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Driving whilst high

bluenavey00

Arizer Air Aficionado
Topic came up on another thread but thought it would be interesting to get a discussion going here.

I am 21 and my mother hates the fact I sometimes drive high. She has never got high herself so I believe this contributes to the fact she doesn't understand how someone feels when high.

My personal opinion is that for someone that regularly gets high and is experienced with the effects of a high, driving is only marginally more dangerous. As long as (at least for myself) I am within a limit, for example haven't just vaped a whole gram.

Please chime in with your own thoughts and opinions :)
 
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woolspinner

Well-Known Member
I never do it.
I'm sure I'd be fine but just think it's wrong.
No doubt some alcoholics drive fine when well over the limit but don't agree with that either.

I suppose, technically, I have driven while under the influence, but not really - meaning I waited until an hour or more had passed after only minimal amount of vapor consumed and I was not feeling any effect. A vape session just to reup the cannabinoids in my system, but not enough to alter my motor or mental function.

Many drunks will SWEAR that they are okay to drive, and I have gotten in the car with them because, initially, they seemed fine. Once it came down to making split second decisions on something as simple as making a turn (gods forbid they had to decide if it was safer to go through on a yellow or hit the brakes!) their impairment showed itself. To THEM however, they felt normal.

It depends on the person, the dose, and their tolerance. I would rather drive safe than have the one time I did not leave me wit a lifetime regret.

My :2c:
 

zor

Well-Known Member
Uuuuugh, absolutely not. I live in Boston, you need your reflexes to avoid other cars, bikes, pedestrians, and associated assholes. Cars are weapons here, it would be dreadfully irresponsible to be under the influence IMO.

I've done a few coordination-intensive activities while high and yeah, I feel like I've got a great grip on things at the time, but simple button pressing on a controller while playing video games will prove quite the opposite :)
 

Hashtag46&2

Trichome Technician
I used to drive high a lot when I was in my late teens, early 20s...

As a matter of fact, I made it a point to have a joint or blunt ready to blaze going anywhere...

Back then, I loved taking long drives through the country roads getting high as all hell.

But, I drove like an old lady.... going 45mph on the highway, engaging my turn signal WAY before my turn...etc.

I always have Cannabinoids flowing through the bloodstream, as I take inactive hash caps every morning, but there is no noticeable effect.

However, I never drive when medicated any longer.. I actually don't drive very much at all anymore due to lack of mobility in my neck,back.. Which elevates my anxiety, In turn making the pain worse.
 

djonkoman

Well-Known Member
I've never driven a car while vaped, or after vaping.

I've also never driven a car sober though(and don't have a driver's license. to illustrate how incapable of driving a car I would be, I only found out there's a third footpedal around 3 years ago). I think driving high is not as much a problem as driving drunk, but still, if you were my friend, I knew you were high and you offered me a ride, I would refuse it. I also have some friends with whom I wouldn't even want to drive while sober though(one of them had an accident once, entirely his fault and he was going way over the speedlimit, another told a story once which involved him driving like a maniac)

but if it's not a car/motorised something I'm ok with it, I frequently cycle drunk/high/both, and I've also used my longboard pretty often while drunk/high/both. but in both cases the only one I could seriously hurt is myself(also, it's pretty much a given that everyone cycling after 1-2 at night is drunk, it's technically illegal but I've never eard of anyone getting a fine for it, it's one of those things like insulting the king, technically illegal but nobody cares)
 

Cemmos

Well-Known Member
I can't say I never do. It's nothing like alcohol impairment, so I'm not sure why that's being brought up here. I can definitively say that my driving isn't any worse if I've had cannabis. I can't say anything about reaction time, however, and I wouldn't doubt if that was a little slower. Although I tend to get 3.0 k/d ratio in FPS games only if I'm high, so I can't say that my reaction time in that is any worse. Statistically, I'm better. But I do understand driving is a different thing.

For the 7+ hour road trips I take, a nice sativa wakes me up and keeps me up. If I have an energy drink, I'll get a boost for about 45 minutes and then start feeling the crash pretty soon after.
 

GetLeft

Well-Known Member
If one is a regular daily user, and one is a regular daily driver, one drives high at least occasionally.

Should smoking a cigarette, with its requirement of multiple complex motor tasks, not to mention fire and smoke hazzards, be considered to be safe while driving without a single afterthought?

Is it safe to eat while driving?

Speaking on a phone? Wtf?

Driving a motorized vehicle is deadly business always and should be taken deadly seriously at all times.

