Re: Driving stoned. Author replies

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 59, No. 5, June 2017, Pages 256-257 Letters
By: Chris Rumball, MD

I thank Ms Lake for her comment and interest in this subject. She is quite correct in saying that the 2015 data on drug-impaired driving in Colorado showed a decline in the number of traffic fatalities where marijuana was the only drug present in the driver’s system.

I thank Ms Lake for her comment and interest in this subject. She is quite correct in saying that the 2015 data on drug-impaired driving in Colorado showed a decline in the number of traffic fatalities where marijuana was the only drug present in the driver’s system. It dropped from 12.1% in 2014 to 7.1%. However, other categories did not reflect a similar decline, and the total number of fatalities from drug-impaired driving increased, as did the number of drivers testing positive for any drugs and the number of drivers testing positive for other drugs combined with marijuana.

We need to consider two important factors when we use statistics on this subject. First, we need to appreciate that there will likely be considerable variability year to year and from state to state. Over time, correct study methodology combined with national and international cumulative results will be most meaningful.

Second, we shouldn’t become too absorbed debating statistics; it is a scientific reality that the consumption of marijuana results in impaired ability to drive a motor vehicle and that combining marijuana with alcohol or other drugs only increases this impairment. Does marijuana cause less impairment than alcohol? Quite likely—but that’s not the point. Impairment is impairment. Measures to improve road safety have always been initially met by strong opposition from affected and interested parties, whether it be the requirement for seatbelt use in the 1970s or the acknowledgment in the 1990s that using cell phones resulted in dangerously distracted driving. We have a public responsibility to craft fair and equitable standards with sensible road-safety laws that define and penalize cannabis-impaired driving.
—Chris Rumball, MD
Chair, Emergency Medical Services Committee

Chris Rumball, MD. Re: Driving stoned. Author replies. BCMJ, Vol. 59, No. 5, June, 2017, Page(s) 256-257 - Letters.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

Leave a Reply