CANNABIS USERS URGED TO STEER CLEAR OF DRIVING

Cannabis users should not drive for five hours after smoking the drug, a
researcher said today.

Douglas Tutt, director of health promotion for the New South Wales Central
Coast, urged cannabis users not to smoke and drive following a study of
fatal accidents.

The research revealed drivers aged under 45 years killed in car crashes
were just as likely to be affected by cannabis as alcohol.

Mr Tutt said the study of four years of coronial records in Gosford and
Wyong showed that THC, the active ingredient of cannabis, was an emerging
issue for curbing the road toll.

"Cannabis kills, just like alcohol," he told a conference on drug and
alcohol addiction in Brisbane today.

Mr Tutt said it was hard to come up with a "safe" level of cannabis
consumption before driving.

"What we've been able to estimate is that impairment lasts for about four
hours and so we think that you need to wait five hours before driving," he
said.