My ONLY beef with weed being legal

[Draz]

I'm an occasional smoker. I don't do it to socialize. I do it in my own environment 95% of the time away from friends. Most of my friends and 99% of my family don't know I do it. I get asked by friends to smoke and I turn them down because I don't like the way society views people that test weed.

Now, with that being said. I admit I do use it at night, an hour or two before bed. Alone, by myself, the way I like it.

Here's my only concern with the drug being legal. It'll handicap your thinking process. I'll be subconscious about people going behind a wheel of a vehicle while buzzed or high. I'm not one to sit here to say people can't control their highs. But, who are we to challenge with our loved ones in our vehicle if the vehicle on the opposite side has self control over his/her high.

Obviously there would be laws on how much you can smoke before driving. But it only encourages people to test the waters and there is no doubt it'll increase accidents. I have never driven while high, given the opportunity numerous times I decline myself of that privilege. I have friends that smoke blunts after blunts and drive home.

For anyone that smokes weed, care to have a say? And just to clarify, I have nothing against the drug. By all means I'm not for or against it, I'm pretty mutual.

[iTare]

It's a tough topic. For example me and my friends drove back from California back to Utah and we were dabbing all through out the trip, traffic was crazy as it was during a holiday. No accident, no close calls. Nothing. I drive stoned pretty much every day and all it really does is make me more aware. Most of my friends do the same, but a few of them sort of do dumb things behind the wheel but they do this when they're sober also...

I do however understand that weed affects interacts differently with some folks, especially casual users. I personally wouldn't trust a person who smokes once in a while to drive around in the city.

It's definitely different than alcohol though, with weed you reach a peak and self comfort with alcohol you can become full of yourself and the drowsiness is 100x stronger than what weed can cause(unless it's edibles).

Bottom line: some people can hang, some can't. It's hard to justify who should be allowed to drive super high.

[Real Men Wear Green]

We have the same problem with drinking and driving. Actually if I were to pick I'd say a drunk driver is worse than a high driver. Neither is good of course but it doesn't make real sense for alcohol to be legal when weed isn't.

[RidonKs]

we'll see if canada has similar cultural effects to what has occurred in the netherlands, portugal, etc

that argument that criminalizing something makes it cool and thus more popular than it might otherwise be has a lot of validity i think...

but then canada's leagalization is coming at a different time. drug prohibition fanaticism is on the downswing. recreational and medicinal are in with significant rehabilitation provided to abusers.

one positive note is that it could eat into the the dependence people have on alcohol. not that a shared dependence on a variety of narcotics is much better than a strict reliance on a single type. but different narcotics lead to different environments and interactions....

the difference between pot and booze is notable. one gets you fired up, the other tires you right out. one removes all filters while the other can have either effect. one produces volatility, the other enhances civility.

interesting times ahead

[Draz]

That's exactly my point. We can't justify who can or can't drive while high. We can't filter out the people that can handle their highs versus the people that can't. I, for one, can't handle it. The legalization will bring new smokers in, and it'll only increase the risks of something happening behind the wheel.

While it's obvious we can say the same about alcohol, I just feel like adding another substance only increases our chances of being injured, or dying on the road. I know most of us here have families and if not families of our own we love our own lives. The risk factor encourages me more to be paranoid.

Not to mention idiots waiting on stop signs to turn green and the first in line at a stop light sits there waiting for it to go red again.

[Draz]

We have the same problem with drinking and driving. Actually if I were to pick I'd say a drunk driver is worse than a high driver. Neither is good of course but it doesn't make real sense for alcohol to be legal when weed isn't.

I agree with you 100%. It's adding to the probability that we shouldn't be blindsided on.

[nathanjizzle]

you are right. marijuana is fine for personal use, just like alcohol is, but you need to be responsible in how you use is.

[Draz]

The reason I'm bringing this up, legalization in Canada will entirely start a massive wave of legalization here in the states. While this is my only gripe, others have their own gripes with it being legal. My view on one stand point can be the paranoia to be alive and living in fear, while the other has to do with realistic scenarios.

While one can say, I'm fine, I'll take the MTA or I don't use vehicle transportation I can walk. You can't avoid being hit by a car.

The judgement other people make while being under the influence of drugs is the risk factor.

[~primetime~]

Marijuana involved in 12 percent of Colorado State Patrol DUI cases

[RidonKs]

I'm an occasional smoker. I don't do it to socialize. I do it in my own environment 95% of the time away from friends. Most of my friends and 99% of my family don't know I do it. I get asked by friends to smoke and I turn them down because I don't like the way society views people that test weed.

