ARCH Lab recently contributed to paper titled “Steering clear: Traffic violations among emerging adults who engage in habitual or casual cannabis use”. This study examined the association between habitual or casual cannabis use and past-year traffic violations among emerging adults (EAs).

Data come from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health. Respondents were categorized based on age: early EAs (15-19 y), middle EAs (20-24 y), and late EAs (25-29 y). Traffic violations were measured using self-report and cannabis use was measured using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Results showed the prevalence of traffic violations was higher for males (19.2 %) vs females (9.9 %) and middle (16.2 %) and late (19.4 %) EAs vs early (8.8 %) EAs. Higher odds of traffic violations were reported in early EAs who were casual cannabis users and middle EAs who were habitual or casual cannabis users when compared to non-users.

When accounting for the moderating effects of age and drug use, habitual and casual cannabis use resulted in increased odds of a traffic violation. Future research is warranted to explore the robustness of our findings.