Would you drive drunk or high?
By paperchaser
@paperchaser (503)
Canada
January 29, 2007 8:59pm CST
I know that alcohol significantly decreases a persons reactions while driving or operating machinery. Therefore I would never get behind the wheel in a car after a drinking session. However, science has proven the effects of marijuana on a person who has smoked a small amount will actually have a heightened sense of awareness, and result in a person driving a vehicle with more caution. I am not saying that smoking marijuana and driving is in any way right, first of all it is illegal, but smoking less than the amount that gets people tripping does actually increase the intergrity of ones driving. Smoking more pot than that would obviously result in the same as drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. What do you think? Lets have a civilized discussion on the effects of marijuana and alcohol on ones mind and body while operating or driving a vehicle. I almost always driving with a buzz, and never have gotten myself in an accident that resulted in my wrong doing. I have never driven drunk, or very high out of my mind.
9 people like this
29 responses
@hitzphillygirl (1235)
• United States
30 Jan 07
Absolutely not. Anyone who does that is just an idiot. And that's putting it nicely.
2 people like this
@paperchaser (503)
• Canada
30 Jan 07
Why are they an idiot? Can you give more detail than just that. I fully requested intellegent answers and not quick one line answers sharing minimal thought and effort put in.
1 person likes this
@beautifulceiling (1300)
• United States
1 Feb 07
paperchaser, I'm not quite sure how you feel. Please don't hold back. Tell us what you're really thinking. :)
1 person likes this
@paperchaser (503)
• Canada
1 Feb 07
ahh you know what, I stated what I think in the opening paragraph of this discussion. End of Discussion, I am tired of debating who is an idiot and who is not.
1 person likes this
@sureshmoe (974)
• India
30 Jan 07
I'm not having the habit of drinking and smoking. As said by u above is a real true information about the drink. Yes..the drinking has the harmfull effect on our body especially to intestines and to brain...i always suggest to all to avoid the drinking and smoking....Statutory Warning:"Smoking and Drinking is injurious to health of the human body".
2 people like this
@magdollars23 (1685)
• United States
31 Jan 07
I wouldnt drive drunk or high mostly because I dont get drunk and I dont smoke. But even if I did I wouldnt drive that way because you are putting other peoples lives in danger. If you choose to get high or get drunk and you want to put someones life in danger it should only be yours and you shouldnt put someone else in danger.
1 person likes this
@misskatonic (3723)
• United States
30 Jan 07
The problem with that is oftentimes they will be *too* cautious. They drive too slowly, slow down long before a turn, and will stop much sooner than they should for a stoplight. I know that small amounts of weed do increase awareness - I'm a frequent smoker of the stuff - but the world is still surreal and altered. I'd never, ever do anything even if I'd just had a small amount of the stuff.
1 person likes this
@paperchaser (503)
• Canada
30 Jan 07
Thanks for the comment. I beleive though, that it entirely depends on the person, and while some people can act stupid on the substance, particular individials may loosen up in their driving and actually help them to drive better. Some people are very tense and cannot focus on road signs while sober, but with a little hint of weed these small things may increase an individuals ability to perform behind the wheel.
1 person likes this
@MrNiceGuy (4141)
• United States
30 Jan 07
I disagree. The science does not say that it improves your driving, just that the paranoia makes you more careful to follow the rules. That doesn't mean you won't forget a stop sign is comign up, or that you won't zone out going through a red light. I've personally done both, but I was paying attention to the road and no one was near me. Its effects on driving are negligible, but I wouldnt say they aren't there.
1 person likes this
@raine_eph (78)
• Philippines
30 Jan 07
I disagree to both of this,,always follow the golden rule if u drink do not drive and if you are high..go and get a nice nightout with someone
2 people like this
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
31 Jan 07
nope. driving while drunk or on a high not only risk your own life, you risk other people's lives too. personally, i don't care if drunkards or junkies choose to flush their lives down the drain, they can all drive off a cliff for all i care, it's their livea and their own choice to make. however, a drunk or high person shouldn't be allowed to play russian roullette with the lives of other people by driving while drunk or high.
1 person likes this
@cyntrow (8523)
• United States
31 Jan 07
I have, I must admit, when I was younger. But in this day, absolutely not. My husband and I generally go out together and if I drink he doesn't, and if he drinks, I don't. I my youth I was much more stupid. I believed as most young people do, that I was immortal and that it only happened to that other guy. with age comes maturity and with maturity comes wisdom. I know now that if I am drunk and get behind the wheel, I am putting my own life in jeoparday, but more importantly, I am putting the lives of every person on the road in jeopardy.
I do think that smoking pot makes you less likely to get into an accident. I remember in my pot days, my paranoia would cause me to drive 5 miles an hour and think I was speeding. Maybe this will get you rearended, but it won't cause you to crash into a family in a station wagon.
I'm not condoning pot use, but I'm not condeming it either.. Pot doesn't make you trip, by the way. It is not a mind altering substance, as acid and angel dust.
I really think that impaired driving is a young person's thing except for substance abusers. We old fogies(I'm only 37)take better care of other people's lives. If I, today were to get behind the wheel of a car and injure or god forbid kill someone, I would never be able to forgive myself. As a teen, I may have blamed them.
Just being honest.
1 person likes this
@shakadoodoo (737)
• Dallas, Texas
30 Jan 07
If you get high a lot and you have only smoked a little - no one should really be able to tell that you are high. Now a days people get high to get sober - so they can cope. I am not saying that is right but it is reality.
1 person likes this
@snowboard711 (2)
• United States
31 Jan 07
Hm.. The truth is i've never been high or drunk, but if i was driving, i would feel a lot more safe if people were neither high nor drunk. Even if it increases your awareness, why risk it? So many people are bad drivers even when there isn't something in their system that could potentionally inhibit their ability to drive. I just don't tihnk it would be a very good idea
1 person likes this
@sharon613 (2321)
• United States
30 Jan 07
Not unless I would want to mess up my life big time.
1 person likes this
@na2482 (423)
• United States
30 Jan 07
It's bad to say but yes, there has been plenty of times, were my friends and i were out and all of us had been drinking, the only person i trust behind the wheel of my vechile while i'm intoxicated is me. I have driven both way high and drunk, I'm not proud to say it, but i made it home safely everytime.
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
30 Jan 07
Not now I wouldn't. Not sure if I would have in my younger days. I did some mighty stupid things while drunk and/or high. Fortunately, I lived in the city then and did not keep a car so driving was not one of those things.
1 person likes this
@Sabertooth1234567890 (161)
• United States
30 Jan 07
No i wouldn't drive drunk or high and i don't think anybody with a brain would
1 person likes this
@tchris1645 (23)
• United States
30 Jan 07
well how fortuanate u are. i can honestly say that in my 54 yrs i have NEVER touch pot, its been offered but i have always been to scared of it.theres defiantely something wrong with it if its been marked illegall. weather u are high or drunk, u get behind the wheel and drive is against the law. if u dont look at what u could do to your self, then,consider the innocent people that this could effect.
how about the children that r hurt or killed,
or become orphans because of your habbits, or what about the elderly??the elderly are someones parents, someones brother, sister,
mother,etc.these children r someones children, a mother sufferes, a father, grandparents, brother sisters... becuase you made the choice to get behind the wheel.and drive. just becuase u havent gotten into an accident, doesnt mean its not gonna happen, and never say never. these r things that could happen besides u could be the child that a mother or father looses, becuase someone got behind the wheel drunk or high. ask yourself this,what if it was my child, mother father, grandparent, brother,sister,
and someone was driving drunk or high, and they killed them how would u feel??
1 person likes this