tfs

• Driving
• , England
• , Marijuana

27 Comments

1. trish Says: December 1st, 2006 at 8:32 pm Random testing for marijuana is now being conducted in Tasmania, Australia. Police are able to test drivers’ saliva and the penalty for a positive reading is suspension of licence. It would seem it is not necessary to be under the influence of the drug at the time of testing to return a positive result. Although marijuana use and posession is not legal in Tasmania, I am not aware that any other charges are being brought against those who fail. Random drug testing is also being carried out in an increasing number of workplaces, where there may be an acceptable limit for the presence of a number of drugs, albeit very low. Policy still tends towards the zero tolerance end of the scale, and works on the assumption that everyone who uses drugs needs some form of councelling or intervention. There still seems to be a lot of ignorance about it. I know of someone whose “drug education” in the work place included a glossy brochure which listed “possible death” as a side effect of cannabis use. Never the less, testing may, at the very least, help to rasie awareness about recreational drug use in the long term.

   
   

2. Sarah Says: December 3rd, 2006 at 12:30 pm I smoke marijuana regularly and when coming up to taking my driving test, I thought ‘right, im giving it up for a month beforehand, ill be better on the test’. i managed to cut down to maybe one shared joint a week for four weeks, took my test and failed it. so i worked up to it again and thought ‘ i better get off it again, managed to stay off for the week before and failed it again. the third time, i thought ‘Forget it, im making too big an issue about it’ and had a smoke a few hours before my test and passed it with less errors than previously as I was concentrating so much more. I dont drive regularly and havent driven whilst stoned since (I think, its hard to remember!) as I dont think that driving a giant lump of fast metal is recommended after any intoxication. However….. I felt well rock’n'roll!

   
   

3. Tankgirl Says: December 4th, 2006 at 5:55 pm I think marihuana is without doubt a “safer” recreational drug than alchohol.

   
   

4. Random Guy Says: December 6th, 2006 at 2:26 am I agree with Tankgirl about it being safer to use than alcohol. I wish more governments would realize that prohibiting something only makes it nontaxable, and removes all restrictions about who can purchase it. Prohibition in the US should have made that blindingly obvious. Once prohibition was ended, the government was able to tax the alcohol sold by legitimate businesses, and control who sold it and to whom. They pile extra tax on cigarettes and control their sale almost as closely. If the government would stop trying to prohibit things, and just control who sold them and to whom they sold it to, then the problem would be far less widespread. People are far less impressed by things that are legal to obtain. The majority of underage cigarette smokers do it more because they’re told they’re not allowed to than for any other reason.

   
   

5. Alex Says: December 6th, 2006 at 3:24 am Random Guy, That’s a good (and amazingly obvious) point that a lot of people fail to comprehend. Interestingly enough, the 73rd anniversary of the repealing of the alcohol prohibition was yesterday. It doesn’t look like the US government has learned many lessons from it’s own history book though.

   
   

6. jewels Says: December 9th, 2006 at 10:18 pm all illicit grugs should be decriminalized,and handled the same way as the government (australia) handles alcohol and tobacco,there would be alot less crime and probably less use as the “illegal” side of it would not be there

   
   

7. Kenny Says: December 10th, 2006 at 2:53 am Thanks for the excellent post.

   
   

8. skOh Says: December 11th, 2006 at 6:50 am All of you from the states should really look into the early NBN and Anslinger work against marihuana. Explains alot

   
   

9. finnpunk Says: December 16th, 2006 at 6:32 am The legal status of cannabis has never had much at all to do with the substance itself, simply a game of politics where the unfortunate weed smokers are receiving collateral damage (not to mention many others). Unfortunately, this game has had tremendous effect on the public, and it is not so easy to tell people that they’ve basically been lied to about how harmful cannabis is. Eg. the “green” party in .fi had been making some quite favorable comments before the previous elections about legalizing marihuana, but it didn’t take many days for them to find out that their voters were not exactly agreeing all the way, and they turned their boat. Some years ago, I told my school nurse that smoking weed helps my back aches (caused by a spinal disformation disease). She freaked out and insisted I’d meet a drug council, so I did. Interestingly, the guy had his feet firmly on the ground, and not after long, we were actually discussing more about his work than my habit of choosing weed over alcohol. He told me, that most of his work doesn’t actually revolve around helping drug addicts, but in fact lecturing the authorities and trying to make them understand what drugs really are, and how they should really be dealt with in the society. I could tell by the look on his face, he was not doing so well on that front. I don’t know where this quote is from, but from my experience, it has a lot of truth in it: When kids are taught that cannabis is as dangerous as heroine, kids learn that heroine is as harmless as cannabis.

