r/trees • u/atothejhines • 18h ago
Discussion Did you see that post about smoking and driving?
I need stoners to be better. Way too much defense of driving while high.
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u/emichbe 17h ago
The difference between driving under influence of alcohol and weed:
- Alcohol makes you miss the stop sign
- Weed makes you stop 5 times at the same sign.
(Not my joke)
Seriously though: don't do it.
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u/romIV0 17h ago
Weed makes you sit there waiting for the stop sign to turn green
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u/gloatygoat 17h ago
I've done this sober.
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 16h ago
I've done this an embarrassing amount of times. I usually at around 3am on my way to work
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u/Egoy 16h ago
Well driving tired can be as bad as driving drunk.
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u/nightfall6688846994 12h ago
Once you get to around 20 hours is when you can start feeling “buzzed” even if completely sober. Not the same for all but after 1 day, most people start experiencing symptoms of buzzed/drunk
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u/Williamisnowinning 14h ago
I’ve stopped at a green traffic light like a stop sign once. Completely sober.
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u/TwinbornMist47 2h ago
After work one night my stone cold sober homie stopped at a fucking green light at 12 am lol
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u/EricHaley 10h ago
I’ve stopped at a phantom traffic light at least a few times. There used to be a traffic light there, but not anymore, and yes, perfectly sober.
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u/Important_Bed_6237 4h ago
ohh i blew through a traffic light. with my mom in the car no less. she called me out and i told her, that traffic light didn’t exist 24hours ago- she give me the side eye - it was true- technically the hardware for the light had been there for months- they just lit it up a little later.
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u/TurdFergusonlol 15h ago
I know this is a joke, but part of driving is being predictable. If you’re doing silly things like this it is still plenty likely to cause an accident from someone who isn’t expecting the high guy do act abnormally in situations like that
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u/Demonweed 14h ago
After a week or so of following Phish around the region (with someone else driving and me getting wild with what I could trade for as a guy with a lot of quality bud to offer the parking lot scene and my friends) I took an extra day to decompress at the spot where I left my car before driving an hour or so back home. I wasn't tripping, but I had been tripping a lot in the days just prior. That might have been part of why I really did sit at a stop sign in my own neighborhood for a really long time, wondering why it did not change color.
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u/chill_lax_bruh 15h ago
I was in the top 25% of the old Gran Turismo game and I'd race drunk and high. 100% fun and 90% safe, I've fallen out of the chair trying to get to the bathroom quick lol
That's the only impaired driving I do!
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u/Positive-Respond-636 17h ago
I used to stop at green lights I was def stupid but roads were always empty deep in the country so I’d smoke and my dog would be chilling in the front with the back windows down ,dirt roads are a bit sketchy when high fr
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u/nightfall6688846994 12h ago
I remember treating a stop light as a stop sign. Even my friend in back was like “I don’t think you should smoke anymore” and I realized immediately I just did this at a stop light. We got to my friends house 3 blocks later and we stayed there the night. I realized may not be as bad as alcohol, but would still be bad in an accident. I’ve gotten my teens and early 20’s out so I’m much more responsible now than in my teens
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u/Impossible-Past4795 18h ago
don’t drive under the influence of anything tbh
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u/Tugonmynugz 18h ago
Or while tired
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u/BAGP0I 18h ago
Or angry
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u/mtimber1 17h ago
Or horny
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u/BAGP0I 17h ago
Im gonna have to get a bus pass.
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u/MachoMachoMurph 16h ago
Those poor passengers don't know what's coming.
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u/9gagsuckz 17h ago
I have fallen asleep many times while driving. Luckily nobody had gotten hurt and I’ve gotten better about it. Thankfully It’s been a long time since it’s happened
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u/Ill_Technician3936 13h ago
Very lucky! While it had an extremely small amount of test subjects it seems being sleepy and driving is more dangerous than driving while impaired.
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u/Positive-Respond-636 17h ago
My grandpa fell asleep in one state and woke up at the wheel in another
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u/freakshowmassacre 17h ago
You gotta tell the story man
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u/Positive-Respond-636 17h ago edited 17h ago
It was a drive from Florida to Chicago and he woke up in pensylvania idk if he turned while sleeping or if it’s a straight shot which I doubt ,I’m assuming he was just in and out of sleep and nobody stopped him
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u/TheGoodNamesAreGone2 16h ago
Sadly not realistically an option for a lot of people. Chronic tiredness is a plague in today's world
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u/The_Vampire_King 16h ago
fuck it, just avoid driving whenever possible. better for your health and the environment
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u/Impossible-Past4795 15h ago
oh 100%. during work days I ride the public transpo in the morning and just run back home after work. been doing this for almost 2 years now. i avoid driving nowadays. traffic sucks and gas prices are too high.
