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Show Grass, Booze: The Murderous Mix The statistics for alcohol-related traffic fatalities are well known and frightening. But today highway officials of-ficials and police officers are finding a pew ingredient in an already murderous mix: marijuana. Further, according to one study reported in the January issue of Families, driving impairments caused by pot plus alcohol are MORE than additive. One drug fires up the other. In this case, ; one plus one equals much more than two on the impairment scale. Hugh Alcott, a California State Department of Corrections probation agent assigned to the special narcotics nar-cotics section, says this information is little understood by pot smokers. "A lot of people who've had loo much to -drink and know their driving skill will be affected smoke a joint 'so they can drive better.' They actually believe that marijuana acts as an antidote to the effects of alcohol. All the pot does, of course, is to make I hem FEEL that they're driving better. In fact, their driving is far more impaired than if they'd used alcohol alone." Add to this the fact that surveys reveal that "60 to 80 percent of the marijuana users questioned indicated that they sometimes drive while cannabis-intodicated." cannabis-intodicated." (Cannabis is the plant from which marijuana is prepared.) They also report that they enjoy the effect. |