Starting in 2023, Massachusetts will become the first state in the U.S. where recreational marijuana use is legal to include a specific lesson to its driver’s education curriculum addressing safety of the drug as it relates to driving.
The addition to the program was created by the American Automobile Association (AAA) in partnership with the Cannabis Control Commission and the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and is called “Shifting Gears: The Blunt Truth About Marijuana and Driving,” per WCVB.
“This is the first generation of driver education students to be licensed since cannabis became legal in Massachusetts, and AAA research shows that impaired driving crashes may increase and continue to injure and kill motorists and their passengers,” officials from the Registry of Motor Vehicles wrote.
Read: IIHS Say Marijuana Legalization Leading To More Crashes
All first-time drivers under the age of 18 in the state are required to complete 30 hours of classroom instruction before receiving their full, unrestricted license. That, officials estimate, will mean that around 50,000 young drivers will be taught the new program each year in Massachusetts’ approximately 700 driving schools.
“The current driver education module addressing impaired driving will be updated to include research-based information on cannabis, explaining how tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active chemical in marijuana, affects cognition, vision, reaction time, and perception of time and distance,” MassDOT officials said.
Massachusetts voted to approve the legalization of marijuana in 2016, and it became the first East Coast state to allow regulated, recreational marijuana stores to open in 2019. Education for it and other states may be an important tool to consider for legislators, as the IIHS found recently that states where weed was legalized saw increases in motor vehicle crashes.
According to the AAA lesson plan, the new interactive module provides evidence-based information about the dangers of marijuana-impaired driving, explains how the drug affects cognitive processes, discusses alternate methods of transportation, and demonstrates a “driver’s susceptibility to this impairment,” and the consequences thereof.
