According to “How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder”, the THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) level in the blood stream are not supported by science. Jake Nelson said “There is no concentration of the drug that allows us to reliably predict that someone is impaired behind the wheel in the way that we can with alcohol”. This tells us that there are no measurement of how much impaired the person under the influence of marijuana is. If blood tests were be used to establish impairment, this could result in an arbitrary punishment.My Yes/No question is:
Is it safe to assume that between the effect of marijuana and alcohol, marijuana is safer to drive?
My answer is:
Yes, but under a certain amount of marijuana.
The article tells us only the law imposed on THC levels from a legislative perspective, but in my own opinion, everything under a controlled amount is not bad. Just like the quote, too much of a good thing is a bad thing, this applies not only to marijuana usage but everything in life.
This article really caught my eyes not because I have tried marijuana, but it made me think back to when I was under the influence of alcohol while driving, it was under a legal amount don’t worry. Marijuana has been debated around the world whether it is safe to be legalized. Although medical marijuana have been legalized in some parts of the world, the majority are still concerned about the effects of THC, or which we call being “high”. Unlike being intoxicated by alcohol, being “high” has many benefits, such as improving lung health and preventing Alzheimer's disease. In contrast, alcohol intoxication results in poor judgement, loss of memory and slurred speech. All of these are dangerous when driving, but according to a study in the American Journal of Addictions, the cognitive impairments caused by marijuana are correlated with only modest reductions in driving performance.
There are numerous studies comparing the effects of alcohol and marijuana while driving and all of the studies suggest marijuana to be safer to drive. Like the said earlier, too much of a good thing is a bad thing, too much marijuana or alcohol intake could both lead to death. If possible, driving while not under an effect of any substance is the best.
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I think if it's just assuming, then marijuana is safer when you're driving than alcohol. when you're high on marijuana, you will still be able to drive/talk or do things as i have seen from my friends in the states. On the other hand when you're drunk from drinking alcohol, you wouldn't be talking properly or do things right, even more i don't think it's safe at all to let someone that's drunk drive a car.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried marijuana before, so I don't know how it's like to be "high." According to your post, I do agree with you that the effect of marijuana is safe for drivers if and only if it's used under the controlled amount. However, I think the issue of legalizing marijuana still needs to be considered very carefully because it may lead to marijuana addition among people.
ReplyDeleteUn, do have a link to the article you cite on the "modest reductions in driving performance"? It sounds interesting. Although I'm sure that marijuana is much less harmful, and likely less addictive, than alcohol, I had assumed it was still a major impairment for activities like driving. If I'm wrong, I'd like to find out.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that in many countries, including Thailand, the legal limit for blood alcohol is too high, although this Wikipedia information on legal levels in various countries shows that Thailand has the same limit as Australia, which is in the middle of the legal range between 0.02 to 0.08% blood alcohol. I think Australia's 0.05% would be better reduced to 0.02%, although Australia already has a very low road death rate: Aussies generally don't drink and drive.
I like your last paragraph. Yes, in everything if we used inappropriately it will turn to negative effect. either alcohol and marijuana will lead to the same point.
ReplyDeleteNo. In case of driver, I think that both of them are dangerous. The problems is they may not really care about the limit of taking those things. The best way is to let them have a sufficient sleep before drive. In some country, they limit the driver working hour for the safety.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Driver should have enough sleep.
DeleteI think it depends on how much marijuana you intake in order to judge that it is safe for driving or not. If you intake marijuana in small amount and you are not that high, I think it is safe to drive. But if you are intake high amount of marijuana, it may be dangerous for driving because i think being high from marijuana can make people lose their consciousness and this might cause an accident.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading this blog post, I suddenly recalled one of my friends, Frong. on 15 April 2016, I went to Wipe Out@ Ibiza RCA with Frong and other friends. while I was going to the toilet, Frong used marijuana. Unfortunately, this was the first time he used it. So, when I came back to the party, I noticed that he went into trance and then he fell down while dancing in party. Thus, I and some of my buddies had to take Frong away from that place. it spent 30 minutes making him better. From this situation, it enables me to become scary about marijuana.
ReplyDeleteHowever, after that, I wanted to know about marijuana; however, I was busy. Fortunately, when I read your article, it reminds me to search more information about marijuana. I find out that although there are some advantages of marijuana, especially for medical treatment, most of them aren't proven obviously.
In terms of safety while driving, I can't assume this case because at present, marijuana isn't legalized in Thailand. Hence, we hardly see news about driving after using marijuana.
Wow, you’ve tried marijuana.
ReplyDeleteI am not qualified enough to give the exact answers for this interesting question. Instead, I would say I couldn’t agree more with your last paragraph for the answer by research’s results and your opinion.
Speaking of driving safely, I think there are many factors causing accidents on a road, for instance, not sleeping enough, driving fast, breaking the traffic laws, and stuff like that. The most significant factor would be a driver’s behavior.
If driverless cars are complete and legally used, do you think we still have to be concerned about taking alcohol, marijuana or even similar drugs?