How marijuana affects driving.

THE TRUTH:
Hartford, CT—(ENEWSPF)—May 28, 2010 Subjects exhibit virtually identical psychomotor skills on a battery of driving simulator tests prior to and shortly after smoking marijuana, according to clinical trial data published in the March issue of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

Investigators from Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine assessed the simulated driving performance of 85 subjects in a double-blind, placebo controlled trial. Volunteers responded to various simulated events associated with automobile crash risk — such as avoiding a driver who was entering an intersection illegally, deciding to stop or go through a changing traffic light, responding to the presence of emergency vehicles, avoiding colliding with a dog who entered into traffic, and maintaining safe driving during a secondary (in-the-car) auditory distraction. Subjects performed the tests sober and then again 30 minutes after smoking a single marijuana cigarette containing either 2.9 percent THC or zero THC (placebo).

Investigators reported that volunteers performed virtually the same after smoking cannabis as they did sober and/or after consuming a placebo. "No differences were found during the baseline driving segment (and the) collision avoidance scenarios," authors reported.

Investigators did note, "Participants receiving active marijuana decreased their speed more so than those receiving placebo cigarette during (the) distracted section of the drive." Authors hypothesized that subjects' reduction in speed on this task suggested that they may have been compensating for perceived impairment. "[N]o other changes in driving performance were found," researchers concluded.

A 2008 driving simulator study published in the scientific journal Accident, Analysis and Prevention also reported that drivers administered cannabis are likely to decrease their driving speed. "Average speed was the most sensitive driving performance variable affected by both THC and alcohol but with an opposite effect," investigators reported. "Smoking THC cigarettes caused drivers to drive slower in a dose-dependent manner, while alcohol caused drivers to drive significantly faster than in 'control' conditions.'"

Previous reviews assessing the crash culpability risk of drivers under the influence of cannabis have reported a positive association between recent marijuana exposure (as typically measured by the presence of active THC in the driver's blood) and a gradually increased, dose-dependent risk of vehicle accident. However, these studies have consistently found that this elevated risk is below the risk presented by drivers who have consumed legal quantities of alcohol. By contrast, studies have also reported that drivers engaged in the simultaneous use of both cannabis and alcohol can increase their risk of accident compared to the consumption of either substance alone.

NORML's white paper assessing the impact of marijuana on psychomotor skills, "Cannabis and Driving: A Scientific and Rational Review," is available online at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7459.

Source: norml.org


WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE:
Marijuana has serious harmful effects on the skills required to drive safely: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and the ability to react quickly. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and sounds on the road.

Marijuana may play a role in car accidents. In one study conducted in Memphis, TN, researchers found that, of 150 reckless drivers who were tested for drugs at the arrest scene, 33 percent tested positive for marijuana, and 12 percent tested positive for both marijuana and cocaine.

Data have also shown that while smoking marijuana, people show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had too much to drink.




If you think about it, it just makes sense that you drive better when you're high. You're too paranoid not to!

 

umm ok?? sooo at least 1 outta every three is tokin' Up...sweet

 

sooo 12% of the 150 random people cud find me coke...COOL!

 

it's interesting to see this stuff supported by proper studies. they could have saved some money though and asked some stoners.

i failed a sobriety test when i had only been smoking weed. when i was like 16

 

soooo the other 2/3 were on other drugs than marijuanaa??!?! drug war pshhhh ha

 

But driving and drugs go so well together

 

but of course.

 

Boooooooooooooooooooooring

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0HM0RtRv-E"]YouTube- The Grateful Dead - Casey Jones (1971)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA2J92HOQmw"]YouTube- AFROMAN - Drive better drunk


word. only bout weed. lol

 

One thing I don't like about this study is that they were smoking joints with only 2.9% THC, I don't think a single joint of some schwag would affect me at ALL except maybe give a headache, making me perform worse doing my usual tasks and activities.

I want to see a test with people smoking joints with 15-20%, but then again it also depends on the chemical makeup of the person and their tolerance to THC, as honestly some people I know perform duties the same stoned as not, but others get just as "fucked up" per se as someone who had drank a significant amount.

All driving whilst stoned tests will be inconclusive in my mind, as good drivers will be good drivers for the most part, intoxicated or not (to an EXTENT), and bad drivers will continue to be bad. If everyone going into the test had the same tolerance level to marijuana and were all proven to be "decent" drivers (on whatever scale they'd use to measure that) then this sort of test might mean something if they upped the THC intake.

Personally I know I've NEVER driven a car sober, and could honestly say it would probably be more awkward for me than when I'm stoned, since I'm stoned 95% of every day.

 

hummm.. and exactly what drugs do these pigs take??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbZ8S05usK8"]YouTube - Police Car Forgot To Put His Parking Brake On



help me out here cause I think this study is fucking stupid!!!
be sure to smoke marijuana before you eat the donuts or else serious LOL side effects will happen..

 

All I know is that when I started smoking weed---When I thought I was driving 50 miles per hour,I was more than likely driving about 18 miles per hour. And when I thought I was doing 18, I was more than likely parked! Made for some interesting and hilarious conversations with my passengers.

 

I had a call out last night cause an alarm went off and im the closest.. As I was traveling down the road. 2 police cars came flying up behind me. im thinking ok they cant be after me, Then Im thinking well maybe this alarm call is more than a moth in the infrared... turned out to be nothing.. so I smoked a joint...

 

I can remember driving along just paranoid as I could be----"shit--shit--there's a car behind us--shit--I think it's a cop--shit --it's a cop--am I going too fast--am I going too slow--shit-- here he comes--shit --hide the dope--shit--oh,I can't afford to go to--shit---------OH--OK,he passed us.

 

I get really paranoid when I'm driving stoned.

I was driving stoned on the turnpike today. There's a shit ton of construction going on and the road was soooo small. It freaked me the fuck out.

 

I try to avoid driving stoned for sure, because I get easily confused then . Don't like smoking while driving at all, but I feel very much at ease toking with certain stoners at the wheel. Guess it depends per person.

 

heheh, with me it's usually:

--am I going too fast--am I going too slow--shit-- here he comes--shit -- oh never mind just a mercury-- time to floor it again

if I'm driving stoned I'm either speeding the way I normally do, or I'm puffing on my spliff trying to remember to go the speed limit got a ticket for 96 in a 70 less than half an hour after blazing while getting road head. I'm just so damn nice the fuckin' pigs that they leave me alone. I love Cali.

'my eyes are red because I just went surfing sir. wanna feel my wetsuit?'

 

I generally miss a right turn depending if it's a familiar route or not. I really don't feel alert or overly alert and that is enough to keep me away from the wheel when i'm stoned.

 

I have always driven perfectly on marijuana.

Still, I don't really like this study. It was weak weed AND they waited 30 minutes after having smoked the weed before they drove. 30 minutes after smoking some schwag, it's doubtful that they were still high at all. Unless, of course, NONE of them had any tolerance, which is doubtful.