Car Accidents Caused by Drug Use in Palm Beach On The Rise

As personal injury attorneys in Palm Beach, we are not surprised by the fact that car accidents caused by drivers under the influence of drugs rose by eighteen percent in 2010. Interestingly, drug use involved crashes throughout Florida decreased last year.

There can be no doubt that the number of so-called pain clinics in South Florida and their ever increasing sale of Oxycodone and Xanax played a significant role in the increase of drug involved car accidents. These pain clinics may very well be the reason that drug use in Florida differs from the rest of the United States. A nationwide analysis of car accidents by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that marijuana and cocaine were the drugs usually found in drivers.

As there is no minimum impairment standard, as there is for alcohol use, there is a strong likelihood that prescription drugs as a cause of car accidents is actually greater than thought. This is one of the reasons why we urge the Florida Attorney General’s Office to continue its prosecution of the doctors and clinics who sell these dangerous drugs for profit.