Danger of toking up, driving brought home to teens

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Dangers of toking up, driving brought home to teens

Tony Lofaro
The Ottawa Citizen

Ramin Shaji stopped driving with a longtime friend who was putting their lives in danger by toking up behind the wheel.

His friend was a heavy marijuana user whose driving habits had became more erratic and dangerous.

"I noticed that he would have a slow reaction to the traffic around him. When he had to turn, he would go into the other lane," said Mr. Shaji, 19, a student at the Adult High School, who used to ride to school with his 18-year-old friend. Yesterday, Mr. Shaji was one of 10 teens at Earl of March High School to launch Why Drive High?, a citywide campaign to dispel myths about marijuana use and driving.

The teenagers will hit schools to reinforce the message that heavy marijuana use, especially among drivers aged 13 to 25, is harmful.

Mr. Shaji said that at first, he thought his friend was drinking or taking other drugs, but then he saw how the steady use of marijuana affected his judgment on the road.

Mr. Shaji drifted apart from his friend, but not before he warned him about the dangers of smoking and driving.

"I realized all those times I could have been in a serious accident or could have probably died," he said, remembering the incidents from more than a year ago.

The Why Drive High? program, a collaboration with Ottawa Public Health and Carlington Community and Health Services, is funded by Health Canada. Its message will be told in five languages: English, French, Chinese, Arabic and Somali.

According to the 2005 Ontario Drug Use Survey, 20 per cent of drivers in Grades 10 to 12 drove a vehicle at least once in the past year within an hour of using marijuana.

And 22 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 said they had been a passenger in a car driven by someone who had been using drugs prior to driving.

Sobering statistics, but unfortunately the number of people being stopped for marijuana use has increased in recent years, OPP Const. Eric Booth said yesterday.

"On the R.I.D.E. program, it's pretty much guaranteed that someone driving up to the program has used drugs in the vehicles, mostly marijuana or hashish. They've been smoking in the vehicle prior to driving, or while they're driving," said Const. Booth.

He said there could be confusion among teenagers who believe that driving and smoking marijuana is not as serious as drinking and driving. He said he hopes this new awareness program will eliminate those myths.

He said "mixed messages" are going out to teenagers, especially with talk about decriminalizing marijuana, and with revelations that some politicians have tried marijuana.

In a short video made for yesterday's launch, Gregg Thomson, whose 18-year-old son, Stan, and four of his friends died in a drug-related crash on June 27, 1999, on Highway 7 near Perth, talked about the devastating effect the accident had on his family.

"As much as I wish, as much as I dream, I know I can't have him back," said Mr. Thomson, a former Ottawa resident who moved to Dallas last fall.

"One dream I do know will come true is that no other family will have to face the death of their child to drugs and driving. Initiatives like Why Drive High? give us this hope, puts us so much closer to realizing our dream," he said in the video.

In an interview, Mr. Thomson said the passage of time has not eased the pain of losing his son. He said the years since his son's death have been all about survival.

"You never get over it and I'm almost seven years into this now," said Mr. Thomson, 50, a former president of the Ottawa chapter of MADD.

"There are days like even this past weekend where you have moments and I feel like I'm right back into June of 1999."

Mr. Shaji said his relationship with his friend has improved, although they are not as close as they once were. He hopes the awareness program will speak to teenagers about abstaining from smoking marijuana before driving.

"I just want to reach out to one person, whether it's someone who is doing it, or a friend that knows someone who's doing it. If I can reach one person, it will help to have a ripple effect."

Contact: [email protected]

Ottawa Citizen @ http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...5-d721a3e198a1

Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Scientific Evidence


It is well established that alcohol increases accident risk. Evidence of marijuanaâ??s culpability in on-road driving accidents is much less convincing.

Although cannabis intoxication has been shown to mildly impair psychomotor skills, this impairment does not appear to be severe or long lasting. In driving simulator tests, this impairment is typically manifested by subjects decreasing their driving speed and requiring greater time to respond to emergency situations.

Nevertheless, this impairment does not appear to play a significant role in on-road traffic accidents. A 2002 review of seven separate studies involving 7,934 drivers reported, â??Crash culpability studies have failed to demonstrate that drivers with cannabinoids in the blood are significantly more likely than drug-free drivers to be culpable in road crashes.â?� This result is likely because subject under the influence of marijuana are aware of their impairment and compensate for it accordingly, such as by slowing down and by focusing their attention when they know a response will be required. This reaction is just the opposite of that exhibited by drivers under the influence of alcohol, who tend to drive in a more risky manner proportional to their intoxication.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5450


I know i drive a lot less aggresive if i am medicated by marijuana. I drove as a professional in the late 70's and through out the 80's taxi and tandem axle trucks with out any issues in the thousands of hours I drove medicated by marijuana.

Keith

P.S.
I emailed this exact same reply to [email protected]

Hey,

I know this will be a unpopular opinion but I do not care. Driving under the influence of anything is dangerous and presents harm to others. In order for us to fast track the legalization of marijuanna we must be safe responsible drivers and responsible citizens. Any intoxication when driving is not a good idea. Haveing said that blazing up almost anywhere else is a great idea! :rasta:

There is NOTHING imparing about driving high. It improves my reaction times. I'm a safeyer driver high than sober and that's the dead truth.

Worry about the DRUNKS out on the road and leave the stoners alone.

Weed inhanses the senses, Beer impares the senses.

I drive the same way when I'm toked up as when I'm sober. If anything, I'm more relaxed and don't worry about assholes on the road as much. Toke on!

I havent had any experience in this matter, but I think that if you smoke a small amount (1 bowl of sativa) before driving, then it may improve reaction times - however, smoking a bowl of indica before driving is just stupid. As everyone knows, indica makes you prone to couchlock - whilst sativa makes you more energetic.
Maybe scientists will do a study on the reaction times of people stoned on an indica compared to a sativa?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Calhoun

I drive the same way when I'm toked up as when I'm sober. If anything, I'm more relaxed and don't worry about assholes on the road as much. Toke on!

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ditto

Someone find the study that says "more information enters your head upon activation of the cannabinoid receptors", and the one that says that smoking Herb increases your reaction time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KanMan

In a short video made for yesterday's launch, Gregg Thomson, whose 18-year-old son, Stan, and four of his friends died in a drug-related crash on June 27, 1999, on Highway 7 near Perth, talked about the devastating effect the accident had on his family.

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Note how it says drug related....not cannabis related. Thats a cheap media trick...throwing that into the article/video about cannabis. I would like them to find evidence of cannabis related deaths... Not that I dont feel for the man and his family...

On a personal level I DONT like driving high...just not confident with it.