That being said, I am able to accomplish many tasks which require a certain degree of mental and physical focus after a light vape session. Driving, if required, is one of them.

Not if I get stoned, which I try never to do. But no worries there. If I get like that by accident (unlikely thanks to the herbal vaporizer) I'll have a hard enough time letting go of the couch.
 

weenstoned

Well-Known Member
Just saying if you look into the actual science on this experienced users driving under the influence show little impairment. Since the majority of people have never built up a tolerance to cannabis they don't understand how it affects daily users. I would liken it more to drinking coffee than getting drunk.
 

twentypast4

#nycdabber
I have been many levels of medicated either with dabbing or smoking, and in the last 10 years almost all of my jobs have required driving, I have not had an issue performing my job safely. Furthermore, as funny as it may seem, I am more calm, cautious (partly due to paranoia, ha), and triple checking my surroundings. Under heavy medication, I can notice the delay in things and choose to avoid doing any driving until time has passed.

Knowing your mind and body limits are key to anything in life IMO.
 

Kief

Medicated
A medicated state is more normal for me than sobriety. While sober I am more anxious and irritable and that is the less safe option for me, rushing with road rage is not a good thing. While medicated I can just sit back and enjoy the ride, I'll get there when I get there.

Not everyone gets the same effect from cannabis, many people should never get behind the wheel and others can do it their whole lives and never have a problem. I do not suggest anyone drive under the influence without knowing exactly how it effects you... kinda the same warning you get on many prescription pill bottles.

How about some federal data? Stoned drivers are a lot safer than drunk ones, new federal data show
 

woolspinner

Well-Known Member
If one is a regular daily user, and one is a regular daily driver, one drives high at least occasionally.

Should smoking a cigarette, with its requirement of multiple complex motor tasks, not to mention fire and smoke hazzards, be considered to be safe while driving without a single afterthought?

Is it safe to eat while driving?

Speaking on a phone? Wtf?

Driving a motorized vehicle is deadly business always and should be taken deadly seriously at all times.

That being said, I am able to accomplish many tasks which require a certain degree of mental and physical focus after a light vape session. Driving, if required, is one of them.

Not if I get stoned, which I try never to do. But no worries there. If I get like that by accident (unlikely thanks to the herbal vaporizer) I'll have a hard enough time letting go of the couch.

Smoking is definitely not safe...I have seen the carpet and seat burns in some cars and wondered if the previous owner kept it on the road.

Most eating is not safe because your attention is on getting the food into your mouth without dropping it. Dropping a burger is not as dangerous as a lit cigarette but can cause a similar reflex to look down and move one'one's hands.

Talking on the phone is not safe, hands free or not, because studies have shown it engages a portion of your brain that is needed for safe driving.

For some people, talking to others and listening to the radio is not safe.

Alcohol (to another poster) is brought up because it, too, is a drug. We could bring up heroin, cocaine, meth, but alcohol gives us all a frame of reference. Yes the "high" is different, but cannabis can and does cause impairment.

It does, absolutely depend upon your use, dose, and tolerance. Therefore, it is difficult for law enforcement to set a reasonable standard. Prior to taking up daily use and vaporizing, one hit off a bong got me so high, no way I would consider driving FOR HOURS. Now, small re-up sessions can have almost no effect on me and so I consider myself safe to drive after an hour or so.

This is a hot button issue, but one that certainly needs more discussion and research.

A medicated state is more normal for me than sobriety. While sober I am more anxious and irritable and that is the less safe option for me, rushing with road rage is not a good thing. While medicated I can just sit back and enjoy the ride, I'll get there when I get there.

Not everyone gets the same effect from cannabis, many people should never get behind the wheel and others can do it their whole lives and never have a problem. I do not suggest anyone drive under the influence without knowing exactly how it effects you... kinda the same warning you get on many prescription pill bottles.

How about some federal data? Stoned drivers are a lot safer than drunk ones, new federal data show
Thanks for the link!
 
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howie105

Well-Known Member
Topic came up on another thread but thought it would be interesting to get a discussion going here.

I am 21 and my mother hates the fact I sometimes drive high. She has never got high herself so I believe this contributes to the fact she doesn't understand how someone feels when high.

My personal opinion is that for someone that regularly gets high and is experienced with the effects of a high, driving is only marginally more dangerous. As long as (at least for myself) I am within a limit, for example haven't just vaped a whole gram.

