Drug and Driving: A Compendium of Research Studies

Annotated Sources (cont'd)

Norway

46. Assum, T. (2004)

Drug and alcohol use among car drivers in Norway. Data collection problems and some preliminary results. In J. Oliver, P. Williams and A. Clayton (Eds), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (CD). Glasgow: Scottish Executive.

Overview

Case/control study of drivers in Norway. In progress

Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested

Injured and killed drivers

General population of roadside drivers

Time period from May 2003 – June 2004

Drugs examined
Method of testing and medium used

Blood samples taken from injured and killed drivers at hospitals

Oral fluid samples taken from general population roadside drivers in the same areas as those injured and killed

Other dependent variables

None

Findings (including statistical methods)

Data collection problems – major obstacle of obtaining written consent from driver

At time of paper, only 11 blood samples from injured and killed drivers available

Of the 196 oral fluid samples collected, 5 resulted in a positive screening with 3 confirmed for benzodiazepines, opiates, and cannabis (one for each)

No statistical analyses

Comments

Study is incomplete and has significant data collection problems

47. Bachs, L., Bramness, J., Skurtveit, S., and Morland, J. (2004)

Morphine blood concentration and clinical impairment in a population of drugged drivers. In J. Oliver, P. Williams and A. Clayton (Eds), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (CD). Glasgow: Scottish Executive.

Overview

Study of morphine use among suspected drugged drivers in Norway

Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested

Suspected drugged drivers
Epidemiological study
Time period from 1999 – 2003

Drugs examined
Method of testing and medium used

Blood sample and Clinical Test for Impairment (CTI) data obtained from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health

CTI consisted of 3 elements:

Other dependent variables
Findings (including statistical methods)

Of the 21,700 cases of suspected drugged driving (blood samples), 2000 (9.2%) were positive for morphine (≥ 9 ng/ml)

Majority (92%) were in combination with other drugs, mostly benzodiazepines

Of those samples containing only morphine, 98 were subject to further analysis for this study

Of the 98 cases, 77% were "impaired"

Of that 77%, 52% were mildly impaired, 35% moderately, and 13% highly

Morphine concentration groups of low, moderate, medium, and high were formed based on 9-14, 15-29, 30-59, and 60-85 ng/ml respectively

No significant difference in blood morphine concentration between those "impaired" versus "not impaired"

Tolerance and sensitization were offered as possible explanations

Comments

Study is based on a very select subsample (98 of 21,700) suspected drugged drivers