Abstract
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Rationale Illicit drugs such as methamphetamine are commonly
abused drugs that have also been observed to be
prevalent in drivers injured in road accidents. The exact effect
of methamphetamine or its specific isomers on driving and
driving behaviour have yet to be thoroughly investigated.
Methods Twenty healthy recreational illicit stimulant users
(ten males, ten females), aged between 21 and 34 years
(mean=24.3 years, SD=3.4 years), attended two testing
sessions involving oral consumption of 0.42 mg/kg d,lmethamphetamine
or a matching placebo. The drug
administration was counterbalanced, double-blind, and
medically supervised. At each session, driving performance
was assessed 2.5 h post-drug administration.
Results Mean blood and saliva d,l-methamphetamine concentrations
of approximately 90 and 400 ng/ml, respectively,
at 2 h and 95 and 475 ng/ml at 3 h were observed. These
levels of d,l-methamphetamine were found not to significantly
impair, or improve, driving performance at the 2.5-
h post-drug administration time point.
Conclusions The findings of this study illustrate that d,lmethamphetamine
has no significant effect on simulated
driving performance.