   
   

10. VIctor Says: December 17th, 2006 at 10:42 am Alcohol and Cigs are the most dangerous and most profitable. Smoking can impare driving in some people and depends on the dose. Some people tend to day dream specially if there is music playing and that can cause some problems. But I never heard of someone getting in an accident purely due to the effects of marijuana. Just don’t drive when intoxicated traffic is not a fun place to be when high, if you must drive eat something before that will bring you to a more sober state of mind. Enjoy life and make sure others enjoy it too!

    
    

11. Jonathan Says: December 18th, 2006 at 2:18 pm It’s very difficult to know what to do about cannabis use. We’ve got to the stage now where it’s too easy to keep the status quo because the network of vested interests (obvious and not so obvious) easily work against attempts to decriminalise it. The best test case we have so far is Amsterdam, where cannabis use is decriminalised and fairly controlled (as are heroin and other drugs). Looking at Amsterdam, I think cannabis law in the US and elsewhere is a classic case of intelligent people continuing to do nothing because the vested interests that perpetuate the prohibition make sure such people are not unduly affected. Why, for example, does the NYPD not conduct drug raids on Wall Street when it does do with monotonous regularity in black and other minority areas? The fact that local politicians can keep tax levels down through the sale of impounded property seized while conducting such raids does nothing to stimulate middle-class opposition to the drug war. Here in the UK, it’s thought that police forces can sometimes cover up to a quarter of their total annual expenditure with money received from both government and private anti-drug budgets. If that money dries up, a lot of other problems will float to the surface.

    
    

12. Byron Says: December 19th, 2006 at 2:49 am Again, the British Broadcasting Company is shown to be infinitely more concerned with reality rather than what their customers consider truth. When American publishing practices reach even close to their English counterparts, our world will at LEAST be a much SANER place.

    
    

13. anthont catton Says: December 22nd, 2006 at 11:25 pm I’ve smoked ganja ( 5 joints a day) for 13 years , all while driving,.even working as a pizza delivery driver. I still have a spotless drivers abstract..no traffic violations..go figure!!

    
    

14. Matt Says: December 23rd, 2006 at 5:15 pm I find that smoking while driving makes trips more enjoyable and faster. If I am going to be driving for more than an hour, I always light up. Once stoned I find that my driving capabilities are the same or better than when sober. The only dangerous part is when I need to find my piece and bag to pack another bowl.

    
    

15. random guy 2 Says: December 30th, 2006 at 9:41 am This video only shows what, for me, has been the reality for several years: I can drive the same way being stoned or not. Instead, my father thinks that, to him, driving stoned is far dangerous than driving drunk because weed makes him very absent­minded. So, all this thing about driving drunk or stoned varies from one person to another and each one should only be responsible for his acts and what they might cause to other people…

    
    

16. 4Ganja Says: January 6th, 2007 at 8:48 am People keep saying “intoxicated”. Cannabis DOES NOT intoxicate you with intoxicants. Cannabis is completely non-toxic and the effects produced & felt are natural processes which are induced by consuming cannabis. THC naturally binds to cannabinoid receptors already present in our brains without any ill effect on those receptors. On the other hand, alcohol is toxic and the effects felt by the user are the effects of having toxicity which (with high doses or repeated abuse) cause damages to almost every physiological system in our bodies. In small amounts, with modesty, it appears that certain alcohols are actually beneficial to our bodies…. but not without risk. Risk of becoming physically dependent on it… a risk which is not present with Cannabis. Caffeine is way more physically addictive than cannabis. So… please. Quit saying “intoxicate”. It doesn’t truthfully explain cannabis’ effects and it makes it sound bad…. and it’s not and shouldn’t be labeled as such. P.S. I drive under the influence of cannabis every day and I have for 10 years. I agree that usually I am more aware of my surroundings and more cautious. There have been rare instances where the effects were too strong and I did not feel comfortable. Therefore, I didn’t take the risk. Thank God… I’ve yet to have any problems from it.

    
    

17. Owl Says: January 14th, 2007 at 3:41 am I drove a car while stoned just last night. Luckily I was minimally stoned at the time, because later on when the strong stuff kicked in, driving would have been the most stupid thing for me to do. Even at mild levels, I didn’t feel like I was driving safely.

