Sorry, I only got as far as 24 when my BS meter blew.
You’re absolutley right about search engines. Here is a cut and paste from NHTSA’s Drugs and Human Performance Fact Sheet:
Performance Effects: The short term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficultly in thinking and problem-solving, and loss of coordination. Heavy users may have increased difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing and using information. In general, laboratory performance studies indicate that sensory functions are not highly impaired, but perceptual functions are significantly affected. The ability to concentrate and maintain attention are decreased during marijuana use, and impairment of hand-eye coordination is dose-related over a wide range of dosages.Impairment in retention time and tracking, subjective sleepiness, distortion of time and distance, vigilance, and loss of coordination in divided attention tasks have been reported. Note however, that subjects can often “pull themselves together” to concentrate on simple tasks for brief periods of time. Significant performance impairments are usually observed for at least 1-2 hours following marijuana use, and residual effects have been reported up to 24 hours.
Effects on Driving: The drug manufacturer suggests that patients receiving treatment with Marinol® should be specifically warned not to drive until it is established that they are able to tolerate the drug and perform such tasks safely. Epidemiology data from road traffic arrests and fatalities indicate that after alcohol, marijuana is the most frequently detected psychoactive substance among driving populations. Marijuana has been shown to impair performance on driving simulator tasks and on open and closed driving courses for up to approximately 3 hours. Decreased car handling performance, increased reaction times, impaired time and distance estimation, inability to maintain headway, lateral travel, subjective sleepiness, motor incoordination, and impaired sustained vigilance have all been reported. Some drivers may actually be able to improve performance for brief periods by overcompensating for self-perceived impairment. The greater the demands placed on the driver, however, the more critical the likely impairment. Marijuana may particularly impair monotonous and prolonged driving. Decision times to evaluate situations and determine appropriate responses increase. Mixing alcohol and marijuana may dramatically produce effects greater than either drug on its own.
DEC Category: Cannabis
Seems to be current too :-)
“Seems to be current too :-)”
It seems that most of that is theoretical, as opposed to the cited studies which tested actual driver performance in the real world.
Given that cell phones have been shown to be as much of a detriment to driving as drunkenness (and thus significantly more than of a hazard than cannabis), do you support banning cell phone use while operating a motor vehicle? How about smoking tobacco while you drive? Eating? Carrying on a conversation with other passengers? Do you think remotely operated cameras in cars for government surveillance are a good idea? After all, they’d work better than the officers trying to peer through the window from another vehicle.
Personally I can’t wait for self-driven cars, but they look to still be a decade or so away. Actually flying cars and automation are a match made in heaven - no pedestrians and three dimensions to spread out the traffic.