How many people here have driven drunk?

[habernac]

The bad joke here is that some people think being stoned and driving isn't as serious.

[The Yen Man]

I'm not going to claim I'm an angel or anything, but I have never. Part of the reason is because I've never seen what the big deal is about alchohol. IMO, it's overrated. So I've never been an alchohol person to begin with, thus have never had a chance to drive when drunk. If ever we go out, I'm usually the DD, and I stick to my free pops.

[LChoy]

Well there was this one time I had to pour scotch all over myself to convince the East German police that I was a drunk driver to throw them off. Was a depressing night though as after a phone call, I was told to "throw out the bottle"...
[From the movie, Spy Game]


Seriously though, I have only been drunk once in my life but I took the cab home with friends. I'm too paranoid about the consequences that I very rarely drink if I am going to be driving, even if it's just one

[Lucifer]

I don't drink, so no.

If I did drink would I have driven drunk? I'll be honest, and say probably only one time. I probably would have got home, realized how stupid I was that I drove drunk, and not do it again. That is, if I didn't hit someone, and got taken to jail. That's probably why I don't drink in the first place, is because I may make the stupid decision to go out driving after slamming back a few, and kill someone innocent.

[malcolmk14]

Never.

[Russic]

Rather sensitive subject for me ... I tend to stay clear of threads like this because I tend to get wound up a little. My parents had a very hard time having kids. My mom lost about 7 babies (all born, none made it out of the hospital). Finally one managed to survive but the risk to my mom was too much to continue with kids, so my parents decided to just stop trying.

Nine years later somebody decided they were safe to drive home because it was a country road and killed my sister. My parents only had once chance at a biological child, and somebody took it away because they thought walking home or taking a cab was too inconvenient.

This happened 28 years ago. For any of you that hasn't gone through something like that, the impact is unimaginable. There's still a memorial hockey game played each year in our town in her memory and stories of her are brought up at every family reunion. Even the minister speaking at my grandpa's funeral 5 years ago choked up when he mentioned it during the ceremony.

Originally Posted by Berger_4_

Yeah that's pretty common haha. Hell booze cruising leads to some of the best nights. It's a really bad idea when you think about it, but man...nothing like getting loaded and having someone drive you around while all the passengers (and maybe the driver) pound beers. I feel bad for kids who don't get to experience what it's like to live in the middle of futbucking nowhere haha.

I understand you're still young and I'm certainly not demanding anything. All I ask is that you try and keep comments pertaining to how fun drinking and driving is to yourself out of respect for those who do not find it as funny. Also, please give a second thought to your philosophy that driving home "with nobody on the road" is better than walking. There is always somebody on the road, and their life is worth more than your mild inconvenience.

My opinions extend to all drugs, texting and being fatigued while driving.

[albertGQ]

I only drive drunk when I'm sober. Also known as..................Asian driving!!!

[You Need a Thneed]

I don't drink, so also no.

I have though, however, driven while way too tired. Tired to a point where I was as bad as an impaired driver would have been. Looking back at that now, should definately have stopped and got some sleep. Anytime I looked somewhere else, it took 2-3 seconds for my eyes to focus again, and I had to keep my mind awake by looking around.

That's probably why you shouldn't drive 18 hours in one day while towing a gooseneck trailer the whole way, after driving 6 hours the evening before, and getting only about 6 hours of sleep in between those two days.

[Cactus Jack]

Not anymore, thank God I smartened up.

[VladtheImpaler]

So, 87 liars so far...

[Sainters7]

I definitely did a handful of times in the past when I was a dumb teenager. My buddy lived 2mins away from the club so it wasn't a far drive(not that it makes it any better). I never would now though, and haven't for many years.

Although it's obviously still a problem, its at least good to see how much harder its being cracked down on then in years past. Talking to anyone from my parents generation, it sounds like it was basically no big deal back then, and alot of em still have that mentality today. Disgusting.

[flip]

Originally Posted by habernac

The bad joke here is that some people think being stoned and driving isn't as serious.

Being stoned is a whole other animal. The effects are different, tolerance is different, hell even the way in which you get high is different (i don't mean one is smoking and one is drinking, I mean the levels of highness)

Driving stoned and drunk are almost opposites. By this I mean that you are most high immediately after smoking and as time goes by you get less and less high, therefore making it more safe to drive.

Being drunk you actually get more and more impaired the more you consume alcohol (this of course can also work with weed if you keep smoking but let's assume you only smoke one joint). With booze you are actually least drunk after your first one, assuming you are going to have many.

So unlike with liquor where you'll be most dangerous at the end of the night when you've had all your drinks (assuming you are drinking to get drunk and smoking enough weed to get high, not at the same time of course, 2 different scenarios).

With weed you are most dangerous right when you are done smoking the joint.

