Gloucester High School students sent a strong message about the dangers of driving while high during a recent poster contest at the school, according to Gloucester Health Department Prevention Coordinator Daniel Liebert.
The posters feature prevention messages of “Do Not Drive While Wasted,” “A Few Hits Aren’t Worth Your Life,” and “Drive High, Get a DUI.”
The Prevent Cannabis Impaired Driving poster contest was held at the school in November and December, and it received more than 75 entries, with prizes awarded for the leading messages and drawings. The city’s Health Department, in collaboration with the high school, sponsored the
contest.
Gloucester High School Student Health Center Program Manager Karen Hurst and Health Teacher Rosa Goulart provided encouragement and time for students to create powerful messages to raise awareness about the risks from driving while under the influence of cannabis, or marijuana, and
other drugs.
While there is a high level of awareness about the deadly toll from drunk driving, largely through the efforts of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving or MADD, the sad reality is that in 2022 there were more than 13,000 deaths due to drivers who were operating under the influence of alcohol, according to Liebert, citing a National Highway Safety Administration statistic.
Liebert said awareness about the dangerousness of driving under the influence of cannabis is growing.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that “marijuana affects psychomotor skills and cognitive functions critical to driving including vigilance, drowsiness, time and distance perception, reaction time, divided attention, lane tracking, coordination and balance.”
Health officials say it should be recognized that cannabis is not harmless, and that driving while high is like driving while drunk: a deadly combination that destroys people’s lives.
Researchers from Boston University have found that:
Deadly car crashes involving both cannabis and alcohol have doubled in 20 years.
From 2000 to 2018, the percentage of crash deaths involving cannabis increased from 9% to 21.5%, and the percentage of deaths involving cannabis and alcohol more than doubled, from 4.8% to 10.3%.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
The risk of motor-vehicle crashes is higher among teens ages 16 to 19 than among any other age group.
Liebert thanked the Gloucester High teens for creating messages to encourage all drivers to be responsible and “Don’t Drive Wasted.” The art will be posted in the high school and be used by the Health Department in public service announcements.
More information is available by Lieberting at dliebert@gloucester-ma.gov or 978-325-5276.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at
eforman@northofboston.com.