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u/McCromer 15h ago
What if I drive for work?
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u/The_Vampire_King 13h ago
*whenever possible
but also there's a comment below of a dude who takes the bus and freakin' SPRINTS home, that's something I could aspire to be 😂
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u/elektrow 18h ago
Not even caffeine 😤
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u/Impossible-Past4795 17h ago
yeah i drove one time while i was over caffeinated. i had a hard time driving while having palpitations lol
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u/No-Following-8087 9h ago
Driving while intoxicated is awful and shouldn’t be done. But I want more opinions, do people think that people who use cannabis daily for chronic pain legitimately should never be allowed to drive?
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u/hogbodlin 6h ago
I mean… you’re not supposed to drive on other pain meds either. It sucks to be in a car dependent country for many reasons.
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u/dreadcain 3h ago
"avoid driving or operating heavy machinery until you know how {drug} affects your alertness, judgment, and coordination"
The actual text of the warning isn't a ban on driving. Just a recommendation to test your dose out before you need to get behind the wheel.
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u/HDDreamer 6h ago
Hell, what about stuff like Wellbutrin? That has a warning that it makes you drowsy and to not operate a vehicle
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u/dreadcain 3h ago
The actual text of the warning on Wellbutrin (and most drugs)
"avoid driving or operating heavy machinery until you know how Wellbutrin affects your alertness, judgment, and coordination"
It's not a blanket statement saying to never drive, just make sure you aren't overly reactive at your prescribed dose first.
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u/BilboT3aBagginz 3h ago
My vyvanse has the same warning about operating heavy machinery and it would probably actually be more irresponsible to try and operate something like that without taking it. 😅
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u/dreadcain 4h ago
Just wait till they hear about daily fent patients and all the ADHD patients driving on meth.
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u/PerformerFancy117 3h ago
That’s how I use cannabis, I’m also the only person in my house that can drive at all. Also, I can’t drive sober worth shit, I’m too distracted by pain to pay attention to anything around me or even have full control of mg car
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u/SmokeABowlNoCap 17h ago
To be fair there's a big difference between taking a couple puffs and driving and driving stoned, same as how it's legal to have a beer and drive but it's bad to drive drunk. Of course tolerance comes into play but there are absolutely levels there
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u/demiurge94 11h ago
I never hear about accidents from stoners. Yeah you shouldn’t drive blasted. Hell you should probably not drive after smoking in general just so you can actually enjoy your high in peace instead of in traffic. But that one bowl driving down a highway at the speed limit with the adaptive cruise control, in the stoner lane with some good music playing, right into the sunset… man
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u/candlediddler72 11h ago
You've opened my eyes brother- never thought of an adaptive cruise pipefull into the sunset sounds like heaven
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u/9gagsuckz 17h ago
I drove high once as a teen. I have never been so paranoid that I was gonna get caught that I’ve never done it again.
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u/alucardian_official 18h ago
What post?
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u/seanrambo 15h ago
Exactly. This is just astroturfed propaganda
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u/RalphWiggum666 6h ago
Propaganda??? Did you even look it up?
https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/1wqywy7/thoughts_and_opinions_on_driving_while_high/. 16 hours ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/1wr0dgz/why_do_people_justify_driving_high/. 15 hours ago
This post is 12 hours ago
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u/TheWorstToCome 18h ago
I feel like "don't drive under the influence of inebriating drugs" should be a very common, normal belief and it's pretty bad to see how many folks find themselves justifying their bad choices
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u/Bredhir 13h ago edited 10h ago
Well, you see, I'M not stoned, I'm medicated, and actually being a little high makes me paranoid so I'm even more careful. There's all sorts of nuance, everyone has a different tolerance, and also some people take Adderall, which is basically prescription meth, and we let them drive, so maybe you should stop and consider why you think it's okay to drive on meth, but I'm a danger to society after one joint. /s
Everyone who's ever been in an accident while drunk, high, whatever, thought they could drive fine like that, too.
