They’re not going to prison for this. But to legalize it and to say it’s okay for our kids and our young people to smoke it, and it’s good for them. And they get behind cars. It’s dangerous and threatening. … [I]t’s taking lives.”

“It’s addictive,” Duffy continued. “And by the way, it’s not the 1960s marijuana, right? This is way more dangerous stuff. And then they’re lacing it with other materials that are incredibly dangerous.”

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.