A New Form of Prohibition

[OxQQme]

>"I’ve been reporting on cannabis full-time for more than 15 years, so I like to think I’ve heard it all—pro and con—when it comes to the legalization debate. In all that time spent weighing facts and debunking disinformation, only one con argument has ever given me serious pause: What if a large number of newbie pot smokers suddenly get behind the wheel and all start riding dirty at once?
There are many other supposed cannabis dangers that would warrant being taken seriously, if a small bit of independent investigation didn’t reveal them to be overblown or baseless.
For instance, science shows definitively that cannabis is not a gateway to harder drugs, is not addictive relative to other drugs (including caffeine), does not cause cancer or harm the lungs, and does not lead to an increase in violent crime.
Not that cannabis is completely harmless, of course. But if smoking herb turned you into a scatterbrained, violent heroin addict with lung cancer, that would be a serious concern. As hard data makes plain, however, it’s just not what happens.
Is “stoned driving” any different?"<

>" And a 2012 study in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology confirmed finding “minimal impairment in driving-related psychomotor tasks in chronic daily cannabis users.”
So while the correlation between blood alcohol concentration and impairment is relatively consistent for most people, it may be impossible to establish a THC test that can truly gauge impairment the way a breathalyzer can for booze. Though not for a lack of trying, which creates the danger of severely punishing drivers simply for being cannabis consumers, not for driving while impaired.

Because if it becomes essentially illegal to drive to work the morning after smoking a joint, then it becomes essentially illegal to smoke a joint—at least for the vast majority of us who are far more addicted to our cars than we ever could be to cannabis."<


https://www.leafly.com/news/science-tech/taking-drugged-driving-seriously-what-does-the-science-say?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=B2C%20NEWSLETTER%202017-09-23

[RKP5637]

1. In America if something helps you, it's banned or prohibited. It's a F'ed up place. n/t

[linuxman]

2. I'm as comfortable with high drivers as I am drunk drivers.

Bring on the self-driving cars, I say. Can't happen soon enough for me.

[Warpy]

3. That's where a field sobriety test could come in, performed on camera

People who use cannabis alone generally know they're impaired and most don't want to drive, it harshes the mellow. If they do drive, it's well under the speed limit, usually on back roads, so they're no worse than elderly people. They will generally pass field sobriety.

Most people who do drugs are polydrug abusers, meaning they will fail field sobriety, especially if one of the drugs is alcohol. Anyone who fails the test should be taken off the road, whether they're using prescription or OTC meds as directed or they're blotto on half a dozen different drugs and drunk on top of it. They're impaired. They need to park it and take a cab home.

Until and unless serum levels of THC can be tested for, this is about the best we can do. Pass a field sobriety test, go home. Fail one, get taken off the road. Fail two, no license. Fail three, the car gets taken. Getting impaired drivers off the road should be the idea, not cataloguing the substances that might have impaired them.