Now, with that being said. I admit I do use it at night, an hour or two before bed. Alone, by myself, the way I like it.

Here's my only concern with the drug being legal. It'll handicap your thinking process. I'll be subconscious about people going behind a wheel of a vehicle while buzzed or high. I'm not one to sit here to say people can't control their highs. But, who are we to challenge with our loved ones in our vehicle if the vehicle on the opposite side has self control over his/her high.

Obviously there would be laws on how much you can smoke before driving. But it only encourages people to test the waters and there is no doubt it'll increase accidents. I have never driven while high, given the opportunity numerous times I decline myself of that privilege. I have friends that smoke blunts after blunts and drive home.

For anyone that smokes weed, care to have a say? And just to clarify, I have nothing against the drug. By all means I'm not for or against it, I'm pretty mutual.

as for this... the sad truth is that people already drive high all the time.

there's an underlying assumption to your case though. you have to believe legalization will enhance usage... which hasn't necessarily been the case in other countries. if legalizing weed will increase how many people use it

like rmwg said, this is an issue for booze already. being high and drunk at the same time is even more dangerous.

the point to stress is that there is NO effective way to limit intoxication and driving when the substances are illegal. then they're in black markets that can't be touched by regulating agencies and can't be penetrated by public educators.

when a substance is legalized, it's drawn into the light. people understand its effects and are able to make more deliberate choices to partake or not... there is less giving into peer pressure, since if its not criminal, taking a toke isn't exactly sticking it to the man.

legalization allows us to track the way and extent to which people use it in all sorts of fantastic ways. the more data you have that's representative of the known demographic, the more precise are your tools to addressing whatever problems you uncover.

i really think there are all sorts of cases to be made for legalization; moral, economic, psychological, scientific, etc etc etc

[~primetime~]

You can look at states where it is legal to see the effects it has...



The biggest thing that proponents of legalizing pot got wrong is that it has made the black market increase rather than decrease. The black market for pot is booming in legal states - BECAUSE it is legal. The police aren't cracking down as much and legal pot is much more expensive than black market pot because it is heavily taxed.

[RidonKs]

The biggest thing that proponents of legalizing pot got wrong is that it has made the black market increase rather than decrease. The black market for pot is booming in legal states - BECAUSE it is legal. The police aren't cracking down as much and legal pot is much more expensive than black market pot because it is heavily taxed.

this is probably just a short term result.

but it also probably has to do with internal competition between states with conflicting policies. you do not notice the same results in places where border mobility for people and business isn't so easy... thus a federal policy would substantially eliminate the black market.

[Nick Young]

driving when stoned is easy. It's nowhere near the same as drunk driving.

[DonDadda59]

F*ck you for questioning the only cure for cancer. Driving while high is the only way to combat drunk driving you idiot. I hope you and your family all die terrible deaths from cancer of the eyes.

Oh wait... forgot to switch to my Lensanity alt.

BRB.

[UK2K]

I'm an occasional smoker. I don't do it to socialize. I do it in my own environment 95% of the time away from friends. Most of my friends and 99% of my family don't know I do it. I get asked by friends to smoke and I turn them down because I don't like the way society views people that test weed.

Now, with that being said. I admit I do use it at night, an hour or two before bed. Alone, by myself, the way I like it.

Here's my only concern with the drug being legal. It'll handicap your thinking process. I'll be subconscious about people going behind a wheel of a vehicle while buzzed or high. I'm not one to sit here to say people can't control their highs. But, who are we to challenge with our loved ones in our vehicle if the vehicle on the opposite side has self control over his/her high.

Obviously there would be laws on how much you can smoke before driving. But it only encourages people to test the waters and there is no doubt it'll increase accidents. I have never driven while high, given the opportunity numerous times I decline myself of that privilege. I have friends that smoke blunts after blunts and drive home.

For anyone that smokes weed, care to have a say? And just to clarify, I have nothing against the drug. By all means I'm not for or against it, I'm pretty mutual.

I will say that I am self aware, and able to tell when I should, and shouldn't drive. While I have (and can) drive high, 99/100 I don't, and haven't in years.

That being said, the odds of someone getting drunk and driving vs the odds of some stoner getting high and driving are nowhere near similar. Throw in that Taco Bell will deliver soon, and you wont ever see any stoners leaving the house.

But on a serious note, I can smoke as much weed as I want and STILL know right from wrong. Cant say the same with alcohol.