5 ms·

It should definitely be treated as more benign than alcohol. Cannabis not only doesn't impair you as much as alcohol (e.g. balance and coordination), it's also

It should definitely be treated as more benign than alcohol. Cannabis not only doesn't impair you as much as alcohol (e.g. balance and coordination), it's also much safer. The LD50 for alcohol is of the same order of magnitude as the amount you need to get blackout drunk. The LD50 for cannabis is orders of magnitude higher than the amount it takes to put you to bed. The exception here is probably with edibles. It would be far easier to OD on marijuana by ingesting concentrated edibles than it would be to OD on alcohol by ingesting shots. The irony is that edibles are probably a safer way to ingest cannabis (e.g. compared to smoking the flowers) assuming you take a normal dose.

dzhiurgis 8y ago
It really depends, but I feel less able to focus mentally with ANY weedover than DECENT hangover. Can feel effects even 2 days after smoking, not that they matter much more developing. Gathering client requirements day after smoking is near impossible. Not even sure why lethal dose matters here. Did you mean half life? Edit: cannabis half life is anywhere from 1 to 10 days. Considering caffeine's 5-6 hours and fact people usually stay away from coffee after 3PM - it's very realistic to feel cannabis for days after use.
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  This is your problem when you cannot use it responsibly. (E.g. dosage, some people are sensitive.) The employer can always just fire you for being unable to perform job duties regardless of cannabis laws, if it is a repeat incident. They cannot just use cannabis use alone or drug test results to make an argument. Interestingly enough, mildly drunk or hangover professional drivers routinely cause accidents which even sometimes kill people.
- anonytrary 8y ago
  The LD50 is pretty important if we're evaluating the safety of the drug, especially if it's easy to ingest that amount. > cannabis half life is anywhere from 1 to 10 days. Considering caffeine's 5-6 hours and fact people usually stay away from coffee after 3PM - it's very realistic to feel cannabis for days after use. The duration of psycho-effects is not the same thing as the half-life. The half-life of cannabinoids is not too important, as the compounds are absorbed by fatty acids and released slowly over time into the body. The actual high for a typical dose lasts a few hours; you might feel groggy for about a day, maybe two if you're an infrequent user. As for your personal experience, I know people who can function normally in conversation on weed. Personally, I can't, but other things like driving and coordination tasks are no problem for me.
  - arx1422 8y ago
    Downvote me to oblivion on this - I don't care. If you drive while high you are threatening the lives of others just for kicks. You don't want that blood on your conscience if something goes wrong. No your reaction times, focus, and judgement are not the same. They just aren't. I am not anti-marijuana by any stretch but there is a time and a place for it. Driving is not that time.
    - RepressedEmu 8y ago
      Have you ever driven without getting a full night's sleep? Wouldn't you consider that the same kind of offense since it reduces your reaction time and focus? I'd like to see some data on the increased risks of driving while under the influence of marijuana before I lump it in with alcohol but saying that ANY reduction in focus or coordination means you are a threat to other drivers doesn't seem rational as long as you are still above a minimum threshold.
      - arx1422 8y ago
        "Acute cannabis consumption nearly doubles the risk of a collision resulting in serious injury or death; this increase was most evident for studies of high quality, case-control studies, and studies of fatal collisions" - https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e536 https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e536 I don't hate weed. Quite the contrary! But the whole point of a smoke is to put you in a different place and that place is not conducive to the safety of those around you while steering two tons of metal at 70MPH. I'll take us off on a different and probably unpopular tangent - if you say that marijuana makes absolutely no difference to your baseline judgement, reflexes, focus, etc... then you might be hitting the pipe a bit too often (i.e., massive tolerance and habituation) and it's maybe time to consider scaling back.
grenoire 8y ago
"Cannabis not only doesn't impair you as much as alcohol (e.g. balance and coordination), it's also much safer." Safer, sure. But man, I can tell you many instances where I definitely took a good 40-IQ hit after smoking. Definitely impaired!
- schrodinger 8y ago
  To me, the difference is that with marijuana, you’re aware of the impairment more and tend to be more careful (eg not drive).
  - saiya-jin 8y ago
    Yeah weed makes you pretty docile too, the only exception I've seen are people with proper mental issues (and those should stay away from any mind-altering stuff). How many times have you seen drunken people get aggressive and start fights ie in bars, or do domestic violence? Stoners would just laugh hard and say something deeply incomprehensible to sober person
  - arcturus17 8y ago
    At least where I live - Spain - there are a good number of traffic accident deaths that test positive for cannabis [1]. Not as high as alcohol, but it's the number one illegal drug ahead of cocaine. [1] http://revista.dgt.es/es/noticias/nacional/2018/07JULIO/0723-Informe-Toxicologia.shtml#.XLBVSaZ9hQI http://revista.dgt.es/es/noticias/nacional/2018/07JULIO/0723...

