A recent Fox News segment about 106 drivers with THC in their systems who died in car crashes shows how media networks package limited research findings into sensationalized news that seeks to influence political debate. At a key moment when President Donald J. Trump is weighing a decision to use his executive power to reschedule cannabis and combat illegal drug cartels, the network's reporting on a Wright State University study about THC and traffic fatalities scares viewers by misrepresenting the scope and key findings.
The Wright State University study, presented at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2025, analyzed 246 coroner records of drivers killed in Montgomery County, Ohio, over six years, from January 2019 to September 2024. The 246 drivers were tested for THC following the fatal crashes, and researchers found that 41.9% of them tested positive for THC, with an average blood level of 30.7 ng/mL.
During the same six-year period, the state of Ohio recorded 7,410 traffic fatalities, meaning the study dealt with just 3.3% of all traffic fatalities in Ohio during this period, and 106 of the deceased drivers (1.43%) tested positive for THC.
Enter The Spin Zone
Fox News’ senior health editor Melissa Rudy transformed this one-county-level study into a national story with a misleading headline and lede:
Fatal crash report finds nearly half of deadly wrecks tied to illegal drug - THC levels in hundreds of crash victims far exceeded legal limits across all states…A growing number of marijuana users are driving while high — and it’s costing them their lives. More than 40% of victims of fatal vehicle accidents over the past six years have had elevated levels of THC in their blood, a new study shows.”
The study did not say nearly half of deadly wrecks were “tied to” cannabis, nor did it say that the levels in hundreds of victims exceeded the legal limits. Neither the study nor Fox's coverage can establish that THC caused these crashes. The presence of THC in a driver's system doesn't prove impairment at the time of the crash or that cannabis use was the primary factor in the collision.
Many factors contribute to fatal accidents, including speed, seatbelt use, weather conditions, mechanical failures, and the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Also, it wasn’t “hundreds of crash victims”; there were only 106 drivers in total, averaging just 17 drivers per year.
Then came the broadcast segment itself. In her opening, the host mentioned that the White House “is talking about de-scheduling” and points to the Dayton, Ohio study as “evidence of how dangerous this could be.”
Host: “New research showing more people are driving cars while they're high on marijuana, and they're having deadly consequences. One study finding over 40 percent of drivers killed in crashes over the last six years had THC in their blood. The researchers looked at deceased drivers in Ohio, which legalized the drug for recreational use in 2023. Journalist and author Alex Berenson has been outspoken about the dangers of marijuana and wrote a book on the drug's connection to psychosis and violent crimes. He joins us now. This has been a big talk around our country. A lot of states are legalizing this. The White House is talking about de-scheduling it, but this is an example, this is more evidence of how dangerous this could be, right?”
Introducing Alex Berenson - “The Pandemic’s Wrongest Man”
On air, Berenson (an author known for his opposition to cannabis legalization who was suspended from Twitter in 2021 for COVID-19 misinformation violations and dubbed "The Pandemic's Wrongest Man" by The Atlantic) argued on the segment that cannabis use leads to “many cases” of paranoid and psychotic drivers going more than 100 miles per hour.
“But you know, cannabis, people perceive that, you know, you get high, you drive, you tend to drive slowly. Maybe you run through a stop sign, you know, you roll through it. That's not true at all. A lot of people in these accidents are driving extremely fast. You know, I can point to many cases where people were going more than 100 miles per hour because again, if you get paranoid, if you get psychotic, you may think somebody is chasing you, you may just drive exceptionally fast, and you get into terrible accidents.”
On Screen Stat is Fake; Host Falsely States that Half of Fatal Accidents “You Can Blame on THC”
During the broadcast segment, Fox displayed an on-screen graphic claiming there had been a "3.1% increase" in THC-positive deceased drivers since legalization in Ohio.
The commentator says:
“If you look at the numbers after it was approved in the state of Ohio, which was in 2023, the last year and a half of the study shows that there's an uptick of about 3%.
