What are the actual marijauna laws in Canada?

[Yasa]

It's also incredibly subjective. Not only to the person, but to what you're smoking and how much. I find it incredibly irresponsible to take any drug and drive. You smoke weed to get high, to feel different. At what point do you think that you should put yourself behind a ton of fast moving steel?

There's a time and place for drugs, behind the wheel of a vehicle should not be one.

[Matata]

Originally Posted by Iginla

Dude, totally ignoring the fact that you posted a link from a website dedicated to legalizing marijuana, what I find funny is that your own link says

"Although cannabis intoxication has been shown to mildly impair psychomotor skills, this impairment does not appear to be severe or long lasting. In driving simulator tests, this impairment is typically manifested by subjects decreasing their driving speed and requiring greater time to respond to emergency situations."

That's a far cry from "Studies have also shown that toking and driving actually makes you a safer and more cautious driver."

What can I say, it's hard to find someone with facts that doesn't have an invested opinion in those facts. The sources themselves all appear to be from credible journals and organizations without an invested interest in legalization, so I was happy to use norml as my basis.

The quote you've used doesn't qualify if drivers are safer or not, it just points out the pros and cons without weighing them against each other. Here's one that does:

“Cannabis leads to a more cautious style of driving, [but] it has a negative impact on decision time and trajectory. [However,] this in itself does not mean that drivers under the influence of cannabis represent a traffic safety risk. … Cannabis alone, particularly in low doses, has little effect on the skills involved in automobile driving.”

I'll admit my statement was optimistic and doesn't represent all cases, but I don't know how you could evaluate the body of evidence and conclude that toking and driving is demonstrably dangerous.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Matata

What can I say, it's hard to find someone with facts that doesn't have an invested opinion in those facts. The sources themselves all appear to be from credible journals and organizations without an invested interest in legalization, so I was happy to use norml as my basis.

The quote you've used doesn't qualify if drivers are safer or not, it just points out the pros and cons without weighing them against each other. Here's one that does:



I'll admit my statement was optimistic and doesn't represent all cases, but I don't know how you could evaluate the body of evidence and conclude that toking and driving is demonstrably dangerous.

To be honest, I can't see how you can say driving while in an altered state of mind isn't "demonstrably dangerous", heck I reckon if I looked hard enough, I could find a study that says driving while mad is "demonstrably dangerous"


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...ous-car-crash/

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Matata

tldr: weed makes you very paranoid, but doesn't have a strong impact on motor skills, so the extra caution you drive with stoned more than negates the minor loss of coordination. This is less true with less experienced smokers, but they are too paranoid to drive anyway.

Dude, (figured any philosophical argument should begin with 'dude') part of your argument is that the paranoia makes you more careful?

Two things.

1. Driving in a scared state of mind is dangerous. Doing anything scared is usually a bad idea.

2. Too much caution is bad too. Merging at a busy highway? Too much caution is a bad thing there. Could cause as many accidents as not being careful enough.

Weed slows your reactions down and your thinking. I'll give you that it isn't as dangerous as drinking, but you're a fool if you think any altered state is good for driving. You sound like the drunks from yesteryear who say 'relax, I drive better after a couple'. They used being relaxed and cautious as an excuse to drive better too.

I've got no problem with people taking drugs. Consenting adults should be able to put what they want in their own bodies. But if this is the information out there, shoot, shut it down and send the cops to tail your vehicle 24/7!

Ridiculous.

[Matata]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

To be honest, I can't see how you can say driving while in an altered state of mind isn't "demonstrably dangerous", heck I reckon if I looked hard enough, I could find a study that says driving while mad is "demonstrably dangerous"


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...ous-car-crash/

Driving mad is very dangerous, much more so than weed:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/anger.aspx

From your link:

"In addition to the finding that drivers who had recently smoked pot were substantially more likely to be involved in a serious accident, the researchers found that those who had died in these crashes had higher amounts of the drug’s compound tetrahydrocannabinol than those who survived. "

Several articles from NORML site directly refute this:

"The results to date of crash culpability studies have failed to demonstrate that drivers with cannabinoids in the blood are significantly more likely than drug-free drivers to be culpable in road crashes."

"There is no evidence that consumption of cannabis alone increases the risk of culpability for traffic crash fatalities or injuries for which hospitalization occurs, and may reduce those risks."

"In contrast, there was no significant increase in culpability for cannabinoids alone. While a relatively large number of injured drivers tested positive for cannabinoids, culpability rates were no higher than those for the drug free group. This is consistent with other findings.”

If you put a group of experts in a room, they'll never all agree to anything. This article doesn't explain it's data or how it was interpreted very well, so I don't have enough to counter a larger body of evidence. After following this topic for a few years, I've noticed you'll find positive and negative articles, but the bulk majority conclude that there is no real danger, certainly not big to warrant judicial or political intervention.

[vektor]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

If we didn't already know you're a kid, this post would point to it.

Pretty sure everyone on CP can just drive to the store and buy some liquor.

I get your point though.

well, you can get marijuana delivered to your door. So it can be easier.

Originally Posted by Daradon

Weed slows your reactions down and your thinking. I'll give you that it isn't as dangerous as drinking, but you're a fool if you think any altered state is good for driving. You sound like the drunks from yesteryear who say 'relax, I drive better after a couple'. They used being relaxed and cautious as an excuse to drive better too.
.

Problem is most people don't understand how marijuana actually works. When the pistils on the plant (the little hairs) are white they give you a mental boost and don't impair your cognitive abilities (ie being high because the mental boost feels like being lifted cognitively) , they are actually known to increase mental capacities and people that are knowledgeable on the subject will often take a white haired marijuana with them if they have some form of pertinent business to take care of that requires mental focus. It acts basically like a natural redbull with the other effects that THC creates as well with no caffeine or sugar crash.