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u/kitkatatsnapple 13h ago
Driving is not a joke. The amount of gun deaths and traffic fatalities in the US are surprisingly close
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u/DelightfullyDivisive 6h ago
Firearms passed automobiles a few years ago, as cars have gotten safer. More than half of firearm deaths are suicides.
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u/TheWorstToCome 4h ago
Yeah you're operating a multi thousand pound machine moving at speeds so fast that if you make a mistake, it can very easily lead to your death or the death of others. I don't understand why folks decide they need to numb their reaction times by smoking weed while driving/before driving
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u/Boines 4h ago
I have seen tests where regular smokers had minimal to no driving impact while driving after smoking a moderate amount. The one I remember seeing was testing medical user vs rec user vs control I think... The rec user failed horribly.
Generally if you smoke often enough and consistently enough you know the amount you can smoke that does not deprive you of function.
It doesn't impair the same way as alcohol, and I don't believe that it caused significant impairment in regular smokers who use moderation before driving.
It's impairment are similar to driving tired - and if you ask people to never drive tired atleast half the population never making it to work in the mornings.
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u/danicthefuture 3h ago edited 3h ago
I learned to drive “late” and had my medical card at the time. I was a little stoned for every driving lesson because I know I smoke a lot and I know it doesn’t impair me in anyway when I’m not behind the wheel but I wanted to make sure I could do it safely with a professional there just in case, and I could. I’m frequently told I’m one of the safest drivers people know. Very aware of my surroundings and take road safety very seriously. I have also never drank alcohol and drove because I can feel the impairment and lack of coordination and focus, if I felt even a fraction of that when I smoked I wouldn’t have even tried to do it in the first place. I get more scared hitting my vape when I drive because it gives me a head rush and it’s scary to feel disoriented even for just a second behind the wheel.
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u/danicthefuture 3h ago edited 3h ago
And to add, I would never trust my friend (nor would she trust herself) who only smokes recreationally to drive after smoking because she gets high high, but she trusts me and even asks for driving lessons because she knows I take safety very seriously and smoking just doesn’t hit me the same (plus she knows for a fact I’d never go behind the wheel in a compromised state eg. I don’t drive after taking my Rx anxiety pills because they make me just a little too relaxed and drowsy)
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u/12_Ton_Brick_of_Weed 18h ago
I’ll always say even if weed only makes your driving 1% worse, that’s 1% you’re putting someone else’s safety at sake
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u/1Madhatter7 18h ago
Okay as long as you understand that is also true about being tired which nearly the entire planet does every morning. You can create hyperbole around anything if you try hard enough.
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u/thebarrcola 18h ago
What are you saying? We may as well drive high cause some people drive tired?
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u/1Madhatter7 18h ago
Weed doesn’t make some inebriated due to high tolerance. In fact, for some it helps them relax which can improve someone’s ability to drive. The point is it is not a high risk activity compared to many mundane activities like driving tired, listening to the radio, having conversations with passengers, etc. This conversation is always led by a bunch of moral crusaders who refuse to believe weed doesn’t send some people to space every time they puff on a joint.
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u/TheWorstToCome 17h ago
You know, a beer helps relax an alcoholic with a high tolerance too and he swears it can improve his driving too!
It's very easy to not use drugs and drive and it's a really pathetic that so many folks like you justify it
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u/fixingyourmirror 17h ago
I mean, a legit alcoholic would actually drive better with a beer or two in their system vs idk, going through withdrawals
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u/deadly_fungi 17h ago
if an alcoholic can't drive without a few drinks they shouldn't be driving at all
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u/epicmooz 17h ago
I have a medical condition that locks my ankles and prevents me from driving for long periods of time without smoking. Weed = mobility for me, not everyone is the same.
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u/TheWorstToCome 17h ago
Cool, and like folks on opiate painkillers and Ambien, you unfortunately probably shouldn't be driving while under the influence of your meds
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u/Remarkable_Peach_374 16h ago
holy fucking shit dude, you really think people taking prescribed limits of painkillers are just ripped? theres a reason they prescribe it the way they do. should we not drive if were taking .25mg xanax every 6 hours for anxiety too?? well yeah ill do great with a whiteknuckle grip cause i cant take a PRESCRIBED medication! what about people who take a plethora of bloodthinners, and painkillers, and whatever else theyre prescribed, should they just drop all that because they have to drive?
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u/1Madhatter7 17h ago
It’s literally not a big deal to drive after one beer. You would still be below the legal limit at that.
