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Want to curb cannabis-related crashes? Don’t forget older adults

Among people over 50 who use cannabis, those most likely to drive after partaking are men, people who use daily and those who use for mental health reasons

With cannabis-related vehicle crashes on the rise, a study suggests that prevention campaigns shouldn’t focus just on young people.

In fact, 20% of people over 50 who use cannabis products reported that at least once in the past year, they had driven within two hours of using the drug.

That means they likely got on the road while the THC in cannabis still impaired their reaction times, attention and other abilities that are important to driving safely.

The findings, from a University of Michigan team led by addiction psychologist Erin E. Bonar, Ph.D., are published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The data behind the study come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

Bonar and the poll team published an initial analysis in late 2024, but the paper dives deeper into the data.

“So much of the effort to reduce ‘driving while high’ through awareness campaigns has focused on young people, but our findings show this is a cross-generational issue,” said Bonar, a professor of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School.

“Targeting messages at those middle age and older adults with the highest risk of post-use driving could also include message about the options for addressing the health issues that they may be trying to self-treat with cannabis.”

Those most likely to drive after using cannabis

Adults age 50 and over who use cannabis products daily or nearly daily were three times as likely to say they had driven soon after using, compared with those who only use cannabis rarely, the study finds.

Those who use cannabis for mental health reasons were twice as likely to say they’d driven after using it, compared with those who didn’t list mental health among their reasons for choosing to use cannabis.

And men over 50 who use cannabis were 72% more likely to drive after using THC-containing products, compared with women in the same age group who use cannabis.

In all, the poll showed that 21% of people age 50 and up had used a cannabis product at least once in the last year, including 27% of those aged 50 to 64 and 17% of those aged 65 and up.

Of the 729 respondents over 50 who said they had used cannabis in the past year, 27% said they use it daily or almost daily, while 43% had used it only once or twice. The rest were divided between those who use monthly (14%) and weekly (16%).

Beyond the riskiest groups

While the study results suggest some groups of people over 50 who could especially benefit from targeted preventive messaging about the risks of driving after using cannabis, broad-based messaging appears to be needed, Bonar says.

In all, 65% of the people in the survey who said they use cannabis were between the ages of 50 and 64, with the rest over 65. But there was no difference between the age groups in likelihood of post-cannabis-use driving.

There were also no differences in post-use driving by age, race, ethnicity, income, history of loneliness, or caregiver status.

Those who live in states where recreational cannabis has been legalized were no more likely to drive after using the drug than those living in other states.

In addition to mental health, the poll asked about other reasons that adults over 50 might use cannabis, including several related to health.

In all, 52% of people over 50 who use cannabis cited a mental health or mood-related motive for using cannabis, and 67% cited a sleep-related motive.

There was no difference in whether participants drove after cannabis use based on using it for pain, other medical reasons or sleep-related reasons, once the researchers adjusted the data.

However, there was some signal that those who use it for sleep reasons may be more likely to drive after using.

This suggests a need to help adults age 50 and up understand that there are options for treating these conditions that have much more evidence behind them than cannabis, says Bonar.

It also highlights the need for more robust research on which health conditions cannabis might address most effectively.

Age-specific messaging

Bonar and her coauthors also note that driving guidelines for people over age 50 who choose to use cannabis should also consider the effects of aging on cognitive and motor abilities, and the potential for interactions between cannabis and the prescription drugs that these adults are more likely to take.

Helping adults over 50 who choose to use cannabis understand the potential impacts of today’s more potent cannabis, compared with the forms available in their younger years, is also important, says Bonar.

And when advising people over 50 about reducing driving risks related to their cannabis use, she says, health care providers and public health agencies may want to focus on strategies like using cannabis at times when they’re unlikely to need to drive, such as before bedtime, and the importance of planning ahead for safe transportation via a designated driver or ride share service.

Bonar is a member of IHPI and of the U-M Addiction Center, the U-M Injury Prevention Center and the U-M Eisenberg Family Depression Center.

In addition to the paper on cannabis use and driving among people over 50, the National Poll on Healthy Aging recently issued a report on driving behaviors among people age 65 and over.

