Perception of Marijuana as a 'Safe Drug' Is Inaccurate

[Pappa]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color.

Driving on acid's probably a really bad idea. The signs would keep changing their colours and symbols and the other cars would turn into fish. It'd probably get a bit tricky.

[JimC]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color.

I agree with this, from personal experience in the past. When stoned, I drove like Grandma Duck...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color.

I agree with this, from personal experience in the past. When stoned, I drove like Grandma Duck...

This seems to be the consensus. Drunk drivers don't realise the severity of their impairment, whereas doped drivers do. So, despite comparable levels of impairment, the drunks are more dangerous.

[Audley Strange]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color, gets hung up on why they chose those colours and totally forgets they're behind the wheel of a car and where they were going and watches one speed off into a wall.

[Pappa]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color.

I agree with this, from personal experience in the past. When stoned, I drove like Grandma Duck...

This seems to be the consensus. Drunk drivers don't realise the severity of their impairment, whereas doped drivers do. So, despite comparable levels of impairment, the drunks are more dangerous.

A school friend of mine was stopped by the police while driving on the motorway. He said, "Sorry officer, was I speeding? I thought I was being careful to watch my speed." The officer responded, "No, you weren't speeding. You were driving at 25 mph".



But seriously though, driving while impaired is always a bad idea. I was a passenger once while the driver was pretty stoned. He exited a roundabout and hit the curb at some speed. That curb could easily have been a person.

[Robert_S]

I wouldn't believe any claim that implied potheads were better drivers though!

I would. They both fuck up your skills and I wouldn't recommend driving on either. But one of them, makes a regular person into a cocky bastard, that alone makes a huge difference in safety. One blows right through the stop sign, the other waits for it to change color.

I agree with this, from personal experience in the past. When stoned, I drove like Grandma Duck...

This seems to be the consensus. Drunk drivers don't realise the severity of their impairment, whereas doped drivers do. So, despite comparable levels of impairment, the drunks are more dangerous.

A school friend of mine was stopped by the police while driving on the motorway. He said, "Sorry officer, was I speeding? I thought I was being careful to watch my speed." The officer responded, "No, you weren't speeding. You were driving at 25 mph".



But seriously though, driving while impaired is always a bad idea. I was a passenger once while the driver was pretty stoned. He exited a roundabout and hit the curb at some speed. That curb could easily have been a person.

And sleep deprived can be just as bad, if not worse.

But back on to the more general comparison between alcohol and weed:

[Robert_S]

Welll: http://www.ksdk.com/news/world/article/ ... unk-driver

[Robert_S]

[MrFungus420]

To MrFungus who believes alcohol kills.

Certainly it does, in overdose. So does water.

But, it is impossible to overdose by smoking marijuana.

The lethality of alcohol is such that among males it will kill 50% at a dose equivalent to 1.5 litres of whisky. (That is : a man who drinks two 26 ounce bottles of whisky in a sitting has a 50% chance of dying.) For women, the equivalent is 1 litre.

The key point here is the variability from individual to individual, and the very high dose required. Certainly alcohol can kill. So can anything else we ingest. But alcohol is low in toxicity, because we have to consume a hell of a lot for it to become toxic.

So what?

The LD50 for marijuana is on the order of 40,000 times what is required to bring about a "buzz". Alcohol is thousands of times more toxic.

As far as chronic toxicity is concerned, that also depends on the individual. I have been a lover of red wine for 40 years, and drink about 4 bottles per week. My health is superb. My blood pressure is that of a healthy 20 year old. My cholesterol is low. Resting pulse is low. Heart and liver function excellent. My father died at 83 (of lung cancer, since he was a smoker), and I expect to substantially outlive him (I am not a smoker).

So what? None of that means a damn thing or is relevant.

Chemical analysis shows that marijuana smoke contains a lot of toxins and carcinogens. However, most marijuana smokers do not consume a lot. Compared to tobacco smokers, the dose is low. And that is why we do not see a lot of marijuana smokers (except those who also smoke tobacco) go down with lung cancer.

Wow...

Once again, YOU apparently know more than those who are actually researching it.

That does not alter the fact that marijuana smoke contains those nasty materials. Smoking marijuana is not healthy.

Again, so fucking what?

The simple FACT is that marijuana is one of the safest drugs known. That does not mean that there are no possible ill-effects. That means that, IN COMPARISON to other drugs, it is RELATIVELY safe.

[Tyrannical]

Pot is safe from a toxicology perspective. However you can still do dumb shit while high that can injure you or others.

Habitual pot use is certainly much safer long term than a habitual drunkard or heroin / coke / meth user.

[rasetsu]

I'm reminded of the time it took me ten minutes to order a quarter pounder in McDonald's.

Makes me wonder what the people in line were thinking.