Marijuana: Facts, Myths, and plain old Stupidity.

[SaltyDawg]

You can test it's just not feasible and not to mention the legalities of roadside blood testing. It's not whether marijuana is in your system it's a matter of how much. No question this is a legit factor in legalization given that driving while high is very dangerous.

How much is in your system doesn't tell you anything though. As has been pointed out, marijuana stays in your system for weeks or months. There is no test that will tell you how recently someone has done marijuana. All you can detect is that they have done it in the past several weeks or months. This "high" wears off in a matter of hours, but the drug stays in your system for weeks or months. If you usually smoke a lot of marijuana every day, and then one day you don't smoke any, you'll still have a lot in your system even though you didn't smoke any that day and are actually sober.

It's not like alcohol where it affects you as long as it is detectable. With alcohol, they know you are drunk. With marijuana, they only know that you were high at some point within the past several weeks or months.

This is my point here. The people saying "weed should be legal but driving is a bad idea" need to choose which one is more important. Is driving such a bad idea that it should be illegal? If so then you have to take away the right to drive from anyone who has smoked weed (legally) within the past several weeks or months. If driving after weed is not that big of a deal, then you obviously just legalize it and be done with it.

My position is and has been that driving after weed is not a big deal. Multiple studies support this position. Smoking a whole lot of weed makes you drive like someone who had half a beer or something like that but is still legal to drive and not even close to the legal alcohol limit (as the studies indicate).

But enough people were taking the "weed should be legal but driving after weed is bad" position that I had to call them on it. You can't have both. If driving after weed really is bad, and really is dangerous, then there is no way it should be legal to drive after weed. And since there is no way to test for it, roadside or otherwise, then you either can't legalize weed at all (and this is the main argument against legalizing it in the states that try), or you have to revoke the drivers license from anyone who gets a marijuana card.

 

[CONAN]

How much is in your system doesn't tell you anything though. As has been pointed out, marijuana stays in your system for weeks or months. There is no test that will tell you how recently someone has done marijuana. All you can detect is that they have done it in the past several weeks or months.

In the context of safe driving it is irrelevant whether you have THC in your system or not. It is a question of what that level is. And there are tests to know that (blood).

My position is and has been that driving after weed is not a big deal

And your own study refutes this (as does common sense). Not to mention you yourself said: "I think smoking way too much would affect the ability to drive".

 

[SaltyDawg]

In the context of safe driving it is irrelevant whether you have THC in your system or not. It is a question of what that level is. And there are tests to know that (blood).


And your own study refutes this (as does common sense). Not to mention you yourself said: "I think smoking way too much would affect the ability to drive".

1: No, you don't know what you are talking about. Again, THC stays in your system for weeks and even months after smoking weed. If you smoke a lot of weed, you will have a lot of THC in your system even when you are sober. If you usually never smoke weed but one day you get high, you will probably have less THC in your system (while you're high) than someone who usually smokes a lot of weed every day but doesn't smoke any one day (while he's sober). It's not like alcohol where they can just see how much is in your system and know if you are drunk or not.

2: Yes, smoking way too much weed will impair your driving. So will wearing pants that are way too tight, eating way too much pizza, drinking way too much coffee, or doing way too much of anything else. I don't think it's a big deal because most weed smokers don't usually hit that level. Just like most pizza eaters don't, most coffee drinkers don't, etc. The usual amount of weed smoked, even if someone smokes what is considered a lot, is not enough to make driving as dangerous as someone who is at the legal alcohol limit. And the studies I posted confirm this.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

1: No, you don't know what you are talking about. Again, THC stays in your system for weeks and even months after smoking weed. If you smoke a lot of weed, you will have a lot of THC in your system even when you are sober. If you usually never smoke weed but one day you get high, you will probably have less THC in your system (while you're high) than someone who usually smokes a lot of weed every day but doesn't smoke any one day (while he's sober). It's not like alcohol where they can just see how much is in your system and know if you are drunk or not.

2: Yes, smoking way too much weed will impair your driving. So will wearing pants that are way too tight, eating way too much pizza, drinking way too much coffee, or doing way too much of anything else. I don't think it's a big deal because most weed smokers don't usually hit that level. Just like most pizza eaters don't, most coffee drinkers don't, etc. The usual amount of weed smoked, even if someone smokes what is considered a lot, is not enough to make driving as dangerous as someone who is at the legal alcohol limit. And the studies I posted confirm this.

Clearly.

 

[CONAN]

1: No, you don't know what you are talking about.

No, you don't know what I'm talking about. Do you even read? I'm talking about the level of THC, not the existence of it. There are levels of THC that are irrelevant to driving (below 5 ng/ml). And this can be tested. Again, I'm not concerned about whether someone has a running amount of THC in them because they are a pothead loser. I'm more concerned about when that level reaches above 5 ng/ml and they drive.

