Here’s something interesting: despite recent headlines concerning the inability of people to derive while stoned, it seems the first five months of Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry has not led to an increase of total motorist fatalities, which are, in fact, in slight decline from last year. From January through May there was an average of 32 fatal automobile accidents per month in Colorado in 2013. This year there’s been an average of 29 per month. January, which brought over $14 million in cannabis sales and an onslaught of out of state traffic by those who wanted to partake in the first days of the historic transactions, only saw 26 motorist fatalities compared to 32 a year ago. All the more impressive when one considers the icy conditions during those first few momentous weeks. March brought nearly twice as much money in recreational pot sales as January largely due to Spring Break travel, which specifically brings in the younger and less experienced crowds—both in driving and in consuming marijuana. Yet accidents rates between the two years varied only slightly. And April, which brought thousands upon thousands (along with $22 million in recreational sales) for the largest “420†gathering in US history—purely dedicated to overindulging in cannabis—saw 28 fatal accidents compared to 30 from last year. The prohibition groups just hate to see news like this, they have been grasping at straws lately to deliver their anti marijuana message…but guys, numbers don’t lie!
