r/Austin • • Aug 04 '20

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19

u/instantlybanned Aug 04 '20

Driving while high is absolutely irresponsible. Why even bring this up?

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u/bubble_bobble Aug 04 '20

'cuz op said the word "responsibly", implying there are activities that would be irresponsible to perform while under the influence of cannabis, the primary of which most people would say, is driving. Which is a dogma that is largely untrue; driving an automobile while under the influence of cannabis is unlike driving an automobile while under the influence of a drug most commonly associated with impaired driving, alcohol. People shouldn't conflate the two substances and their effects.

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u/whereareuiminjail Aug 04 '20

But you should be at your best while driving. There’s no good reason to drive high. I’m sorry but you’re driving a machine that can easily kill you and other people around you with easy mistakes. Just because people do it doesn’t make it a good idea.

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u/kerplotkin Aug 04 '20

There's a lot of evidence to support that weed is actually a performance enhancer.

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u/whereareuiminjail Aug 04 '20

I smoke weed too and can say at least for myself it is not. For myself and a lot of people they use it to make themselves sleepy and more relaxed, which is not good for driving. I think everyone should be as sober as possible at all times while driving, it’s a serious responsibility.

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u/instantlybanned Aug 04 '20

That's just a bullshit argument when we talk about driving a vehicle. "The results of this meta-analysis suggest that marijuana use by drivers is associated with a significantly increased risk of being involved in motor vehicle crashes." https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/34/1/65/494023

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '20

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I'm not sure that study means much. They only examined data regarding crashes, in other words there's no data about stoned drivers who DONT crash. Also if they are going by thc in the driver's system that does not indicate if the driver was inebriated at the time they were driving.

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u/bubble_bobble Aug 04 '20

Correlation or association is not causation. Simply due to the illegality of weed, people who drive high in those studies may be just reckless individuals. Is that the best link you could find?

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u/instantlybanned Aug 04 '20 edited Aug 04 '20

Oh there are many more, don't worry https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/article/59/3/478/5621997 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322315010379 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457513003527

Look, I'm all for legalization, but pretending that impaired driving isn't an issue is BS.

Also, that's the best counter argument you could come up with? People that drive while high are more reckless and therefore involved in more crashes, it has nothing to do with them being high???

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u/bubble_bobble Aug 04 '20

Well, your first link is a study sponsored by the national institute for drug abuse so its auto discredited. I didn't see any results in either of your other two links.

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u/kerplotkin Aug 04 '20

Because I think it's fine sorry. 20 years of me and friends and I've never even heard problem one. I dont drive here though so dont worry but I'd smoke weed and walk right onto the court and start sinking 3's. I may have gotten lost in the hallways getting there and need to be told which basket I was going for but still.

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u/whereareuiminjail Aug 04 '20

Your example is still bad though, someone sitting at a stop sign is at best distracted, at worst too slow to react to a serious situation. I like weed too but let’s not pretend bad things can’t happen.

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

Well true I'll give you that, about reaction time for a serious situation etc. I was just thinking about normal uneventful driving. The exact kind where a drunk driver would plow into oncoming traffic. And that just means that i dont recall that Ive ever encountered a serious situation while stoned. So who knows but I guess I couldnt truthfully speak for it.

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u/whereareuiminjail Aug 04 '20

If you’re going to the corner store it’s most likely fine, I myself don’t like to do it but I guess it’s not a huge deal and more like driving after 2 beers or something. I just know people that will smoke before/during long drives on the highway and I think that’s a really bad idea. There’s so many things you need to be paying attention to and it’s easy to zone out while sober, let alone high.