@article{ref1,
title="High prevalence of previous arrests for illicit drug use and/or impaired driving among drivers killed in motor vehicle crashes in Sweden with amphetamine in blood at autopsy",
journal="International journal on drug policy",
year="2015",
author="Jones, Alan Wayne and Holmgren, Anita and Ahlner, Johan",
volume="26",
number="8",
pages="790-793",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Amphetamine, and to a lesser extent the secondary amine methamphetamine, are major recreational drugs of abuse in Sweden. These central stimulant amines are identified in blood from roughly 50% of people arrested for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID). However, much less information is available about the presence of amphetamine in blood of drivers killed in road-traffic crashes. <br><br>METHODS: This retrospective 10-year study (2001-2010) used a forensic toxicology database (TOXBASE) to retrieve information about road-traffic crashes when the driver had amphetamine and/or methamphetamine in autopsy blood. Forensic toxicology results were available from over 95% of all drivers killed on Swedish roads during this 10-year period. <br><br>RESULTS: Amphetamine was present in the blood of 106 drivers (3.9%) either alone or together with other psychoactive substances (e.g. alcohol, cannabis, diazepam, alprazolam, etc.). The vast majority of fatalities were male (95%) with a mean age (±standard deviation) of 37±11.4 years (range 16-67 years). The mean (median) and highest concentrations of amphetamine in femoral blood were 1.36mg/L (1.0mg/L) and 6.74mg/L, respectively. Many of the victims (75%) had been arrested previously for use of illicit drugs or DUID. The median number of previous arrests was 4 (range 0-83) and amphetamine or methamphetamine were among the drugs identified in blood samples from 89% of cases (0-100%). <br><br>CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of repeat DUID offending and/or use of illicit drugs among the drivers killed in road-traffic crashes suggests that an early intervention and treatment for stimulant abuse might have been more beneficial than conventional punishments for such drug-related crimes.  Keywords: Cannabis impaired driving; DUID; Ethanol impaired driving <p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0955-3959",
doi="10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.011",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.011"
}