Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2003
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2003 Reuters Limited

DRINKING PLUS POT SMOKING MAY EQUAL MORE INJURIES

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Problem drinkers who also use marijuana
may be particularly injury-prone, according to a study of emergency
room patients.

Rhode Island researchers found that among 433 injured patients
considered problem drinkers, those who said they also smoked pot
appeared more accident-prone than others.

Compared with patients who said they didn't use marijuana, users were
more likely to have had another injury in the past year, particularly
an alcohol-or driving-related one.

Overall, nearly half of the study participants said they had smoked
pot in the past three months, according to findings published in the
January issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

It is not known whether these ER patients had actually used an
alcohol-pot combo before they were injured, the study authors point
out. Nor could they tell whether marijuana use alone is an injury risk
factor.

"Isolated use of marijuana may or may not contribute to injury," write
the researchers, led by Dr. Robert Woolard of Brown University Medical
School in Providence.

Still, they conclude, the findings do suggest that problem drinkers
who also use pot may be especially vulnerable to injury.

According to the researchers, ER doctors need to be aware that many of
their injured patients may need counseling for both alcohol and
marijuana use--and not just alcohol alone.

However, they point out, few emergency departments routinely screen
all injured patients for alcohol and other drugs. And when problem
drinking is clearly the culprit, the researchers add, "screening for
other drugs is unusual."

Problem drinkers in this study were identified either by breath
testing in the ER, patients' own reports of drinking shortly before
the injury, or by scores on a standard screen for "hazardous" drinking.

Those who also reported marijuana use tended to be young, white males
with relatively less education--although many patients overall, the
researchers note, were college students.

SOURCE: Academic Emergency Medicine 2003;10:43-51.