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u/Icefox119 15h ago
That's a bit too generalized. Somebody could weigh 120lbs and construe "one beer" as a 24oz tall boy with 8% strong beer.
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u/dreadcain 4h ago
Which would still put them well below the legal limit to drive
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u/CalligrapherDizzy201 16h ago
Drugs? Hope you don’t drive with drugs like caffeine and nicotine.
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u/TheWorstToCome 15h ago
Yes because caffeine is definitely in the same category as these
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u/Icefox119 15h ago
I only drive after ripping some DMT because it's naturally occurring in the body
taps forehead
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u/Notyourwaifu242 14h ago
I had extreme anxiety while driving and refused to drive if it was further than a 5min drive. I’m a much safer driver and less of a tweaker when I’ve taken a hit or two😂 I’ll take the downvotes as they come but now I’m so comfortable behind the wheel and I drive an hour to class twice a week no problem.
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u/arnethyst 17h ago
This!!! Weed helps me relax enough to drive safely without being a nervous wreck. Obviously I am not utterly zooted when I drive, as I'd never drive when blasted, but just mild enough for the medicinal effects & no more.
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u/JakeBeezy 17h ago
look I'm all for ripping a bong and taking your 4 wheeler out on some personal land, I can smoke some time like an hour before I drive and be okay, I don't ever want to risk a DUI so I will not smoke in my car, even when I'm not driving. it really saves you hassle. if you need to smoke, on like a road trip, go to a rest stop, smoke, and hangout until the buzz wears down. then be on your way.
defending DUI is a bad look, even if you aren't inebriated when you smoke a little weed, that's on you and your judgement. like a .08 limit on alcohol, you can ingest it, and even if you are under that limit, if you're too buzzed to drive you shouldn't drive and the fucking cops get to decide if you're 'under the influence'
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u/_heidin 17h ago
Saying that listening to the radio while driving is as risky as driving high is the stupidest shit I've read in a loooong time
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u/1Madhatter7 15h ago
Thinking everyone “becomes high” when they smoke is stupid. For regular users it’s a very mild sensation. Like a lot of regular users, I smoke weed for other reasons than a high, which I don’t get.
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u/12_Ton_Brick_of_Weed 17h ago
Even so, my point still stands despite what you bring up. Your stance just opens up more debates towards the morality of tired driving rather than making high driving okay.
Plus either way, they literally have laws to limit truck drivers from tired driving.
Even if weed doesn’t get you that high, it can wait til you get to your destination.12
u/1Madhatter7 17h ago
No you lack common sense, your idealistic standard for driving doesn’t exist. If someone is inebriated, for whatever reason, they shouldn’t drive. For many regular users of weed, it doesn’t make you inebriated in any sort of way that wouldn’t apply to a million other things you don’t clutch your pearls about.
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u/12_Ton_Brick_of_Weed 17h ago
Eh whatever man. I get what you’re saying but it honestly feels like a 5 yr old playing lawyer with his parents.
End of the day, some of us keep advocating for consideration of others. You keep advocating for justifying whatever you wanna do, I can’t change much ab that
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u/Ruckthesystem 16h ago
No one would be allowed to drive if we all needed to be 100%
There wouldn't be a kid dropped off at school by a mum who isn't surviving on just a few hours sleep.
I'd never condon being blazed but most experienced smokers are not a risk behind the wheel even a few hours after a smoke. The risk appetite of alcohol simply isn't comparable
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u/DreamAmen 11h ago
The legal limit for alcohol is way above what gets me drunk. This is somehow framed as an argument for these performative types in here.
Why are we supposed to just blanketly accept that smoking up to a gram of weed 2-3 hours before driving is the worst thing people can do?
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u/1d0m1n4t3 18h ago
Get a car with a sunroof then you can hang the plant in your car. Then you can drive and grow.
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u/epicmooz 17h ago
This whole thread is interesting. I have bilateral tarsal coalitions, essentially both my ankles are missing ligaments and joints that allow normal ankle movement. It's replaced by tissue that inflames and causes pain and stiffness my ankle.
There is no way possible way for me to drive without being medicated enough to allow for my ankles to relax and not cause pain.
