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My point is if you get high and are impaired for 8 hours then after 8 hours you should be able to drive. If you must wait 2 weeks after smoking to drive then it

by moe 16y ago

My point is if you get high and are impaired for 8 hours then after 8 hours you should be able to drive. If you must wait 2 weeks after smoking to drive then it's not exactly legal for most people. Well, the tests are not that precise (yet), but it's the same with alcohol. You may very well be tested positive if you had been drunk the day before. Imho that's just fair. If I want to smoke then leaving the keys at home for a few days seems reasonable. If I want to be a regular pot smoker then I shouldn't be driving anyways, as my reflexes are permanently reduced. I can attest to the latter from experience, as I used to smoke quite a bit for a while. The longterm effect on concentration and memory have been fairly small, but definitely noticeable.

Retric 16y ago
This is way out of my area of expert ease, but as I understand it alcohol tests are focused on the presence of alcohol because they are trying to see if someone is currently impaired. Pot tests are focused on metabolic waste products from Pot because the goal is to discover if someone has smoked in the past not if they are impaired. This is why at least one type of Pot test can get false positives from taking an over the counter pain killer as they both produce the same metabolic waste. Anyway, as a non smoker I assumed Pot like most drugs had a fairly short term effect, if you are impaired for 3-7 days then that's a separate issue I was not aware of.
- moe 16y ago
  Bit surprised about the downvotes (some pot fanatic around? ;-) ). FWIW, I've been smokin' quite a bit myself for a few years, I'm in no way against it. I think your reasoning is not correct. I think the quick-tests go for the metabolic waste simply because there is no other reliable test short of taking your blood. I've not been in the situation but I guess that blood test will take place before you actually lose the license, just like with alcohol. Anyways, like I said, I know what I was like when I was smokin' frequently and anyone who does will probably agree that your overall performance is slightly reduced even a few days after. For that reason I'm okay with not allowing people to drive during a reasonable timespan.

by moe 16y ago

Retric 16y ago

This is way out of my area of expert ease, but as I understand it alcohol tests are focused on the presence of alcohol because they are trying to see if someone is currently impaired. Pot tests are focused on metabolic waste products from Pot because the goal is to discover if someone has smoked in the past not if they are impaired. This is why at least one type of Pot test can get false positives from taking an over the counter pain killer as they both produce the same metabolic waste. Anyway, as a non smoker I assumed Pot like most drugs had a fairly short term effect, if you are impaired for 3-7 days then that's a separate issue I was not aware of.

moe 16y ago
Bit surprised about the downvotes (some pot fanatic around? ;-) ). FWIW, I've been smokin' quite a bit myself for a few years, I'm in no way against it. I think your reasoning is not correct. I think the quick-tests go for the metabolic waste simply because there is no other reliable test short of taking your blood. I've not been in the situation but I guess that blood test will take place before you actually lose the license, just like with alcohol. Anyways, like I said, I know what I was like when I was smokin' frequently and anyone who does will probably agree that your overall performance is slightly reduced even a few days after. For that reason I'm okay with not allowing people to drive during a reasonable timespan.