AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released its latest research on smoking marijuana and driving.

You will often hear people say smoking weed is so much safer than using alcohol. Many say they drive just fine after smoking the illegal substance, better than they would after a beer or two.

The problem is, illegal or not, people are doing it in Mississippi. They are also now doing it in more than 20 other states in the nation where marijuana is legal.

AAA’s research showed that sobriety tests and attempting to set a limit for THS, the main ingredient in marijuana, is useless. Every individual processes THC differently and there is no science showing that drivers become impaired with a certain amount of it in their blood.

AAA’s stats show that also:

• The percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who recently used marijuana more than doubled from eight to 17 percent between 2013 and 2014.

• One in six drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2014 had recently used marijuana, which is the most recent data available.

We encourage our scientists right here in Mississippi to find a solution to this and lead the nation. Hopefully there is a solution and test in place before any other state legalizes the plant.