I don't think it's a big deal because most weed smokers don't usually hit that level. Just like most pizza eaters don't, most coffee drinkers don't, etc. The usual amount of weed smoked, even if someone smokes what is considered a lot, is not enough to make driving as dangerous as someone who is at the legal alcohol limit. And the studies I posted confirm this.

Actually, your study refutes your position. But let's clarify that just to be sure. You admit there is a level that potheads can reach where they shouldn't drive. What level is that?

 

[Scat]

1: No, you don't know what you are talking about. Again, THC stays in your system for weeks and even months after smoking weed. If you smoke a lot of weed, you will have a lot of THC in your system even when you are sober. If you usually never smoke weed but one day you get high, you will probably have less THC in your system (while you're high) than someone who usually smokes a lot of weed every day but doesn't smoke any one day (while he's sober). It's not like alcohol where they can just see how much is in your system and know if you are drunk or not.

I've already made the point that the law doesn't differentiate between whether you are high or not, just that you have the chemical in your system. The lortab example is based on opiates and can be tested with a blood draw just as THC could be checked for. Of course it is typically only checked in cases of major accidents.

 

[CONAN]

I've already made the point that the law doesn't differentiate between whether you are high or not, just that you have the chemical in your system. The lortab example is based on opiates and can be tested with a blood draw just as THC could be checked for. Of course it is typically only checked in cases of major accidents.

Exactly, you could test positive for weed but still be well under the bad driving limit.

 

[SaltyDawg]

No, you don't know what I'm talking about. Do you even read? I'm talking about the level of THC, not the existence of it. There are levels of THC that are irrelevant to driving (below 5 ng/ml). And this can be tested. Again, I'm not concerned about whether someone has a running amount of THC in them because they are a pothead loser. I'm more concerned about when that level reaches above 5 ng/ml and they drive.


Actually, your study refutes your position. But let's clarify that just to be sure. You admit there is a level that potheads can reach where they shouldn't drive. What level is that?

1: Again, if you read that study, it talks about this (saying you need a high and a low level because of this). THC stays in your system long after the high is gone. If you get high every day, you may have 5 ng/ml (or more) in your system at all times even when you are sober. If you are someone who has never smoked weed, you might have less THC in your system while you are high, than someone who is sober at the moment but usually smokes weed every day.

Again, I understand what you are saying, but you're wrong. I know there are limits of THC. I'm just trying to explain to you that the limits don't tell you if someone is high at that particular moment or not. They only tell you that someone has been high at some point in the past. It could mean they usually get high every day and may or may not be high at that moment (high THC in blood), or it could mean they usually don't get high but got high for the first time right before the test (low THC in the blood), or they sometimes get high but not always, and may or may not be high at that particular moment (low to high THC in the blood).

2: I think the limit where people are a danger driving after smoking weed is not something to worry about because the higher someone is, the less they want to do. If someone is so high they can't drive, then they will probably not even want to get up off the couch. There is no way to put a number on it because how high you get depends on your tolerance, which changes depending on how often you smoke.

 

[SaltyDawg]

I've already made the point that the law doesn't differentiate between whether you are high or not, just that you have the chemical in your system. The lortab example is based on opiates and can be tested with a blood draw just as THC could be checked for. Of course it is typically only checked in cases of major accidents.

Exactly, and this is my point. So if marijuana was legalized, should anyone who ever buys it have their drivers license revoked? Or how would you handle it when someone gets pulled over, tests positive for THC, and claims they haven't smoked any weed since the day before?

 

[CONAN]

1: Again, if you read that study, it talks about this (saying you need a high and a low level because of this). THC stays in your system long after the high is gone. If you get high every day, you may have 5 ng/ml in your system at all times even when you are sober.

Don't have the study in front of me but thought it said the level was more like 2 ng/ml (which is significant).

I think the limit where people are a danger driving after smoking weed is not something to worry about because the higher someone is, the less they want to do. If someone is so high they can't drive, then they will probably not even want to get up off the couch. There is no way to put a number on it because how high you get depends on your tolerance, which changes depending on how often you smoke.

So a guy that makes such a big deal about his opinions being backed up by facts actually has none in this context.

 

[NUMBERICA]

 

[SaltyDawg]

Don't have the study in front of me but thought it said the level was more like 2 ng/ml (which is significant).


So a guy that makes such a big deal about his opinions being backed up by facts actually has none in this context.

1: No, the study said there is no way put a number on it (legal THC limit to drive). It said there should be 2 levels, a high level and a low level. It also cited some other countries and the number they chose to put on it, but it went on to say how it was flawed (and vastly different from country to country).

2: There are no facts in this context. Like I said, the only fact is that how high you get from a certain amount of THC changes from person to person. One person's "really high" THC amount could be the next person's "totally sober but still in his system from previous highs" amount.