dzhiurgis 8y ago

It really depends, but I feel less able to focus mentally with ANY weedover than DECENT hangover. Can feel effects even 2 days after smoking, not that they matter much more developing. Gathering client requirements day after smoking is near impossible. Not even sure why lethal dose matters here. Did you mean half life? Edit: cannabis half life is anywhere from 1 to 10 days. Considering caffeine's 5-6 hours and fact people usually stay away from coffee after 3PM - it's very realistic to feel cannabis for days after use.

AstralStorm 8y ago
This is your problem when you cannot use it responsibly. (E.g. dosage, some people are sensitive.) The employer can always just fire you for being unable to perform job duties regardless of cannabis laws, if it is a repeat incident. They cannot just use cannabis use alone or drug test results to make an argument. Interestingly enough, mildly drunk or hangover professional drivers routinely cause accidents which even sometimes kill people.
anonytrary 8y ago
The LD50 is pretty important if we're evaluating the safety of the drug, especially if it's easy to ingest that amount. > cannabis half life is anywhere from 1 to 10 days. Considering caffeine's 5-6 hours and fact people usually stay away from coffee after 3PM - it's very realistic to feel cannabis for days after use. The duration of psycho-effects is not the same thing as the half-life. The half-life of cannabinoids is not too important, as the compounds are absorbed by fatty acids and released slowly over time into the body. The actual high for a typical dose lasts a few hours; you might feel groggy for about a day, maybe two if you're an infrequent user. As for your personal experience, I know people who can function normally in conversation on weed. Personally, I can't, but other things like driving and coordination tasks are no problem for me.
- arx1422 8y ago
  Downvote me to oblivion on this - I don't care. If you drive while high you are threatening the lives of others just for kicks. You don't want that blood on your conscience if something goes wrong. No your reaction times, focus, and judgement are not the same. They just aren't. I am not anti-marijuana by any stretch but there is a time and a place for it. Driving is not that time.
  - RepressedEmu 8y ago
    Have you ever driven without getting a full night's sleep? Wouldn't you consider that the same kind of offense since it reduces your reaction time and focus? I'd like to see some data on the increased risks of driving while under the influence of marijuana before I lump it in with alcohol but saying that ANY reduction in focus or coordination means you are a threat to other drivers doesn't seem rational as long as you are still above a minimum threshold.
    - arx1422 8y ago
      "Acute cannabis consumption nearly doubles the risk of a collision resulting in serious injury or death; this increase was most evident for studies of high quality, case-control studies, and studies of fatal collisions" - https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e536 https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e536 I don't hate weed. Quite the contrary! But the whole point of a smoke is to put you in a different place and that place is not conducive to the safety of those around you while steering two tons of metal at 70MPH. I'll take us off on a different and probably unpopular tangent - if you say that marijuana makes absolutely no difference to your baseline judgement, reflexes, focus, etc... then you might be hitting the pipe a bit too often (i.e., massive tolerance and habituation) and it's maybe time to consider scaling back.

grenoire 8y ago

"Cannabis not only doesn't impair you as much as alcohol (e.g. balance and coordination), it's also much safer." Safer, sure. But man, I can tell you many instances where I definitely took a good 40-IQ hit after smoking. Definitely impaired!

schrodinger 8y ago
To me, the difference is that with marijuana, you’re aware of the impairment more and tend to be more careful (eg not drive).
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  Yeah weed makes you pretty docile too, the only exception I've seen are people with proper mental issues (and those should stay away from any mind-altering stuff). How many times have you seen drunken people get aggressive and start fights ie in bars, or do domestic violence? Stoners would just laugh hard and say something deeply incomprehensible to sober person
- arcturus17 8y ago
  At least where I live - Spain - there are a good number of traffic accident deaths that test positive for cannabis [1]. Not as high as alcohol, but it's the number one illegal drug ahead of cocaine. [1] http://revista.dgt.es/es/noticias/nacional/2018/07JULIO/0723-Informe-Toxicologia.shtml#.XLBVSaZ9hQI http://revista.dgt.es/es/noticias/nacional/2018/07JULIO/0723...