New Study Shows Marijuana Has Minimal Effects on Driving

A new study by the Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the University of Iowa has found only "minimal" changes in a person's ability to properly operate a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana. Using a driving simulator, volunteers were subjected to situations that commonly lead to automobile accidents, once while sober, and again 30 minutes after smoking a marijuana cigarette. Researchers say they found virtually "no difference" in subjects' driving performance. Is driving while high really so dangerous? Here, a quick guide:

So smoking marijuana didn't affect drivers at all?
Not exactly. Researchers found that "participants receiving active marijuana decreased their speed more so than those receiving placebo cigarette" — that is, they drove more slowly. This confirms the results of a 2008 study, which found that "average speed was the most sensitive driving performance variable" when a person is high. The authors of the Hartford Hospital/University of Iowa study hypothesized that stoned drivers might be slowing down to compensate for some level of impairment.

What kind of driving scenarios were volunteers subjected to?
The test included avoiding a driver who was entering an intersection illegally, having to decide whether to stop or go through a changing traffic light, responding to emergency vehicles and maintaining a safe driving distance during an in-car auditory distraction.


More and Legalize the damn weed it helps my arthritis;


http://theweek.com/article/index/203778/do-marijuana-and-driving-mix

...to stoned drivers our highways would be much safer.

legalize now

No one ever beat anyone up because they were too high.

I drive faster while drinking, rather than slower when stoned. And I rarely hit stuff...

How about we make it illegal to talk on cell phones, but make it legal to drink/smoke/snort/shoot while driving?... well, maybe not shooting- going on the nod while driving can really be a problem, near as I can tell.

Statistically, it would be a wash... so why not?

and cell phone using drivers are....oh wait. nevermind

Is that a new Mac device?...

If so... will Steve Jobs and Co. be promoting me better in the future?... I could really use some more publicity.

lol

The new in-thing.

That's what a 'libertarian' would say anyway because they believe in zero laws...

30 minutes after smoking it I felt fine. An hour later, I had a buzz feeling.

And I had never smoked it before. I would equate it to being tired. And it wasn't even time for bed!

I wouldn't recommend driving after smoking it.

It's like the people who say they can handle a cellphone and drive at the same time. Sometimes people can drive after one drink, but two drinks is questionable. I wouldn't necessarily drive after having some sort of substance (Would you drive 30 minutes after taking a Benedryl? I was okay 30 minutes after taking two Benedryl to control my allergies and was literally falling asleep an hour later and it was bright and sunny out!)

I saw a Brainiac Science Abuse episode dealing with who was a better at several activities, the drunk guy or the high guy. The results were mixed (drunk guy was better at some activities than the guy high on pot, vice versa). The guy high on pot was a better driver than the drunk guy but at the end of the segment, they recommended that no one take these substances and drive outside the show. I can't find the video but there's a similar experiment comparing a fat guy vs a thin guy along those lines on YouTube.

ANECDOTAL evidence and it really doesn't compare to a Scientific study by a major medical institution.

If you've only smoked once and had that experience, you just don't know what you're talking about here.

Sorry.
:shrug:

They did a comparison study of a drunk guy and high guy (several experiments) and said at the end of the episode that, under no circumstances, no one should take these substances and drive.

Let's see how the people who take pot and drive a real car in a controlled environment compared to a simulation car.

you're getting your information from a TV show?

That's even worse than judging an issue on one extremely biased experience...

:eyes:

Equivalent to this study. And they used real cars (and hey they agreed with the basis that high people were better drivers than drunk people).

I'd have to agree with their caution: don't drive under the influence.

Anecdotally, after years of smoking experience, I tended to stop a loooong time at stop signs. If the herb was unusually high grade I waited for the stop sign to turn green before proceeding.

that hurts the legalize movement?

I have smoked a lot of pot in my time and there is no way I should ever have been behind the wheel while stoned.

One is impaired while stoned.

This is the kind of article that the anti weed crowd would jump all over and blow up to use against legalization

and your observations are opinions. About yourself. There are those who should not drive after eating a peanut, because they will be impaired.Perhaps you have a very different reaction to cannabis than others have. Some go to the hospital over a bite of food that others eat with gusto.

I'd always wait before I drove

there was a billboard I used to see that said buzzed driving is impaired driving and I know it was for me

road led home at 4 a.m.? I blame the weed.

I had already found a dealer.

Bill

:rofl:

:rofl:

Marijuana, if anything at all, has made me more aware of what's going on around me.

:smoke:

and since the entire human population is based on my obvious superiority, it must remain prohibited".

"Science, schmience, I saw a TeeVee show once that said it was just like drinking".
:eyes:

Their results closely matched this experiment (the high person was generally a better driver than the drunk person) but they cautioned at the end of the show that they don't condone driving under the influence of any substance (and this was in real cars in a controlled environment, not SIM cars like this study used).

I think it's BS that people can drive safely under the influence of pot (depth perception amongst other things are affected). I can operate a racing game quite well even when I have had too much to drink, does that mean I can operate a real car? No.

but I totally suck at it real life when I'm not stoned, so I totally agree! When playing driving games I've noticed that I can quite frequently crash at amazingly high speeds and keep on going, so I can see how that's analogous to real driving, though I try not to bang my car up while driving 160 mph because it's a hassle to keep dropping the car off at the wrecking yard. I've learned this the hard way from tooooooooo much experience.

Or caffeine?

They are both psychoactive drugs.

Reminds me of when Cheech finally just came to a full stop on the highway. On the other hand, I have forgotten what state I was in. I didn't weave, run off the road, or indulge in other risky activities, but it's comforting to know your destination. Anecdotal evidence from smokers suggests that they pay more attention to actual driving, so much so they might forget where they're going?


:smoke:

I told myself I was going to stay off of DU today. Shit...

:popcorn:

Although I do tend to forget to turn at the right street(s).

So we don't have to be bothered by some traffic cop while we are enjoying our music and the drive :rofl: :smoke:

is when you drop the joint in your lap. :)

One with a flip-down cover over the bowl.

but I'm not a very good driver while under the influence. I haven't driven under the influence in years and years, mind you. I never had an accident, but I tended to drive very slowly. When I would realize what I'd been doing, the 'pot jerk' kicked in, and I would pick up speed...for about 30 seconds. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Basically, I was spacey and not paying enough attention. Mind you, I'm talking only about driving after having smoked within HOURS. There was a law mentioned here a few weeks ago that said people should be charged with DUI if there was ANY residual evidence of pot in one's bloodstream - even if the pot was smoked a week or more ago.