Anyone under the influence of ANY drug that affects a person's reflexes is a danger on the streets. I cannot believe people actually think it's okay to smoke pot and drive. Tell that to the lady whose 5 year old son was killed recently here by a guy who was driving high. Not drunk - didn't have a single drink. "Just" smoked pot. ANYONE who chooses to drink/smoke pot/etc. and drive is a fucking asshole and deserves the severest of punishment.

That guy was probably a terrible driver to begin, but it doesn't matter. I have no problem driving while stoned because I tend to hyperfocus when I drive anyway, but I don't suggest it and I don't do it unless I absolutely have to (and really, rare is the occasion that I absolutely have to do anything whilst inebriated). As for "spoken like a true pothead": you don't even know me. The last thing I am is a pothead, and I'm a fully functional member of society. So, like, shut the fuck up . . . man.

edit - the stfu comment is directed at someone else earlier in the thread, just to clarify.

fuck no i'm not doing anything tonight... although all my friends are trying to convince me to go to a bar. i went out the past 2 nights and last night drank until i couldn't drink anymore and saw ltj bukem & mc conrad. this staying out until 3am business on a school night just doesn't work for me anymore.

ugh. i want to poke my eyes out.

Riiiight. With all due respect to your magical 'hyperfocusing' abilities or other subjective feelings of maintaining, you're no different than a drunk when it comes to reflexes and perception and there's plenty of data to support that in the literature. There's no excuse for you to get behind the wheel if you're stoned or drunk. If you're not sober, take a cab or walk.

There was no implication of magic involved. I do hyperfocus when I drive; I notice and stress over everything other drivers are doing, how fast I'm driving, whether I'm exactly in the center of my line, what color the third stoplight ahead of me is, etc. It's nearly impossible to turn that off, unless I'm drunk, and that's why I never ever drive drunk. While pot certainly slows reaction time, I'd be interested to see any kind of source on just how much it does and whether basic motor skills are significantly impaired at all. The fact remains that I know my ability to drive infinitely better than you do, and your assertion that there's "no difference" between reflexes and perception on pot or alcohol leads me to believe that you have no idea what you're talking about.

<==== was totally kidding. You've gotta admit saying, "who gives a shit, really?" is a rather unintentionally-funny thing to say in a thread about weed.

Maybe you should smoke some more pot so you could "mellow out, brah". (again, this is a joke).

i don't think it's ok. notice i said more docile and less prone. What I did not say was, "hey guys, weed is awesome and I encourage you to take a few hits on the gravity bong and then drive your friends around town". The only reason I brought that up was to attempt to reinforce my point about the inconsistency between alcohol lovers who are also weed-lover haters.

I implied that a person intoxicated by alcohol or THC is going to have impaired perception and motor reflexes. If one is going to compare driving abilities under the influence of those substances, I suspect that there are few differences between the two i.e. they both have a detrimental effect.

Vague qualitative feelings such as your ability to "hyperfocus", is separate from your objective behaviour, such as driving ability. Whether you subjectively "feel" like you're in control may have very little to do with how your objectively operating. And I've been doing research in the field of neuropsychology for over 10 years and I've got a PhD, so I kind of do know what I'm talking about.

Here's a recent paper on the topic of THC intoxication and driving ability.

More here and here.

For a more general review, this covers long term effects as well as driving.

Did anyone else see that driving experiment where they got people liquored up and put them on a driving course, then they made them stay up not all night but close to it and put them on the same videotaped course as they plowed into cardboard kids and dogs?

hehe, 420...

once again it is the fabled 420 holiday and stoners favorite day of the year. So it has shaping up better than last year in the fact that I now don't have any stoner room mates no one woke me up at 4:20 in the morning. Although things are slightly annoying now that I've quite smoking weed in the fact that all my pot head friends are trying to convince me that its a special occasion and that I have to get blazed as hell for it. The best part of today is seeing all the tye dye on people who wouldn't be caught dead with it on anyother day over the year.

goddamn hippies, that's all we need is a fucking holiday to get them out in masses

I haven't seen it, however I read an article a while back about how these two brothers were driving after having no sleep for like two days, and one of them fell asleep while driving and killed someone. He ended up getting only community service, and the family of the victim was PISSED. If he had instead been drunk instead of sleepy, he would be doing hard time in prison.

This supports my position that laws against drunk driving have more to do with a stigma against alcohol rather than getting in a car when you are not able to command it properly.

Of course, I am very happy that the laws around drunk driving are so strict, but I wish that they extended to drowsy driving, or really just any situation in which someone gets behind the wheel when they are not able to command the vehicle properly.

retarded

it's nice to have a little weed at home, but I'm past the days of looking for excuses to get high

There is only one day that is more ridiculous than this "holiday" and that would Valentine's Day.

this is no dumberer than st. patricks day you guys

I've heard there's another one in the afternoon.

I originally thought this holiday was cool because it was a holiday created by us, parents didn't know about it, and hallmark would never have anything to do with it. But now it's just become amateur hour.

I smoked a little bowl before coming to work. But I did that shit yesterday too. Fuck 420.

speaking of...i need to give my boy a call when i get back from vacation.

I guess we won't go out for beers if I ever make it to Virgina.

I'll take you out or beers. No problem. I may even down a Guinness or a nice glass of Johnnie Walker Blue. But I won't have more than the one. You can have as much as you want. Hell, my cheap as may even buyy A round.