Please chime in with your own thoughts and opinions :)

No simple answer. Some folks can't drive when high, heck some people can't drive even if they are straight its about being honest and objective enough to make the call. Fail and fuck up people pay the price, succeed an you are good to go. Individual choice
 

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
While stoned are you still better than some other drivers? Yes.
But you are not as good as YOU can be.

TJ - Pretty much sums it up for me.

A recent event changed my opinion. Bunch of us FC folk got together for a vape off and we vaped so much I thought I vaped 180 degrees...in other words...I felt like I had vaped so much that I vaped myself just about straight. I ate a little bit and ceased vaping about 30 minutes before climbing into my car that night. The weird part was that it wasn't until a few minutes into the the drive home that night that I felt like I was 'almost' hallucinating a little, needed to REALLY concentrate and could tell I wasn't driving as well as I normally do. This is the last time I will ever drive within an hour or more of vaping.... even a little. The reason - I've been getting buzzed for 4 decades and I under-estimated how buzzed and affected I was. It could happen again.

I broached this subject on another thread where I posed the question 'What would you if you thought your dentist or taxi driver were buzzed when getting ready to work with or on you'. The thread caused me to become even more introspective and I asked myself:
- Would I be comfortable driving if buzzed?
- Would I be comfortable driving a significant other like my wife or grandchild if buzzed?
Ironically I answered the first question as 'Yes' and second question as 'HELL NO'. This made me realize that I was saying to myself is 'I'm OK with driving and putting myself or a stranger at risk but no way I would do that to someone I love or care about no matter how remote the possible negative outcome is'.

The final straw for me was when I admitted to myself that "If I seriously hurt or killed someone while driving buzzed I would never be able to forgive myself, EVEN IF BEING BUZZED WASN'T THE CAUSE I KNOW I WOULD ALWAYS FEEL THE GUILT THAT IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.

I am invoking the 'to thine own self be true' clause here and I'm sure many feel differently than I. How I feel about this topic is strictly based on 'I gotta live with myself'.
 

fidget

Well-Known Member
TJ - Pretty much sums it up for me.


- Would I be comfortable driving if buzzed?
- Would I be comfortable driving a significant other like my wife or grandchild if buzzed?
Ironically I answered the first question as 'Yes' and second question as 'HELL NO'. This made me realize that I was saying to myself is 'I'm OK with driving and putting myself or a stranger at risk but no way I would do that to someone I love or care about no matter how remote the possible negative outcome is'.

The final straw for me was when I admitted to myself that "If I seriously hurt or killed someone while driving buzzed I would never be able to forgive myself, EVEN IF BEING BUZZED WASN'T THE CAUSE I KNOW I WOULD ALWAYS FEEL THE GUILT THAT IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.

I am invoking the 'to thine own self be true' clause here and I'm sure many feel differently than I. How I feel about this topic is strictly based on 'I gotta live with myself'.

That's pretty much my opinion too.
 

syrupy

Authorized Buyer
The final straw for me was when I admitted to myself that "If I seriously hurt or killed someone while driving buzzed I would never be able to forgive myself, EVEN IF BEING BUZZED WASN'T THE CAUSE I KNOW I WOULD ALWAYS FEEL THE GUILT THAT IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.

I am invoking the 'to thine own self be true' clause here and I'm sure many feel differently than I. How I feel about this topic is strictly based on 'I gotta live with myself'.

Good point. You could never look back and say for sure that being vaked WASN'T the cause. And that just points to it being a really bad decision, one that could have been avoided with better judgment.

To add a part to @grokit 's logic, I hear this one: I'm only going 5 or 10 blocks, it'll be cool. Which ignores statistics that indicate the easiest place for an accident is nearby one's home, where things feel safe and it's easy to get a false sense of confidence from being in familiar surroundings.
 
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syrupy

Authorized Buyer
Everyone in this thread is probably way more likely to hurt or be hurt by someone who is impaired by lack of sleep than as a result of cannabis.

Maybe. But because it may be more likely to be from sleep deprivation or prescription drugs, ONLY makes driving stoned seem safer IN COMPARISON. High drivers will still get in as many accidents as they will, regardless. Also, because of your point, I would say that it's even more important to drive sober, because of the odds other drivers might be impaired, or the added effects of those on top of being high.
 

grokit

well-worn member
It's so individual, in so many ways. When I was in high school, I had a hard time driving long distances but was at least sensible enough to pull over for a catnap when necessary. Getting high did make it worse. Now I can drive much longer distances without tiring regardless, and on cross-country drives I have noticed that it settles me down from the inevitable caffeine jitters -- especially when I would stop for some shut-eye.
 
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