With driving on cannabis, the problem the state creates is fictional. We already have road-laws that prohibit intoxication. The question is whether cannabis impairs you, and, if refraining from cannabis impairs you more than actual consumption.
Despite claims that Washington’s statistics show a 122% increase in stoned drivers, it was a Seattle news channel that displayed the principles behind the question of impairment.
Of the three volunteers for the news story, a 27-year-old girl named Addy was the bonafide stoner. She was already three-times over the legal limit when she showed up to the filming. The mistakes she made were minor and only after smoking 1.4 grams did her driving get reckless.
The worst part about being too high to drive is that you drive too slow. Quite the contrast from drunk driving.
It will be the police who are putting the public at risk. By imposing strict rules, they will incentivize people who normally smoke all the time to cut back. This will provoke withdrawal symptoms that, however minor, affect driving, possibly more dangerously than THC in the bloodstream.
Not medicating enough can cause: nausea, irritability, anxiety, sweats and headaches, to name a few.
Many cannabis connoisseurs are more of a danger on the road when not consuming than when they are consuming.
A universal truth is that cannabis affects everyone differently. Some stay couch-locked, others do sports. Tolerance in individuals indicates how safe it is for some to consume cannabis and drive a car.
People have been doing this for decades without incident. Common sense goes a long way when taking medication and operating heavy machinery. Most traffic fatalities involve alcohol.
A recent survey revealed that 25 per cent of respondents ignored prescription or over-the-counter drug labels recommending them not to drive while on the medication. Where’s the outrage about that?
A long-term cannabis consumer won’t feel stoned behind the wheel, despite what his or her blood, urine, hair or breath might reveal.
Even if a cannabis user did cause an accident, cannabis would be the proximate cause, not the ultimate cause.
The ultimate case is whoever owns the road since it’s their job to ensure safety.
Because the state owns it, failures are rewarded with more funding and expanded bureaucratic mandates. Law enforcement are given new monopoly powers enabling “ride programs” akin to police-state checkpoints.
If legalization takes a hardline, chronic consumers will be effectively barred from driving. Every time they are on the road they will be risking everything themselves, by literally putting no one else at risk, except for the cops who are losing the drug war and are in need of a problem to “fix.”