Is Marijuana Impair Driving?

It is against the law to drive under the influence of marijuana. It was always assumed that cannabis like alcohol impaired perception, coordination, reflexes and the sentence for the safe operation of a motor vehicle. And of course there were government studies have been concerned with the question: Does marijuana affect driving?

It is interesting but not the results are not necessarily popular belief ....

On the one hand, the CaliforniaDepartment of Justice has found that marijuana affects undoubtedly psychomotor skills that are going to be functionally and driving skills may be impaired, particularly at high doses or do in inexperienced users. "Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study", California Traffic Safety Project No. 087902 (September 1986).

Opposition to these conclusions are, however, two studies by the federal government. The U.S. Department of Transportation conducted studies ina fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone or in combination, driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol consistently found and lead to a significant impairment, marijuana had an occasional effect. Also, there was little evidence of interactions between alcohol and marijuana. Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but not marijuana and alcohol together marijuana effect observed. "The effects of alcoholDriver-controlled behavior in a driving simulator, Phase I ", DOT-HS-806-414.

A recent report titled "Marijuana and the actual performance," DOT-HS-808-078, noted that "THC is not a deeply affecting drugs .... It does seem to controlled information processing in a series of laboratory tests, but not the extent required to be controlled on the ability of the individual, if he is motivated and permitted to do so to speed "on.

The study concluded that: "... An importantpractical objective of this study was to determine, whether the degree can affect the ride, either actually measured concentration of THC in plasma or performance potential measured in the street at the "sobriety" tests of tracking ability or hand and posture stability predicted . The results, like many other previously noted that none of these measures accurately calculates changes in the actual performance under the influence of THC ...".

The researchers found that it seems "impossiblesomewhat close, the impairment of a driver on the basis of plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample. "Note:" THC "stands for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in the heady marijuana. THC is fairly quickly the body into inert metabolites, which is in the body for hours or even days of stay can be converted. It these metabolites that police blood tests in DUI arrests detect and measure.

In other words: (1) marijuna notDriving at all, and (2) The blood "evidence" only measures an inactive substance, it was possibly for days.