Should stoned driving be legal?

dirtychinchilla · 17 Feb 2015 at 10:45

deuse said:
No. If caught(you can tell by the smell) they should be banned for life.

Very clear cut. Fortunately, lacking evidence and basis for reasoning.

And you can't always tell by the smell, sorry to tell you

Wazz-1 · 17 Feb 2015 at 10:57

Acme said:
Absolutely not, ridiculous question...

I'm fairly pro-marijuana, but this is just silly.

This +1

You want to smoke a joint don't drive.

As far as improving concentration I'd call bull **** on that too, yes it can focus you on something but driving is many many things at once.

It should be treated as alcohol is as far as driving is concerned.

I can pull better wheelies when i'm ****ed but it doesn't make me a better driver.

Weed isn't what it used to be, and can take you by surprise regardless of how much or how long you've smoked it.

cHk4 · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:03

Mushrooms and driving, I've heard that's a rather interesting experience.

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:06

estebanrey said:
On March 2nd, new legislation will come into effect giving police new powers and new limits in regard to 'drug driving', the Government state "one smoke of cannabis will put you over the limit".

Great right? Well maybe not. According to this report, consuming the old May Jane has no effect on driving skills...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-safer-than-drunk-ones-new-federal-data-show/

So is it really 'fair' that someone who's smoked a joint can get a 12 month ban and £5,000 fine when someone who's taken painkillers will likely face no criminal charges despite science showing the latter is more likely to result in an accident?

To me this seems like double enforcement, rather than sensible precaution. They aren't punishing you based on the evidence, but because weed is illegal and therefore if they can't catch you smoking it they want another way to screw you over.

I cannot help but question the IQ of any person that questions whether being stoned impairs driving ability.

Cannabis affects motor and often cognitive functions. Peak motor and cognitive function is required for driving safely.

I mean seriously, it is beyond moronic how you could even post this, not least take the concept seriously.

asim18 said:
I think impaired driving should be illegal but that doesn't always include someone who's smoked a spliff...

You cant treat weed like alcohol. The thing is being heavily drunk makes people lose their inhibitions and messes with their judgement, where even if the person knows they cant drive a vehicle they will drive it. It is this loss of judgement which creates a chain reaction of "bad judgement" events which all leads to an ultimate accident.

Yeah you can stone a guy to death with weed and make him drive a car, but did they even ask him if he would continue driving while that stoned or if he would rather stop and stare at a wall or some birds?

Weed doesn't affect your judgement in the same way alcohol does. And judgement plays a key role because you would make hundreds of decisions while drunk before ultimately crashing. I can easily recall great judgement calls I've made while under the influence of weed. I don't think I could ever think of a single one for drink.

Another thing people don't understand about highly experienced weed smokers is that they can smoke a mammoth joint and it simply will not impair them at all. It all depends on the situation and the type of weed they're smoking.

What a load of absolute ****.

Wazz-1 · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:06

cHk4 said:
Mushrooms and driving, I've heard that's a rather interesting experience.

No its not a good idea, hard to tell if you're on the road or not

arknor · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:11

geekman said:
One of my friends tried to walk into a canal after having only one fairly small spliff. So, I think putting her behind the wheel of a car in that state might not be the best idea

It seems to affect different people in different ways - I can't say it's ever really affected me at all, but then I've never smoked a more than a joint at parties etc.

mixed with alcohol or totally put on like when you give someone college/uni age a roll up and claim it's a spliff ,act high and they will too lol...
same goes for non alcoholic drinks people think they are alcohol and somehow end up acting drunk its stupid

Cosimo · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:14

cHk4 said:
Mushrooms and driving, I've heard that's a rather interesting experience.

Yes, picking them would be extremely problematic.

ADT · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:16

I think I would rather not see potheads driving on public roads, they are saturated with morons already

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:17

arknor said:
mixed with alcohol or totally put on like when you give someone college/uni age a roll up and claim it's a spliff ,act high and they will too lol...
same goes for non alcoholic drinks people think they are alcohol and somehow end up acting drunk its stupid

I have seen people drinking no alcohol have a few tokes of a strong spliff and end up battered. It's perfectly possible.

koolpc · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:17

Von Smallhausen said:
Don't drink and drive. Don't drug and drive.

