health

New wrinkle in pot debate: stoned driving

22 Comments

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Indeed, not everyone but why chance it? I'd rather not be hit by some idiot who thinks they are fine to drive when they aren't.

Then it needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. Putting a blanket ban on everyone who takes anti-depressants from driving is lunacy.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Pfft! The only danger in driving under the influence of pot is forgetting where the heck you're going!

OK, OK, just kidding, I certainly don't recommend driving under the influence of pot. I think people who use pot for medical purposes may have to desist from driving while under the influence.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Indeed, not everyone but why chance it? I'd rather not be hit by some idiot who thinks they are fine to drive when they aren't.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

PLenty of people suffer side effects of the drugs they take - they just don't want to admit it. There are warning labels on things like cold meds BECAUSE so many people suffer from side affects. On some of them it clearly states that those taking the drugs should not drive or use machinery. Perhaps you don't mind people driving who shouldn't be but I do. Mix anti-drepress with anything including cold meds and watch the side effects. Thing is, people always think they are fine - many are not.

No, not EVERYONE thinks they are fine when they are not. Only some do. It's ludicrous to say everyone who takes anti-depressants should not drive, when some people have been on anti-depressants for years with no side effects and it doesn't affect their driving skills. And those drugs you're talking about say on the bottles (at least where I live) that 'if you EXPERIENCE any of'the side effects, then you should not operate machinery', ie, not everyone will suffer through side effects. Just because cold medicine makes you hyper and sleepy doesn't mean it does that to everyone.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Anti-depressants? But people are prescribed anti-depressants to take every day. You think people should be banned for driving for taking things which help with their depression and which doesn't always lead to extreme side effects, at least not with everyone. Don't apply your own sensitivity to cold medicine onto everyone else. Lots can take cold medicine and find they don't get sleepy or hyper. Untreated depressed people driving is IMO more dangerous than those who have taken steps to deal with their situation and are on medication.

PLenty of people suffer side effects of the drugs they take - they just don't want to admit it. There are warning labels on things like cold meds BECAUSE so many people suffer from side affects. On some of them it clearly states that those taking the drugs should not drive or use machinery. Perhaps you don't mind people driving who shouldn't be but I do. Mix anti-drepress with anything including cold meds and watch the side effects. Thing is, people always think they are fine - many are not.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

You think people should be banned for driving for taking things which help with their depression and which doesn't always lead to extreme side effects,

No, of course not, which is why Medical Marijuana should be legal.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Sourpuss

Drunk driving is driving over the legally allowed blood alcohol limit. It's not zero tolerance like here in Japan. Which is what this article deals with, how to set the limit for what amount MJ intoxication is safe.

And, I wouldn't say MJ has a bad image. Your stereotyping of "potheads" is your personal opinion and has less truth to it than what you describe as "conspiracy theories".

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Anti-depressants, weed, alcohol... should all be banned for those driving.

Anti-depressants? But people are prescribed anti-depressants to take every day. You think people should be banned for driving for taking things which help with their depression and which doesn't always lead to extreme side effects, at least not with everyone. Don't apply your own sensitivity to cold medicine onto everyone else. Lots can take cold medicine and find they don't get sleepy or hyper. Untreated depressed people driving is IMO more dangerous than those who have taken steps to deal with their situation and are on medication.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He actually opened the passenger door and tried to jump out at 40mph/hr Ya sure it wasnt your driving?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Tend to think that anyone on drugs regardless of what they are shouldn't be driving. I know that cold medicine either makes me really sleepy or very hyper and I won't drive when taking either. Anti-depressants, weed, alcohol... should all be banned for those driving.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

If drunk driving is illegal, I would think that stoned driving should be too. I mean, that goes with the pot crowds' argument, right? "Alcohol is legal, so..."

But you see, the type of people who wave their med MJ permits in the cops' faces, they're not just ruining the image of the legalization crowd, they're part and parcel of it.

And Stranger in a Strange Land, you wonder where MJ's bad image comes from? Duh, the users of course! Yeah, yeah, big pharma; the usual conspiracy theories don't negate the usual potheads' existence.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@CactusJack

Big Pharma is also a major anti-legalization force. People growing their own medicine isn't going to make Big Pharma any money.

They will only go along if they can patent and own and control it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Scientists probably discovered years ago that marijuana is actually good for you...but now the building of jails and the hiring and training of law enforcement is too big a business.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Of all the drugs and medications that people have in their system right now and are driving. MJ is at the bottom of the list for what I am worried about.

I would rather a jittery person got their nerves calmed with a little MJ then drive rather than drive jittery, you know, unless they got stoned out of their mind. Is there a difference between half a joint and 3 joints? Why yes there is!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He actually opened the passenger door and tried to jump out at 40mph/hr

I hoped you drove him to a mental health clinic and asked the doctors there to assist him with his non-marijuana related problem.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Well, I have been saying for several years now, on various forums, that the ability to field test for marijuana intoxication levels is an absolute necessity to the marijuana legalization movement. Drugged driving is just too good of a weapon for all the anti-mj peeps to fear monger with, and sure there could be some legitimate safety concerns.

Unfortunately, an article on a very good and reasonable topic was interrupted in the middle by a bunch of anecdotal, clearly biased, anti-marijuana garbage.

"research proves “the terrible carnage out there on the roads caused by marijuana.”

I hope my comment won't get deleted if I type a big LOL!!!! I don't think I've read a more preposterous statement masquerading as news or science in my entire life. Is this the same generation that produced the movie Reefer Madness? Did whoever wrote that think that people in this day would take it seriously?

This is really the worst of yellow journalism. "Studies" and "research" say nothing at all like what this article is trying to get over.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I was a "designatied driver" for a friend who needed his daily pot high. He actually opened the passenger door and tried to jump out at 40mph/hr. I can't imagine what he would have done were he driving.

I think your friend may suffer from a serious illness and he just happened to be high. It is quite difficult to open a car door at that speed as well. That takes some serious determination which is something most stoned people lack.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I was a "designatied driver" for a friend who needed his daily pot high. He actually opened the passenger door and tried to jump out at 40mph/hr. I can't imagine what he would have done were he driving.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

There are a lot of people who drive every day under influence of a large variety of substances from caffeine to allergy/cold meds to hard drugs like heroin. Those using pot are less dangerous than those on steroids or anti-depressants, for example. But no one should get behind the wheel under any influence of medications.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If the DUIC provision is not changed or removed, I will be voting no on I-502. 5 nanograms is not fair at all. Most people who smoke pot have several hundred nanograms in their system at any given time.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Road rage problem solved, and not alot of speeding going on either.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

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