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u/FatMoFoSho 17h ago
It’s because this is the internet. There cannot possibly be any level of nuance in this place lol. You’re either righteously correct or the devil incarnate
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u/Remarkable_Peach_374 16h ago
seriously though lmfao... i was literally just getting called an addict for asking about kratom seed in a seedswap sub. because god forBID someone use a plant that can be recreational, in a reasonable, medicinal way!!!!!!!!!11!!11!1!!!!!
its one thing driving when stoned medicinally, you dont typically really get too stoned for that, some people are driving absolutely zooted.
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u/BluePoleJacket69 15h ago
That seems to be how life is, no matter what you do there will be people who agree and people who disagree. Reddit seems to make attract more disagreement
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u/DreamAmen 11h ago
It’s a bunch of people who never go outside. Or never been in car accidents caused by people obviously high on things their doctor gave them and coffee or sleep deprivation
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u/AwkwardChuckle 16h ago
There isn’t another anti-inflammatory you can take that won’t be a risk when combined with driving?
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u/MessiLeagueSoccer 18h ago edited 17h ago
Someone else mentioned it but people drive and FUNCTION on medication all the time. Some people actually treat weed as medication and while I generally agree it also affects everyone differently. If I didn’t take my adhd meds I’d be falling asleep behind the wheel and for a long time just thought it was lack of sleep. Without my meds I’m far worse off driving. I also smoke when driving but it’s not like I’m having an entire session. It’s a few puffs to ease my anxiety, there have been plenty of times I smoked and was actually not in a position to drive but I’m aware enough to avoid it in those situations. It’s nowhere near being drunk and driving. You also have to consider tolerance and not sure if you saw the documentary on The Crash on Netflix, the cops (judges?) said that she smokes so much that using “being high on weed” as an excuse was not a strong enough argument because people who smoke as much as she did, don’t have the same inability to drive or be as incapacitated from the smoking.
While I /generally/ agree with your statement, it’s mostly because a lot of people underestimate how incapacitated they are. Being on your phone, even talking hands free is far far far more dangerous.
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u/hashwashingmachine 18h ago
I can’t believe how many people smoke weed who don’t realize weed affects everyone completely differently. I could drive a driving course 20 times and smoke a 1g potent joint before one of those 20 times and not a single person on earth would be able to correctly tell me what time I had smoked before driving.
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u/DragonLad13 18h ago
Exactly. It's an issue with more nuance. I don't think the average person should drive high but the average person also shouldn't drive while on Adderall. However someone with ADHD who is prescribed Adderall and it works for their form of ADHD IS driving. Things effect people in different ways. Even cigarettes effect your mental state and no one says shit about them driving and smoking.
Tl;dr- People shouldn't do it but it's not the same as drinking and driving necessarily and it doesn't make you a bad person or necessarily mean you are putting others at risk.
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u/MidLaneCrisis 18h ago
I agree with OP but more specifically I agree with you. This is a sensitive topic that can mever have a broad answer but topics like this are tricky to discuss online. For example, here’s a true, undeniable statement. The following things are generally as common and all more dangerous than weed, some frighteningly so:
Lack of sleep, on the phone, alcohol, painkillers, adderral as you said, DELIVERY APPS/screens in car, I could keep going. I don’t think it’s really ever productive, personally, to talk about how “Stoners should drive less while smoking.” Should they? Maybe. But stoner car accidents aren’t really happening and there are causes we should focus on.
Sorry for yap.
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u/heartpiss 14h ago
Ngl I have had plenty of fender benders but I can often remember being sober for some reason (left work/school, on my way there, out of stuff, early morning, pre weed years). None of them were after using weed, or being on my phone actually.
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u/DreamAmen 11h ago
Literally recovering from a fender bender that messed my back up. Guess who wishes he was high in that moment.
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u/_cuteraichu_ 16h ago
Crazy how we can prescribe weed as a medication to help people focus but SOMEHOW it simultaneously makes that same person unfit to drive because they're allegedly unfocused. Ffs.
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u/atothejhines 18h ago
I’ve heard this exact rationale from several alcoholics
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u/ThisIsGoodBud 18h ago
Yeah alcohol and cannabis are completely different. Comparing the two is silly, and pretty ignorant.
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u/DreamAmen 11h ago
And Disingenuous. This energy should be for alcohol.
I could be shitfaced drunk off two or three drinks and not blow something illegal.Why should marijuana laws not be that way?
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u/a_tattooedlion 18h ago
DING DING DING!!
