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Discussion Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: eSineM on August 30, 2010, 06:18:51 am
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A few weeks ago, I noted that the Obama administration, reputedly more enlightened than its predecessor on matters of drug policy, is encouraging states to enact gratuitously punitive laws that treat drivers with marijuana metabolites in their urine as if they were drunk. Since traces of marijuana can be detected in urine long after the drug's effects have worn off, this policy is just an excuse for sending pot smokers to jail. I suggested that tests of THC in blood would be a more accurate measure of impairment, comparable to the standard for alcohol. But as at least one commenter noted, there is an argument for treating drivers under the influence of marijuana less severely than drivers under the influence of alcohol: They are less of a threat to public safety. Experiments repeatedly have found that marijuana has a less dramatic impact on driving ability than alcohol does, with the added advantage that pot smokers seem to be more aware of their impairment and therefore tend to compensate for it by slowing down (whereas drinkers tend to speed up). In the latest study, reported recently in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, subjects who smoked a joint containing marijuana with about 3 percent THC "decreased their speed [more than the sober control subjects did] and failed to show expected practice effects during a distracted drive," but "no differences were found during the baseline driving segment or collision avoidance scenarios."
In their book Marijuana Is Safer, which I reviewed in the April issue of Reason, Steve Fox, Mason Tvert, and Paul Armentano cite marijuana's relatively minor impact on driving ability as a public safety advantage. To the extent that legalizing pot encourages people to shift from alcohol to marijuana, it could actually produce a net decrease in traffic deaths, contrary to the nightmare scenarios painted by prohibitionists.
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Shouldn't be driving while stoned or drunk, so there is no cotroversy.
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Shouldn't be driving while stoned or drunk, so there is no cotroversy.
I agree with you! If a person gets caught driving after smoking pot or drinking alcoholic beverages they should throw the book at them! And throw away the key to their jail cell.
As for Pres. Obama taking the stand that he has shows his immaturity and that he no respect for law abiding citizens and their welfare and safety!
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I'm not sure what you meant, but maybe you should go back and read the first part of the first post. The way I read it is that Obama would be against driving stoned. I have never smoked marijuana, but I think that anything (no matter what it is) that distracts from safe driving is wrong. That includes texting, applying makeup, changing CDs, or preparing a seven course meal.
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I remember getting really stoned and driving (I didn't start driving until in my twenties and was a new driver to the road) I was so scared that I was going to get pulled over and the cop would know I was high and arrest me! lol
Anyway, I remember driving really slow to make sure I didn't get pulled over for speeding. Of course everything kind of felt slow motion so I'm not sure how slow I was really going. But people kept flashing their lights at me and I got really paranoid...turns out I was driving at night with only my parking lights on. LOL
No, you shouldn't drive stoned or drunk.
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Yea i think both should not drive!!
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Stoned vs. Drunk.. What ? Its a contest ? If you are going to do either, please be sure I'm safe at home. And my family. And everyone I know, or don't know.
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This is so stupid...both suck and whoever does either one is a idiot...go ruin your own life and leave the road alone for the people who are actually going somewhere with themselves.
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No matter what you're on, you're still impaired. Too many people are killed each year in accidents and way too many of them could/should have been avoided.
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drunk drivers drive through stop signs, stoned drivers wait for them to turn green
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drunk drivers drive through stop signs, stoned drivers wait for them to turn green
lol
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drunk drivers drive through stop signs, stoned drivers wait for them to turn green
lol
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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drunk drivers drive through stop signs, stoned drivers wait for them to turn green
I think I peed on myself LOLOLOLOLOLOL :D
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You should be way more afraid of someone who has been drinking than someone who has been smoking. Neither situation is ideal but drinking is far worse.
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Agreed, fine them to the max.
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:o that is ILLEGAL !!!!!! PERIOD !!!!