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by DanBC 2902 days ago
We know that opioids impair ability to drive.
2 comments

Of course, but it's obviously going to depend on the dose and the person's level of tolerance.

A few years ago the UK revised their regulations regarding driving while using prescribed opioids, taking an approach that essentially allows the driver to decide if they are too impaired to drive.

Actually, it looks like opioids are not associated with vehicle accidents

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14650448

I'm not too sure that the data in that 2002 study is relevant today. opiate use has skyrocketed since then and it's reasonable to believe that things have changed. In my career as a paramedic, i've probably encountered more vehicle accidents where someone admitted that they have taken opiates (oxy/norco/etc) than anything. Yet it's not going to go down as a cause in many cases because while a blood test would show positive for opiates, it's difficult to pin it down. Alcohol is much easier to pin on drivers.