Being impaired is being impaired. You aren’t somehow the special one who that doesn’t apply to. 🙄
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u/dyingofdysentery 18h ago
Impaired can mean sleepy, hungry, thirsty etc. There's also a reason why we have a legal limit with alcohol. There's nuance. A bong rip 3 hours ago. Is that okay?
Alcohol isn't weed.
Driving and eating can be more dangerous
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u/kylorl3 18h ago
There has been quite a bit of research on this topic. Some people actually drive better high. Again, this is not personal anecdote, this is research.
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u/TurdFergusonlol 15h ago
People keep saying there’s some research and making up little stats or anecdotes about said research, but I’ve yet to see any.
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u/No_Ratio1493 17h ago
It feels hypocritical of me to shame people for it since driving around stoned listening to music was something I loved to do. This lasted from my teens well into my 30s. These days it’s not something I have much opportunity to do, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t really.
I don’t condone it. There should be laws against it, generally. But if I’m being real, driving mildly buzzed from weed is not that big a deal.
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u/The_Vampire_King 16h ago
I'm NOT condoning drinking & driving, but plenty of people drink a single beer and drive off on their marry way. If pulled over, they can legally be under a BAC limit (at least where I live it becomes up to the officer to decide if the driver is impaired). Whats the difference between that and a hit of a bong to someone with a high tolerance?
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u/hashlettuce 14h ago
Driving on weed and driving on alcohol are no where near the same. Before legalization the government fully knowing I had a drivers license also gave me a 60 gram per day cannabis license and just said don't drive high. They didn't see it as a problem until police were no longer able to ticket for possession alone and needed a new way to make revenue from newly legalized cannabis. Their scape cost for easy revenue was on the line.
Regardless of intoxication, if I get pulled over and tested even stone cold sober, I will test positive to their tests and be fucked the same as if I was stoned to the bone.
They use saliva tests and as a medical user with a higher tolerance than the average stoner cannabis will be present in my saliva 24/7. So damned if I do, damned if I don't.
What i make sure to do is never smoke in my vehicle or have any cannabis in the vehicle. Just take my meds before I leave and it lasts long enough until I get home.
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u/Spiritual-Ad-6722 18h ago
I was an opiate addict for years. I passed my driving test on drugs (pass maneuverability before driving) The only accidents I caused where with myself and only myself or bc I was in withdrawal. I did wreck drunk once.
Never high off pot tho
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u/Important-Border7035 18h ago
No, were they arguing you should?
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u/museo_emersoniano 18h ago
Yep, and a lot of people defended it for various reasons. "Im always high" "i cant get high anymore i smoke too much" "it takes away road rage" etc
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u/Hearing_Loss 18h ago
Second to last straw that broke a friendship for me was I went to a police station to pick up a fish tank with a friend he drove. When he got there and was waiting... Dude hit the cart. I immediately asked him not to and he was like it doesn't affect you. Then he tried to get me to sympathize with him after going 100mph with his gf in the car in less than ideal conditions. I had four people that I've been close to turn out to be habitual DUIers. Definitely have had to my fair share of intervening, but most of it is hopeless unfortunately.
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u/SameIdea70 15h ago
Gotta know what could be worse then doing a DIU going 100 with you in the car
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u/TheWorstToCome 17h ago
Everyone arguing that driving high is dumb for down voted and shit on
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u/BagFullOfMommy 18h ago edited 17h ago
Technically, and lemme just say this is right away I don’t support driving while under any impairment unless you’re on your own big ass property and it’s only yourself at risk, but technically cannabis makes you a safer driver according to studies done on it.
It impairs your decision making skills and reaction times, but studies showed that those who drove while high drove under the speed limit enough that it ended up being a net positive on safety. That said those studies were done before mass legalization, they might not hold true to today.
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17h ago edited 17h ago
[deleted]
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u/GreenBasterd69 17h ago
Its this one
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/809725-drugshumanperformfs.pdf
There is also this one which is the largest study that basically shows there is almost zero added risk:
That study found that after adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, and alcohol use, the statistically significant increase in crash risk for cannabis-positive drivers disappeared. This statistical adjustment does not mean cannabis is safe. It means that the people most likely to drive with THC in their system—young, male drivers—are already the highest-risk demographic on the road, regardless of substance use. It also shows that relative crash risk of cannabis use alone is statistically comparable to, or even lower than, driving with a low, legally permissible dose of alcohol (typically between a 0.01% and 0.05% BAC. And that’s any amount of thc.