Bonar and colleagues also recently published an Injury Prevention Center report on the impact of recreational cannabis legalization in Michigan, including data on motor vehicle crashes and fatalities linked to cannabis.

Additional authors: In ad
dition to Bonar, the study’s authors are Lianlian Lei, Matthias Kirch, Kristen P. Hassett, Erica Solway, Dianne C. Singer, Sydney N. Strunk, J. Scott Roberts, Preeti N. Malani, and NPHA director Jeffrey T. Kullgren.

Funding/disclosures: The poll is funded by Michigan Medicine.

Paper cited: "Driving after cannabis consumption among U.S. adults ages 50 years and older: A short communication," Drug and Alcohol Dependence. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112985

https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/want-curb-cannabis-related-crashes-dont-forget-older-adults

I have never EVER in my whole 57 years of life, seen someone NOT drive because they smoked pot. Not real THC pot.
That's a bullshit study with numbers pulled out of their ass, because "Pot is bayud, umkay?"

Everyone with a drivers license that smokes pot will drive after smoking.

They also seemed very focused on people over 50. Are they new Boomers, the wiser older generation that academia, media and family loathers everywhere, must villainize.

If the study has a modicum of truth to it, then they would be talking about people 16 to 30, they are more likely to smoke enough higher quality stuff to the point, it would hinder them sufficiently enough to be too impaired to drive. I have only been high enough after smoking a few times, less than 5. And driving was the last thing I wanted to do. And that was either because it was wax, or it was high strain of THC, that also had a high amount of CBD.

I would say those that use CDB definitely should not drive. CDB is a different animal, it doesn't mentally impair you or have the same effect as THC. It impairs your muscles, and makes you narcoleptic. Fall asleep mid sentence.

Point is technically there's plenty of instances of marijuana uses, that would fall in the scope of people shouldn't use and drive.
But straight up regular weed, not trying to be the most potent medical grade known to man, usage is safer than drive while smoking it. Than it is to be traveling with a nagging wife in the passenger seat, fully engaged in bitch mode.
And you don't have to be over 50.
What a strange study, and the angle what a hoot. People over 50 can smoke pot and make way better life choices than a 18 year old frat boy on spring break.

Tenpoundbass says

Everyone with a drivers license that smokes pot will drive after smoking.

Smoking weed that increases paranoia and anxiety can give rise to a thrilling experience when driving solo across a long suspension bridge. So I’ve been told.

I used to be a great fan, thinking that while smoking anything has to be bad for you, there were no downsides to edibles. But there are some. One is that if you take it to help sleep, eventually you can't sleep without it. Though even with that, if you just stop for a week, that problem goes away.

Another is that daily use of edibles causes asthma in me. I know people say it cures asthma, but not in my case. That's one reason I stopped. Also makes it harder for me to piss, not that anyone asked. I think it it must have some blood vessel dilation effect in lungs and prostate.

Then there's the memory thing. Daily use definitely causes short-term memory impairment. That also seems to get better after a week or two if you stop.

I've read it increases the rate of psychosis among teens who use it, but not adults. Something about doing it while the brain is still developing seems to be bad.

Never drove when stoned or drunk. That's one perfect record I've got in life at least.

And now, the upsides! It's fun. Makes sex amazing. That's something most people don't usually mention. Also enhances all foods, which everyone does mention.

And unlike alcohol, no hangover. Maybe a bit of grogginess.

Helps break the mind out of ruts. Gives me suddenly very different and creative thoughts.

And of course, it's great for insomnia, until you get dependent on it.

On the other hand, when you're dependent on it, you learn to function quite well while stoned. If you're not used to weed and get very stoned, you can't even tie your own shoes. But once used to it, it seems you can act pretty much normal. When I started working in San Francisco, I would wonder at people who were getting stoned in the morning after getting off the train. But now I see that they probably function OK in their jobs anyway, especially if it's a really boring job like being a building guard.

It's pure corruption that weed is still federally classified as on the same level as fentanyl. No one ever died from a weed overdose. The reason it's still a scheduled drug is that the prison guards union and beer distributors lobby against legalization.

Then again, the increased rate of psychosis among teen users does argue for strictly keeping it away from teens.

The guy I know who admits to smoking weed is addicted.