Another thing to consider is that almost everyone gets the same kind of drunk. Assuming each individual gets "drunk" regardless of tolerance the effects will be similar. (see post 124 for descriptions of various blood alcohol levels)

Weed is totally different. Habernac I'm going to assume you don't smoke weed. As such if you get high you shouuldn't drive for at least a few hours. I smoke weed about once a week. If we smoke the same amount of weed you are going to be out of your mind and I'll probably be moderately high. See the thing about building up a tolerance for weed is that it doesn't quite work the same as a tolerance for booze.

I literally can't get as high as I can drunk. With high, I am either high, sort of high or not. There isn't really an equivalent of being buzzed, tipsy, wasted and blacked. I just can't smoke enough weed to get blacked because my tolerance for weed is too high.

That is not to say that there aren't times when i avoid driving, usually the first 20 or so minutes after I smoke a big fatty. That is also not to say that there aren't levels of high, just it kind of plateaus where with booze there is no limit.

Bottom line is that when I drive high it isn't as bad as driving drunk. That is a fact.

For you, it might be. Just as it may be equally as dangerous for many other people out there.

When I first smoked weed about 10 years ago, I was out of my mind high. Even watching the tap water run was hilarious, I got the giggles, I thought WALKING was hilarious. Sometimes I even lost control of my feet and they danced on their own (seriously).

Now stuff like that just can't happen. To repeat, unlike booze which doesn't have a ceiling of drunkenness, me smoking pot over the years has built up a ceiling that I just can't break. Unless I quit for a long period of time it just will never be the same as smoking for people who only smoke once a month, year or lifetime.

So, for ME (and many, many others), smoking weed and driving isn't nearly as dangerous as driving drunk. Obviously there are times I try and avoid driving. When I'm really baked RIGHT after a big joint or bong hit, right after I smoke hash or oil, and generally night time highway driving (deer and such).

However, your post is just plain wrong. You can put it in context by saying it is just as, or more, dangerous for you but it most certainly isn't for me.

Drinking and driving is basically the same for everyone. If you are at or above .0_ (whatever your opinion of drunk is, I'm not even going to debate that). For weed I simply cannot get as high as someone who smokes weed every day. Doesn't matter how much or how little I smoke, unlike booze, I cannot overcome that tolerance I've built up smoking a joint every weekend or two for the past 7-8 years.

Basically, other than the first 20 minutes after smoking, I am only at 2 beers "high" when I smoke. That is to say on a regular night of getting high I plateau at about 2 or 3 beers equivalent. However when i drink I can be several levels of "drunk". Some of which are safe to drive at, like 2 or 3 beers, and some aren't, anything between 5 or 6 and 15 (depending on time and such).

[Dion]

Numerous studies have shown that “stoned” drivers can be every bit as dangerous as drunk drivers. Depending on what you’ve smoked, swallowed or injected, drug impairment ranges from slowed reflexes, flawed depth perception to hallucinations and seizures. And if you’ve been mixing alcohol and drugs and are tired from partying all night, this combination can be even deadlier.

New legislation now allows police to test drivers for drug impairment and charge those who refuse to provide blood, saliva or urine samples.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyle...d_driving.html

Stoned drivers - and not just the drunk ones -- are finding themselves pulled off B.C. roads by police trained to spot people driving under the influence of drugs.

Langley RCMP's Cpl. Diane Blain said over a recent two-day period seven drivers were given 24-hour suspensions for driving under the influence of marijuana.

High drivers can be charged under the same section of Canada's Criminal Code as drunk drivers, she said.

http://www.mapinc.org/newscfdp/v05/n1983/a01.html

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by habernac

The bad joke here is that some people think being stoned and driving isn't as serious.

The 'legalize it' crowd always paints pot as this wonder drug that somehow miraculously has no negative externalities and only positive ones. While they do have a point that on the scale of negative outcomes, if alcohol and tobacco are considered fit to be legal, pot should also. That being said, driving after having a joint or two is still fataing stupid and needlessly endangering lives on the road. We can go over the symantics of 'which is worse, having a few beers and driving or having a few joints and driving' all we want but it doesn't change the fact that driving high is still needlessly endangering lives on the road.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

The 'legalize it' crowd always paints pot as this wonder drug that somehow miraculously has no negative externalities and only positive ones. While they do have a point that on the scale of negative outcomes, if alcohol and tobacco are considered fit to be legal, pot should also. That being said, driving after having a joint or two is still fataing stupid and needlessly endangering lives on the road. We can go over the symantics of 'which is worse, having a few beers and driving or having a few joints and driving' all we want but it doesn't change the fact that driving high is still needlessly endangering lives on the road.