It really is that simple.

Agreed

arknor · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:21

Richdog said:
I have seen people drinking no alcohol have a few tokes of a strong spliff and end up battered. It's perfectly possible.

it's scientifically impossible.
to od you would need to smoke nearly 1500lbs in 15 minutes.

now people are getting battered from less than 0.1grams? lol right small buzz maybe exaggerated surely

was it a non smoker getting a nicotine rush?

Lets say your body can handle 1500 pints of lager before it's a lethal dose.

now imagine 1-2 sips getting someone battered

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:26

arknor said:
it's scientifically impossible.
to od you would need to smoke nearly 1500lbs in 15 minutes.

now people are getting battered from less than 0.1grams? lol right small buzz maybe exaggerated surely

was it a non smoker getting a nicotine rush?

Lets say your body can handle 1500 pints of lager before it's a lethal dose.

now imagine 1-2 sips getting someone battered

OD? Who said anything about a lethal OD? I was talking about seeing someone battered.

It's not even a debate, I saw it more than once... usually with petite-sized people, and people who had rarely, if ever, done it before.

Marajuana is not alcohol, and it's stupid to make a direct comparison with how it affects a person, when people can be affected in massively different ways.

It's an area I had a lot of experience in when younger.

John40 · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:31

Richdog said:
I cannot help but question the IQ of any person that questions whether being stoned impairs driving ability.

Cannabis affects motor and often cognitive functions. Peak motor and cognitive function is required for driving safely.

I mean seriously, it is beyond moronic how you could even post this, not least take the concept seriously.

What a load of absolute ****.

Agree, the person who posted it has admitted to being a druggie so anything they say can't be taken serious as druggies in my experience talk complete ******** all the time.

anything I don't mind · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:49

The mistake of OP is to think that drug policy is rational and that the home office and police consider evidence. It is not rational and they do not consider evidence.

How can people who seriously think that cannabis leads of schizophrenia and eventually crack and heroin abuse be expected to take any arguments seriously when it comes to the topic of cannabis.

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:53

anything I don't mind said:
The mistake of OP is to think that drug policy is rational and that the home office and police consider evidence. It is not rational and they do not consider evidence.

How can people who seriously think that cannabis leads of schizophrenia and eventually crack and heroin abuse be expected to take any arguments seriously when it comes to the topic of cannabis.

Seriously, severe and prolonged overuse of cannabis use can lead to schizophrenia or similar conditions in those people with existing (even if they don't realise it) psychological conditions.

As for cannabis leading to crack and heroin, no of course it does not necessarily lead to those kind of hard drugs, but it does break down the psychological barrier to doing other forms of lighter recreational drugs such as ecstasy and LSD etc.

anything I don't mind · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:56

See what i was saying. Its like talking to people who have been brainwashed all their lives on the subject. Its completely pointless. You might as well just walk in to the police station now and hand your self in if you ever smoked cannabis because a) you may need to go in to a padded sell b) you may be a risk on the road for the rest of your life.

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:56

anything I don't mind said:
See what i was saying. Its like talking to people who have been brainwashed all their lives on the subject. Its completely pointless. You might as well just walk in to the police station now and hand your self in if you ever smoked cannabis because a) you may need to go in to a padded sell b) you may be a risk on the road for the rest of your life.

You are making absolutely zero sense.

anything I don't mind · 17 Feb 2015 at 11:57

Maybe i am skizo from all the cannabis smoking? will you commit me? I definitely should not be driving though, ever.

Groowie · 17 Feb 2015 at 12:01

What the? No, is driving drunk legal? No! Jesus, have some common sense, would you?

Richdog · 17 Feb 2015 at 12:01

anything I don't mind said:
Maybe i am skizo from all the cannabis smoking? will you commit me? I definitely should not be driving though, ever.

No offence, but you do not seem like an intelligent person to have this kind of debate with, as you seem to be trying to push your own agenda rather than speaking from any logical or rational perspective. I did not say at all that cannabis WILL give you schizophrenia or WILL lead to other drugs.

Re-read what I wrote, and then mull it over for a few hours before replying.