Photo: screenshot from Youtube
With Colorado and Washington states now allowing free marijuana consumption, the government raised a big question by comparing it with alcohol - how much are you allowed to have before driving a car?
Not that getting stoned necessarily makes you want to go anywhere than a comfy couch, but maybe you forgot to buy water and chocolate and the only 7-11 is a few miles away.
Well, the feds are currently conducting a study to see that. It started last year, when volunteers took part in the most comprehensive test to help regulators decide how stoned are you allowed to be while driving.
The subjects were given different combinations of marijuana and marijuana combined with alcohol, while the control group has been given a placebo. After using vaporizers to get high, all subjects were put to drive in the government’s most advanced car simulator for about 40 minutes.
Blood and saliva test samples were taken each time a subject got “intoxicated”. The tests ended this spring, with the federal scientists having now to analyze all the data and come up with a result, which is said to come in October, according to USA Today.
Currently, alcohol intoxication can be easily detected using breath analyzers, which in about a minute can approximate quite well the alcohol concentration a person has in his system. Same thing can’t be done for marijuana consumption, as the only test that can be done now is by blood analysis, which takes a few days to be completed and isn’t that accurate about the moment of consumption.
Colorado State Trooper J.J Wolff tells he hasn’t seen more stoned drivers since legalization. But there are some voluntary roadside tests to tell if one has smoked marijuana or not, like standing on one leg, walking in a straight line, check their sense of time passing or the ability to touch their nose with one finger while having their eyes closed.
"When it comes to cannabis, it's a lot trickier than when it comes to alcohol," Wolff says. "I can't tell you if one joint is going to make you high to the point where you can't drive. That's a really hard question to answer at this point. ... "The safest thing to do right now: If you are going to drink any amount, don't drive. And if you are going to consume any amount of cannabis, don't drive."
Well, the feds are currently conducting a study to see that. It started last year, when volunteers took part in the most comprehensive test to help regulators decide how stoned are you allowed to be while driving.
The subjects were given different combinations of marijuana and marijuana combined with alcohol, while the control group has been given a placebo. After using vaporizers to get high, all subjects were put to drive in the government’s most advanced car simulator for about 40 minutes.
Blood and saliva test samples were taken each time a subject got “intoxicated”. The tests ended this spring, with the federal scientists having now to analyze all the data and come up with a result, which is said to come in October, according to USA Today.
Currently, alcohol intoxication can be easily detected using breath analyzers, which in about a minute can approximate quite well the alcohol concentration a person has in his system. Same thing can’t be done for marijuana consumption, as the only test that can be done now is by blood analysis, which takes a few days to be completed and isn’t that accurate about the moment of consumption.
Colorado State Trooper J.J Wolff tells he hasn’t seen more stoned drivers since legalization. But there are some voluntary roadside tests to tell if one has smoked marijuana or not, like standing on one leg, walking in a straight line, check their sense of time passing or the ability to touch their nose with one finger while having their eyes closed.
"When it comes to cannabis, it's a lot trickier than when it comes to alcohol," Wolff says. "I can't tell you if one joint is going to make you high to the point where you can't drive. That's a really hard question to answer at this point. ... "The safest thing to do right now: If you are going to drink any amount, don't drive. And if you are going to consume any amount of cannabis, don't drive."
Google News