From a moral stand point, I have nothing against people using marijuana for recreational purposes. Personally, I don't like doing it, but if others want to, then fine. But I agree with the driving aspect. I know too many pot smokers who think they can drive fine while high... but they can't. It's a different kind of bad than drunk drivers though. Drunk drivers tend to drive fast and all over the place while stoned drivers tend to drive slow, hesitant, and make stupid mistakes (forgeting who has the right of way, forgetting where the highbeams are, not signaling, etc...). Both can be dangerous.

As for drinking and driving..., yes, I have done it. I don't any more now that I am more mature, but in my late teens and early twenties, I did frequently. I look back at it now and feel shameful about it and am glad nothing bad ever happened. One time, I drove home so drunk that in the morning, I couldn't remember how I got home and the car was parked half on the neighbours grass.

[flip]

Originally Posted by Dion

http://www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyle...d_driving.html





http://www.mapinc.org/newscfdp/v05/n1983/a01.html

Numerous studies have shown that “stoned” drivers can be every bit as dangerous as drunk drivers. Depending on what you’ve smoked, swallowed or injected, drug impairment ranges from slowed reflexes, flawed depth perception to hallucinations and seizures. And if you’ve been mixing alcohol and drugs and are tired from partying all night, this combination can be even deadlier.

New legislation now allows police to test drivers for drug impairment and charge those who refuse to provide blood, saliva or urine samples.

Wow you could have at least picked a study that was on weed.

Sorry Dion but it is obvious you don't smoke weed and therefore are pulling this one out of your you-know-what. IMO opinion it is irresponsible to fake the context of that article for your own purposes. You just used the Fox News school of sourcing. You took an article about DRINKING and used a few sentences out of context to try and prove your point. You should post more of the article or not post it at all. You are going to mislead people. Is it really worth winning the argument if you've BSed your way there?

This article is more about being stoned on coke, heroin, extacy, mush, meth etc. And in context, the weed it mentions is in CONJUNCTION with booze.

Please don't anyone buy into this article just because they use the word stoned. It has almost NOTHING to do with drivers who are high.

The second article has some pretty hilarious editorializing, along with this gem of a quote that IMO is purposely taken out of context by whoever wrote the article.

If you use marijuana you are impaired for 24 hours after that.

- some Langley cop.

Right. I know when I smoke a joint I get the munchies and music sounds awesome for a whole day. I guess the weed in BC is better than we get in AB.

Also FTR I'm not saying EVERYONE should be able to smoke weed and drive. Nor should anyone smoke weed while driving, or even drive right after smoking. All I'm saying is that given a person has a tolerance for weed (and like I said in my earlier post it is a TOTALLY different tolerance than for booze) it is about 1/1000th as dangerous as driving drunk.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by flip

Bottom line is that when I drive high it isn't as bad as driving drunk. That is a fact.

For you, it might be. Just as it may be equally as dangerous for many other people out there.

When I first smoked weed about 10 years ago, I was out of my mind high. Even watching the tap water run was hilarious, I got the giggles, I thought WALKING was hilarious. Sometimes I even lost control of my feet and they danced on their own (seriously).

Now stuff like that just can't happen. To repeat, unlike booze which doesn't have a ceiling of drunkenness, me smoking pot over the years has built up a ceiling that I just can't break. Unless I quit for a long period of time it just will never be the same as smoking for people who only smoke once a month, year or lifetime.

I probably don't smoke as much as you and thus don't have the same tolerance, because I wouldn't feel comfortable driving high, but I see what you are saying. It's interesting because drunk drivers and high drivers are two different animals. Drunk drivers seem to fly around everywhere, going way too fast and generally feeling like they're in Fast And The Furious or something. High drivers meanwhile, seem overly cautious, and drive way too slow. Whenever its late at night and I see some car full of young(or youngish) people driving really slow, in the far right lane, I just assume they're high.

[flip]

Sainters - That is a big thing. I'm never comfortable driving drunk, nor am I comfortable when I'm in a car with my friends who are drunk.

But when I smoke weed with noobs I discourage them from driving because they simply can't function when they are that high, I of course don't get nearly as high because I have a tolerance.

A drunk driver at any size, age, experience or any other factor are all equally dangerous. These factors are huge in determining if someone is safe to drive when high.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by flip

All I'm saying is that given a person has a tolerance for weed [snip] it is about 1/1000th as dangerous as driving drunk.

I am curious, where did you these tests conducted?

I ask that rhetorical question, because it was similar justifications that I used to use about driving drunk. That because of my body size (which is a factor, but not as big as I made it out to be) and my tolerance for alcohol; combined with how good of a driver I thought I was while drunk.

Bottom line is you shouldn't be driving while impaired. That includes booze, pot, drugs, using your cell phone.

[keratosis]

Teenager in the late 70's early 80's. You bet I did. The times were different.
It wasn't frowned upon, as it is now. It was almost accepted, if not a right of passage.
Recently? No.