The MedicalXpress report on stalled NHTSA tracking of drug-involved fatalities correctly flags workforce cuts since 2025, yet understates how this retreat mirrors a decade-long pattern of deprioritizing non-alcohol impairment data. NTSB’s 2022 observational analysis of ~26,000 drivers across four regions found polysubstance involvement in over half of impaired-driving arrests and more than a quarter of fatalities; the study was descriptive, not randomized, and relied on variable state testing rates below 60 % in most jurisdictions. A 2023 peer-reviewed observational cohort in Accident Analysis & Prevention (n=8,742 fatally injured drivers) confirmed THC concentrations above 5 ng/mL correlated with elevated crash odds, but lacked pharmacokinetic controls and disclosed no industry funding. Colorado’s 5 ng/mL threshold, repeatedly cited in the original coverage, rests on limited observational data rather than controlled impairment trials, a limitation the MedicalXpress piece notes only in passing via defense counsel. The administration’s broader withdrawal from comprehensive fatality analysis leaves local coroner data—such as Mesa County’s finding that drugs or alcohol contributed to nearly half of 2017–2024 traffic deaths—isolated and non-comparable, hindering evidence-based countermeasures precisely when state-level cannabis liberalization accelerates.