The toxicology report has returned positive for marijuana for the suspect in the wrong-way triple-fatal crash on I-85 last month, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The report shows that 20-year-old Chandler Kania had active THC and THC metabolites in his system the night that he allegedly drove his 2005 Jeep Wrangler the wrong way on I-85 for at least six miles before striking another vehicle head on, killing three of the four passengers in the other vehicle.
Kania’s blood-alcohol level was a .17 after the crash, according to officials. The legal limit to drive in North Carolina is .08, but Kania was also under the legal drinking age of 21.
49-year-old Felicia Harris, 46-year-old Darlene McGee, and six-year-old Jahnice Baird were killed in the crash. Nine-year-old Jahnia King is the lone survivor from the vehicle struck by Kania. She suffered two broken bones in her left leg and a broken right collarbone, according to officials.
Kania has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, among other charges.
Kania was released from prison after posting $1 million dollar bond. Kania’s attorney says he is being treated for a broken right ankle, broken left foot, and broken left arm at his parents’ home in Asheboro.
Kania has a court date scheduled for Monday, August 10.
The thing to note here is the blood alcohol content. The guy was dead drunk. Yet the headline doesn’t say that it only brings up cannabis as the cause. Typical! The truth is, there has never been a fatal accident caused by cannabis that I can find. If cannabis involved at all it’s always accompanied by either heavy doses of pharmaceuticals or alcohol. But the press would rather blame cannabis for some reason???
2014 : During a congressional hearing on the threat posed by cannabis intoxicated drivers, representative Jeff Michael of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was asked how many fatal crashes are caused by marijuana each year. “That’s difficult to say,” replied Michael, “We don’t have a precise estimate.” The most he was willing to affirm was that the number is “probably not” zero.
If you take the spin off it what Jeff Michael of the NHTSA is saying, the translation comes out, there’s not enough fatal accidents related to cannabis to provide quantifiable data.
If you go further in your thinking it’s clear the reason for the lack of data is because cannabis is safe by comparison to alcohol and pharmaceuticals which are easily quantifiable because of the massive numbers of victims killed. Nearly 60 traffic fatalities PER DAY in the US directly attributable to alcohol and pharmaceutical intoxication!!! Alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs kill over 21,000 people per year in the US in traffic deaths alone and over 500,000 in non automobile related deaths.
I have searched high and low, talked to local law enforcement, Highway Patrol, State Police and get the same answer from every agency. Not one single law enforcement agency can show a single case of fatal accident caused by cannabis directly. They can show cases by the thousands where alcohol or pharmaceuticals were the direct cause of traffic fatalities. When cornered police officials hem and haw about cannabis probabilities, but when asked to show one single case of a traffic fatality solely caused by cannabis intoxication it’s always the same answer “there is currently no data is available.”