In the past few years, the CBD market has experienced tremendous growth, and things are not about to slow down as more people are starting to use CBD.
We all know that driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous, but what about driving after ingesting CBD oil? CBD oil doesn’t cause intoxication, but can it still affect the driver?
Toni Marie Rudisill, a researcher from the West Virginia University, is spearheading the research on whether or not CBD can impair an individual’s driving ability.
Rudisill admits that she doesn’t know much about CBD oil, but since it’s a derivative of the cannabis plant, she would like to find out precisely its impact on driving.
This research is funded by the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and 40 participants will be recruited, with half of them receiving pure CBD oil, and the other half receiving a placebo.
Then the participants will undergo a driving simulation that will take about 30 minutes. Rudisill claims that the driving simulator captures a lot of information on the backend.
For instance, it can show when a participant drifts out of their lane, whether they use turn signals competently, and whether they break at stoplights. The simulator can also assess their ability to react to emergencies.
And then Toni along with other researchers will evaluate the performance of the participants before they determine whether or not CBD oil impairs driving.
Some of the key areas that will be studied include the participant’s mood, energy levels, mental state, and cognitive abilities. Rudisill says that she felt the need to perform this research when she saw how CBD products have become common.
She’s still recruiting participants, and if you are interested, contact the coordinator, Cynthia Fisher-Duda via her email cynthia.fisherduda@hsc.wvu.edu or 304-581-1923.