    
    

18. south FL Says: January 24th, 2007 at 3:25 pm Sober or not sober, I drive the same. No real difference, except maybe cornering. If I smoke my usual, 8 blunts a day, than im alright, but if I were to smoke after I wake up, or if I had taken something else, i.e. alcohol, prescription pills, etc, than my cornering is impared. I also drive a long truck, so getting that back tire around the corner is a challenge sometimes.

    
    

19. ex-smoker due to job Says: February 4th, 2007 at 3:44 pm The only problem I had driving while smoking was being paranoid the police would stop me. And i smoked and drove virtually everyday for 10 years til I recently quit. (I just graduated nursing schhol, and get a job as an RN….worked to hard to be flunking drug tests) I do believe marijuana would be legalized and heavily regulated/taxed if it weren’t for one thing: Marijuana was heavily relied on as a medicine for many many years before it was outlawed. With the pharmaceutical companies making all these butt loads of moey off of “new” medicines, they know these meds wouldn’t make it off the ground if marijuana was legalized. Cannabis has many therapeutic effects, including appetite stimulant, mood stabalizer, pain reliever. It helps slow/reverse alzheimers, helps with MS, and parkinson’s disease just to name a few. It’s sad.

    
    

20. Christian Says: March 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am Who needs weed when you can have Jesus!!!

    
    

21. alsoChristian Says: March 12th, 2007 at 8:59 am Amen! Jesus is my everyday high

    
    

22. K Says: March 13th, 2007 at 7:09 am Everyone is different and every area is as well. Just got to be smart about it and do what you know is right. In my area the cops are around almost all the friggin time its annoying. So do i drive and smoke? Nope. I rather just do it in my house and not have to worry about some pig messing up my high and day all together.

    
    

23. kaity Says: April 14th, 2007 at 8:49 pm for school we are doing a debate that tabaco should remain leaglised in tamania does anyone have any good things i can say?

    
    

24. Atheist Says: May 7th, 2007 at 4:31 pm to the christians: god made weed, man made booze… who do you trust? plus jesus is dead, get over it. start thinking about the future… nanotech should be our new religion.

    
    

25. SPACE_ACE Says: October 3rd, 2007 at 12:36 am 31 yrs. cannabis use no one hardly knows . 15yrs alcohol use damn near killed me many many times. But thats just me. I do not drive anymore but I think you all should just lightly toke upwhen driving please, you do not want to injure yourself or someone else. Take care and be safe out there.

    
    

26. Jake Says: February 21st, 2008 at 5:14 am I have been driving while stoned for years and I’ve never had an accident. I’m much more cautious when I’m driving while stoned and my passengers have commented that I am more in tune with the vehicle. I guess it really depends on the person driving, everyone’s different.

    
    

27. Seeker Says: October 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am For years I used to drive in a professional sense - I have lots of urban, rural and highway-travelled kilometres under my belt. I gave professional driving the flick after realising just how stressful it is to drive on public roads when one has to do it for a living. Driving around these days is mostly about watching people use their cars to stroke their egos with, and they aren’t afraid to use either to get them to where they want to go as quickly as they wish… regardless of who they piss off and stress out in the process. I am a firm believer in cars being extensions of a driver’s personality. Get an impatient, pissed off and/or thoughtless man or woman in the driver’s seat and we all suffer. I have failed to pay full attention when driving straight and have caused my share of avoidable situations… I’ve had *no* incidents when driving on the road stoned. I am much more in control of my emotional faculties when stoned, so I concentrate much more and much better on my driving. Driving then becomes amusing, rather than a chore. Weed has given me a whole new frame of mind - One where I sit at a comfortable following distance from the car in front, and in turn, making the car behind me back off just that little bit. People appreciate not being butt-hugged when out driving. If someone is aggressively tailgating me for a period of time, I indicate left (I live Down Under), move over to do a rolling stop, and let them pass so they can then move on and aggravate the shit out of someone else. Furthermore, I come to a complete stop at stop signs, I use roundabouts effortlessly whilst using the legally required turn signals and I constantly scan mirrors and dash readouts, even if it’s 2AM on a Monday morning. I mostly drive at night when there are very few other people on the road, odds that favour me just as much as a straight driver. I teach myself a lot of good habits when stoned. I don’t condone it for anyone else because my experience level and road awareness is markedly different than most others who drive. But I don’t suffer hurt pride or harbour contempt for other drivers around me. All I have is just a considerable drop in my stress level. I get stoned, pay it forward and suddenly start to notice universal truths about how to get along with other people, starting with one random driver at a time.

    
    

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