“So before it was legalized, 42.1% and after it was legalized 45.2%, that's almost half of the accidents, you can, you know, blame on THC.”
While Ohio voters approved recreational cannabis in November 2023, retail sales didn't even begin until August 2024. The Wright State study covers 246 people over six years, only through September 2024, meaning nearly the entire six-year dataset predates legal sales of cannabis in Ohio. Not only does Fox's on-screen statistic bait viewers into believing legalization caused a spike in deaths, but the study Fox is basing the statistic on contains virtually no 2024 post-legalization data at all.
Even without taking the legalization timeline into account, the difference between 42.1% and 45.2% is not statistically significant when you are talking about 106 drivers over six years. The commentary also directly contradicts the statement from the study's publishers, who stated unequivocally that legalization did not affect THC positivity rates.
The True Impact of Legalization
Berenson also characterized public roadways in the US as increasingly dangerous: “The United States used to have some of the safest roads in the world. Now we have more dangerous roads than Europe in terms of the number of fatalities per mile we drive. And part of that probably is due to cannabis.”
However, statewide data from Ohio since voters passed Issue 2 shows no cannabis-fueled crisis on the roadways.
According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), Ohio's traffic fatalities have declined 8 percent since 2021, and the death rate per 100 million miles driven is down 10 percent.
Even more significantly, ODPS records indicate that during the first full year after Ohio legalized recreational cannabis and just a few months into legal retail sales, traffic fatalities fell nearly 7 percent.
OVI-related deaths and crashes, which include all impaired driving, not just cannabis, dropped more than 12 percent, their largest year-over-year decline in five years.
The Story Behind the Story
The timing of the Fox coverage is particularly revealing. The story appeared on Fox & Friends just days after former President Trump shared a pro-medical-cannabis video on his social media accounts, signaling his potential support for rescheduling cannabis at the federal level.
Berenson’s efforts to counter the forces in favor of rescheduling are ongoing:
And, you know, we now have a big industry that profits from this that wants rescheduling, as you said. And obviously, President Trump has a big decision to make on this. We've talked about this before. You know, I think I think the President is, you know, very smart, and he’s obviously concerned about drug use and alcohol use, but he's probably got people whispering in his ear who want to downplay the real risks here. Again, whether that's driving, whether that's the increasingly clear risks around heart disease and heart attacks that cannabis has, or whether it's psychosis and violence. And I do hope they'll consider this.”
Trump’s Transportation Secretary Weighs In
President Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared on another Fox program, expressing his opposition to the President's potential rescheduling plans.
"I understand he's [Donald Trump] getting pressure, listen, I've got nine kids, I see what these drugs do, I'm not a supporter of legalizing it," Duffy told the Fox & Friends hosts while discussing the same Ohio study.
Duffy warned about the lack of roadside testing systems for marijuana impairment, stating that "the systems aren't there at a time when culture's pushing and celebrating the use of marijuana."
The segments appear designed to counter momentum toward federal cannabis reform by highlighting public safety concerns, even if those concerns required misrepresenting the actual research.
The Wright State study itself provides useful information about THC detection among deceased drivers in a single Ohio county. It does not show that cannabis legalization has increased impaired driving deaths overall or that 40 percent of all traffic fatalities can be blamed on cannabis use.
With statewide traffic fatalities and impaired driving deaths declining after legalization, the real story emerging from Ohio’s data stands in sharp contrast to the one Fox News delivered to its viewers.
By converting a limited county-level study into a sweeping national claim and fabricating a post-legalization increase that the researchers explicitly said did not exist, Fox News and its featured guests created a misleading impression about both the scope and meaning of the research. The segment appeared timed to shape opinion at a politically sensitive moment.
As President Trump flirts with rescheduling cannabis, the network’s framing reinforces a narrative that could push his socially conservative and evangelical supporters to pressure him to change course.
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Cara Brown McCormick
