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Study: Marijuana has no effect on driving skills


Fingon

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In the United States, one in six teenagers has driven under the influence of marijuana. Driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol is equally prevalent, despite the fact that marijuana use is less common than alcohol use. Much of the research examining the effects of marijuana on driving performance was conducted in the 1970s and led to equivocal findings. During that time, few studies included women and driving simulators were rudimentary. Further, the potency of marijuana commonly used recreationally has increased. This study examined sex differences in the acute effects of marijuana on driving performance using a realistic, validated driving simulator. Eighty-five subjects (n = 50 males, 35 females) participated in this between-subjects, double-blind, placebo controlled study. In addition to an uneventful, baseline segment of driving, participants were challenged with collision avoidance and distracted driving scenarios. Under the influence of marijuana, participants decreased their speed and failed to show expected practice effects during a distracted drive. No differences were found during the baseline driving segment or collision avoidance scenarios. No differences attributable to sex were observed. This study enhances the current literature by identifying distracted driving and the integration of prior experience as particularly problematic under the influence of marijuana.

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20464803

 

Honestly, I expected there to be a very noticeable difference. I would like to see how being very high effects driving skills, as they only smoked one joint in this study.

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That's all you can come up with to discredit this?

I'd say its a valid concern though. How many studies have been discredited because those doing it have ties to the industries that are involved in the area of study?

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I'd say its a valid concern though. How many studies have been discredited because those doing it have ties to the industries that are involved in the area of study?

 

Agreed on what you said, but what cincy said is completely hypothetical.

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That's all you can come up with to discredit this?

 

It's enough - a tale told a thousand times...like anything that tries to justify that mentally-modifying drugs add much to society. I know that drugs are fun...and also that history tells us that intoxicants often end up with us ending living a life full of problems.

 

Enjoy at your risk...

 

And the level of crap, useless research paid for and extracted out of your and my livelihood is - stunning.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20464803

 

Honestly, I expected there to be a very noticeable difference. I would like to see how being very high effects driving skills, as they only smoked one joint in this study.

 

Driving stoned and driving drunk are two totally different things. I don't recommend either but if given the choice of getting in a car with a drunk guy or a stoned guy I'd pick the stoner. Marijuana doesn't affect your motor skills and judgment nearly as much as alcohol, IMO.

 

A favorite bumper sticker: "Slam on your brakes if you're stoned!".

 

:rolleyes:

 

A looooooonnnnnnnngggggg time ago:

A friend and I got stoned one night at his job in Irondequoit. We decided to go back to my house and watch Letterman. So I get in my car and he gets in his and we take off. I get to my house and he arrives about 10 minutes later. He gets out of the car and says; "On the way over here I stopped at a green light. Can you imagine if a cop saw that?! He'd pull me over and go; "Son you can save us both a lot of time. Whaater' you on?"

 

:D

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Anybody see how the Indy 500 ended up... Wasn't that wreck because the pack was going slow (conserving fuel)?

 

That is why there is a MINIMUM speed limit on the expressway... Just what we DO NOT need... A stoner going 30 on the expressway!

 

Either way... My point is that they (alcohol/weed) are BOTH bad for driving.

 

:rolleyes::D

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Driving stoned and driving drunk are two totally different things. I don't recommend either but if given the choice of getting in a car with a drunk guy or a stoned guy I'd pick the stoner. Marijuana doesn't affect your motor skills and judgment nearly as much as alcohol, IMO.

 

 

 

:D

 

A looooooonnnnnnnngggggg time ago:

A friend and I got stoned one night at his job in Irondequoit. We decided to go back to my house and watch Letterman. So I get in my car and he gets in his and we take off. I get to my house and he arrives about 10 minutes later. He gets out of the car and says; "On the way over here I stopped at a green light. Can you imagine if a cop saw that?! He'd pull me over and go; "Son you can save us both a lot of time. Whaater' you on?"

 

:P

:rolleyes:

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20464803

 

Honestly, I expected there to be a very noticeable difference. I would like to see how being very high effects driving skills, as they only smoked one joint in this study.

 

I used to drive stoned all the time when I was in university. For someone who's not a regular smoker, I wouldn't recommend it but for someone who is high pretty much every day, there's not much of a difference.

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Let me know how your "a message board said it was ok" defense works. Driving under the influence is illegal.

Not sure where you pulled this out of. OP did not advocate driving under the influence.

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I obviously don't condone driving stoned, but I've done it many times and I'm so paranoid I keep one eye on the speedometer and the other on the road in front of me. It took me an hour to drive from Tonawanda to Blasdell, which I drive to work every day and takes just under a half hour. Riding a motorcycle on the other hand... scared the hell out of me and I'll never ride a bike stoned again lol. As another poster said, I've slowed down for green lights, and gone way under the speed limit, but thats about as bad as it gets, if I'm driving drunk I can't hold the wheel straight at all, which is why i don't drive drunk lol.

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