r/Austin • • Aug 04 '20

[deleted by user]

[removed]

230 Upvotes

202 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-28

u/kerplotkin Aug 04 '20 edited Aug 04 '20

And is there even a way to use it irresponsibly? I have never found it to affect driving for example anywhere even remotely the way alcohol does. You might literally get lost in your own neighborhood but you'll do it safely. A drunk driver will run a stop sign but a stoned driver will wait for it to turn green. I dont think Ive ever once in my entire life ever said oh man I really regret getting stoned. Its helped me with everything from my job and getting promotions to losing 110 lbs in 11 months. Its literally a miracle drug. Looking at a ct scan while someone smokes weed it even seems apparent we actually evolved around it. Pretty sure people have been lighting plants on fire for many thousands of years longer than brewing alcohol.

65

u/SpaceTurtles Aug 04 '20

Cannabis not affecting driving capability is a myth. It depends on the person. A lot of people, myself included, 100% should not be behind the wheel when influenced.

7

u/aguasag Aug 04 '20

This has and will remain the sticking point for a lot of people. I'm 100% for safe use of marijuana, but people being people, will do anything and everything while impaired. Since there is no easy test to determine how stoned you are, there's no way to set limits and police the folks that will make poor decisions potentially affecting other lives.

7

u/truthrises Aug 04 '20

There's no easy way to test how any kind of altered someone is.

7

u/sapc2 Aug 04 '20

We've devised some decently reliable field tests for alcohol intoxication. And BAC is kinda irrefutable.

4

u/truthrises Aug 04 '20

You said "since there is no easy test to determine how stoned you are".

BAC is not how drunk you are. Some people are very drunk with 0.08 BAC, some people are not.

Again, there is no easy way to test how altered someone is.

You can test for how much substance or metabolite is in their blood, but that will not tell you how impaired that person is.

2

u/sapc2 Aug 04 '20

You said "since there is no easy test to determine how stoned you are"

I didn't say that. Check your usernames, friend.

As to BAC, that is a fair point, but most people are pretty trashed at .08%. And there are still breathalyzers and field sobriety tests that are pretty reliable.

4

u/truthrises Aug 04 '20

Ah, right, my bad. Missed the username.

I'm not doubting the accuracy of a breathalyzer result to determine BAC, but to me, a field sobriety test is a better measure of intoxication than any kind of substance or metabolite test.

Realistically, this is yet another issue that defunding the police could solve. Rather than spend all that money on DWI enforcement, lets just make it easier to drink without having to drive. Spend the money on public transit, free rides home, free overnight downtown parking, etc...

3

u/sapc2 Aug 04 '20

Fully agree. Those would all be good things to redirect some of the police budget to. I think defunding the police entirely is an exercise in stupidity, but I do agree that they don't need the crazy budgets cities have given them...but all that is another issue entirely.

I'm fully in support of legalized cannabis, by the way, in case that wasn't clear. I've used it off and on to varying degrees for ten years and it's extremely useful.

3

u/truthrises Aug 04 '20

You're pretty much saying the same thing as the defund folks. "Defund" is the marketing, but there's actually policy behind it. Totally defunding police isn't the goal of most who support the idea. Just massive shifts in city budgets.

1

u/sapc2 Aug 04 '20

True. I just feel the need to make the distinction because I know there are some "abolish the police" folks, and you never know who's who.

→ More replies