Problem is most people get orange marijuana because the orangeness of the plant is directly correlated to quantity of yield (goes from white to orange as it ages), so yes, your point is true in part with the kinds of marijuana that cause a person to be stoned (which is the large majority that's out there), while the earlier harvested plants would show an increase in driving ability in most people (unless they have mental issues that the plant messes with). To say conclusively how marijuana effects a persons abilities requires knowledge on how the plant actually works, give me a white haired indica and you stay stone cold sober and you'd have a hard time surpassing me in any cognitive task. Give me a really orange marijuana and you stay sober and I wouldn't be able to get off the couch.

[Kiran403]

I absolutely support full decriminalization and legalization of weed for adults over 18 years old and I do agree that people shouldn't drive high. It's no different than being impaired on any other substance. The one thing that needs to be fixed is how police test for impaired drivers. I say this because currently if you are pulled over and suspected for driving high on weed, you get a urine and blood test but there is no way to accurately determine when the weed was ingested. For example, if I smoke a joint on Friday night, but then go for a drive later in the weekend, say Sunday afternoon, the weed is still in my system even though I'm obviously not high anymore. More accurate testing methods would be great.
On a bit of a side note, I feel that legalizing and taxing marijuana use for adults would be a much better way to regulate and monitor use as the govt could set standards for THC levels, etc as well as tax it which would make it harder for organized crime to be involved as well as providing another revenue stream.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by vektor

well, you can get marijuana delivered to your door. So it can be easier.


Problem is most people don't understand how marijuana actually works. When the pistils on the plant (the little hairs) are white they give you a mental boost and don't impair your cognitive abilities (ie being high because the mental boost feels like being lifted cognitively) , they are actually known to increase mental capacities and people that are knowledgeable on the subject will often take a white haired marijuana with them if they have some form of pertinent business to take care of that requires mental focus. It acts basically like a natural redbull with the other effects that THC creates as well with no caffeine or sugar crash.

Problem is most people get orange marijuana because the orangeness of the plant is directly correlated to quantity of yield (goes from white to orange as it ages), so yes, your point is true in part with the kinds of marijuana that cause a person to be stoned (which is the large majority that's out there), while the earlier harvested plants would show an increase in driving ability in most people (unless they have mental issues that the plant messes with). To say conclusively how marijuana effects a persons abilities requires knowledge on how the plant actually works, give me a white haired indica and you stay stone cold sober and you'd have a hard time surpassing me in any cognitive task. Give me a really orange marijuana and you stay sober and I wouldn't be able to get off the couch.

Outside of anecdotal evidence, do you have something to support the assertion that there's a stimulant "white" weed? Honest question. I've never heard of this

[Vulcan]

1. Driving in a scared state of mind is dangerous. Doing anything scared is usually a bad idea.

2. Too much caution is bad too. Merging at a busy highway? Too much caution is a bad thing there. Could cause as many accidents as not being careful enough.

That's why back in the day, I'd always have a few drinks after having a few tokes.

[nik-]

It's not right. The different highs are the different types, indica and sativa, but most strains are a blends of the two and not just "white or orange" I'm not sure where he got that from, the differences are in the form of the plants themselves.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by nik-

It's not right. The different highs are the different types, indica and sativa, but most strains are a blends of the two and not just "white or orange" I'm not sure where he got that from, the differences are in the form of the plants themselves.

But medically speaking, what is the difference in the alkaloids? To my knowledge there are no stimulant alkaloids in cannabis

[nik-]

You're right, it's not a stimulant, it's a more mentally alert high. People shouldn't drive on it, regardless of strain.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Iginla

Dude, totally ignoring the fact that you posted a link from a website dedicated to legalizing marijuana, what I find funny is that your own link says



That's a far cry from "Studies have also shown that toking and driving actually makes you a safer and more cautious driver."

72.9% of statistics are made up on the spot

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Matata

Driving mad is very dangerous, much more so than weed:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/anger.aspx

From your link:

"In addition to the finding that drivers who had recently smoked pot were substantially more likely to be involved in a serious accident, the researchers found that those who had died in these crashes had higher amounts of the drug’s compound tetrahydrocannabinol than those who survived. "

Several articles from NORML site directly refute this:

"The results to date of crash culpability studies have failed to demonstrate that drivers with cannabinoids in the blood are significantly more likely than drug-free drivers to be culpable in road crashes."

"There is no evidence that consumption of cannabis alone increases the risk of culpability for traffic crash fatalities or injuries for which hospitalization occurs, and may reduce those risks."

"In contrast, there was no significant increase in culpability for cannabinoids alone. While a relatively large number of injured drivers tested positive for cannabinoids, culpability rates were no higher than those for the drug free group. This is consistent with other findings.”

If you put a group of experts in a room, they'll never all agree to anything. This article doesn't explain it's data or how it was interpreted very well, so I don't have enough to counter a larger body of evidence. After following this topic for a few years, I've noticed you'll find positive and negative articles, but the bulk majority conclude that there is no real danger, certainly not big to warrant judicial or political intervention.

Just to be clear:

You are saying that driving while high doesn't have a detrimental effect on your ability to drive.

Is that what you are saying?

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Just to be clear:

You are saying that driving while high doesn't have a detrimental effect on your ability to drive.

Is that what you are saying?

From personal experience, I know beyond all reasonable doubt that I'm not okay to drive while I'm on a rocket ship on my way to Mars. But I may be unique in that I also have no motivation to pilot a vehicle while high.