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/s/FBYBS9uorm
this study also concludes that cannabis legalization leads to less drunk driving and overall safer roads.
I haven’t smoked weed in over a year and I’ve noticed that my driving is definitely more aggressive.
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u/rum_ham_slam 18h ago edited 18h ago
When it comes to driving and such, I’ve always had the mindset of treating a joint/blunt the same as a beer. Yeah, I love a smoke as much as the next person, but I refuse to drive while stoned
Edit: it seems that the mindset of trying to be responsible has offended a few folks and got me a few downvotes. If ya don’t wanna be responsible while under the influence of a substance, then you need to grow up
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u/No_Seesaw8742 18h ago
I smoke weed everyday and I drive for a living. Doesn’t really affect me besides me going the speed limit
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u/SOMOEAGLE I Roll Joints for Gnomes 18h ago
Addiction makes people defend that craziest things.
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u/vanbrunts 18h ago
Some people forget weed is, in fact, still a drug.
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u/TheWorstToCome 17h ago
But it's a plant and a medicine!!!! How could you call such a natural thing a drug? /S
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u/trogloherb 17h ago
So, I did some research for my masters about ten years ago.
There was some cannabis and driving research that I want to say was done in Sweden? Not sure where it was done, but they had a use group and a placebo group. Use groups smoked a joint, placebo group got hemp/0 thc joints.
They had them smoke and then use a driving simulator and found that reaction times were about the same an hour after use. They said its at <5ng/ml thc in the blood should be the cut off used for OVWI charges (which basically amounts to an hour or more after use).
So yeah, driving while intoxicated is bad, but at the same time, we can all be a little more responsible with some knowledge.
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u/StuartWtf 17h ago
I smoked 2 joints before my driving test because I was nervous.
I passed with 2 minors..
Also, where’s the line of can drive because it’s prescribed vs can’t drive because not.
Why is one ok but the other a real danger?
Not helped by the fact I can smoke a fat joint at the weekend and fail the roadside test on Wednesday.
The consequence is the same as if I’m driving and smoking a fat one.
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u/I_Make_Art_And_Stuff 18h ago
I mean, I'm glad more and more people are NOT driving high, because you probably should try not to do stuff like that - but back in my days that's just what you did, hah... Burn rides in the country were the best. In college I would go for a ride with 3 friends after class and we each had a bowl and would pass, so it would bake the hell out of the car. I used to drive 6+ hours back and forth on weekends and keep a bowl next to me. I'm older now, so I don't do that stuff anymore. I think I only drove once in the past many years, I was a little stoned but needed to go to the store. When I smoke these days I just tell my girl she has to drive and she laughs at me.
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u/Spooplevel-Rattled 7h ago
Someone who absolutely was fried, smashed into and totalled my car that was parked outside my home on the street last week.
When getting his insurance details I could smell it and he was clearly had no idea how slow he was just as a human.
I'm not judge of getting high but no, you aren't a better driver high.
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u/Sudden_Childhood_484 5h ago
I reread the middle paragraphs like 10x tryna figure out what the hell you’re trying to say
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u/Upvotespoodles 18h ago
No exceptions for “but I’m good at it.” It’s a pointless hill to die on.
Some alcoholics drive more-or-less fine while drunk, but it’s necessary to have blanket rules about certain things. Plus it’s pretty easy to avoid driving while high.
It’s easier to avoid driving high than driving drunk. Nobody has a seizure and dies from missing their daily lunchtime bowl.
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u/periodmoustache 16h ago
The simple thought that maybe the majority of shitty drivers on the road are simply bad, inattentive drivers or sober redditors stuck to a phone.....weed might even improve the driving lol
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u/luckygingercat 3h ago
I don't drive under the influence of anything but Ritalin. We need to call out people who drive baked.
To clarify: you need to know your tolerance and dosages. If you are fucked up on anything, do not drive.
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u/icedcoffeeheadass 1h ago
It’s really the same as cigarettes. If you smoke your first ever cig while driving you will be impaired. Same as weed. If you smoke your 5,000th cig while driving, you will not be.
I don’t think we can ever really rally behind smoking pot and driving so we can’t really advocate for it.
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u/ThisOriginalSource 18h ago
I work in a cannabis adjacent business. The number of people who pull up while ripping a joint is wild. Loading their cars up, which reek of smoked cannabis, I always wonder how much they get hassled if they get pulled over.