Pro-Cannabis Idea - may be old; may be new.

As I am sure everyone here is well aware, there have been no deaths reported as a result of marijuana overdose. This has been a proven impossibility.

However, during a morality presentation at my school last year, two students (both of whom became pro-legalization after their research) showing a study on violence in society delved in various drug statistics as a side mark in their presentation. They listed that 35 deaths were attributed to marijuana usage in the past 30 years in America (dont quote me on that number). They made clear that it was impossible to overdose and actually included the fact as a balance to the heavy numbers for alcohol, tobacco and several other illicit drugs; showing that in comparison it was extremely harmless.

I asked one of them later in what way these deaths were attributed to its usage and he admitted that although he found that statistic on a website, he could not recall what site it was nor the circumstances of these deaths.

Not knowing the source of these numbers, I ask anyone who may have heard a similar statistic to please clarify the validity and circumstances of these deaths...but especially if these numbers include automobile accidents that were said to have been caused by marijuana influence.

This is where I come in with this post. If these numbers DO include automobile accidents attributed to a marijuana-influenced driver, I have to say that this is not a statistic showing marijuana usage to be negative. Actually, quite contrary, I ask you to recall your last experience when driving high: I don't know how others' driving is affected when high, but personally I feel it is MUCH easier...

Propaganda tells us that marijuana impairs the reaction time necessary to properly navigate a vehicle...but personal experience tells me that marijuana influence is almost an autopilot for my vehicle. I am free to listen to music, talk to others in the car and lay back in memory and thought while my car sails smoothely and otherwise legally down the road. Driving becomes second nature.

Coming back to my statement that this statistic supports the idea that marijuana usage while driving is not negative, please now consider how many auto-accidents take place annually while completely sober. I don't have a statistic for this, but we can all assume the high number of these tallied up on every street in America....and we can also rightfully assume that this number far surpasses 35 on a daily basis...let alone over a 30 year period.

I would hope by now you can see my point. I'm not saying that this is any kind of proof as I've written it here; I'm posting this to form a sort of idea or research bin in this thread for anyone who can further explain the statistic I was given earlier and possibly produce a theory out of this. Even if the statistic in the end is false or not properly applied, I would hope that we can find several more in support of the idea that marijuana influence aids driving ability.

I don't know about you, but I could never imagine being the cause of a car accident when high...I am much too careful and meek in that state of mind to be the fault of a road incident.

PLEASE POST YOUR SUPPORT, STATISTICS, OR OTHER CLAIMS HERE.

I don't know if this is a new idea or something that's been tested several times before, but that's the reason I'm here in the first place. I just want to find out the truth in this matter. Thank you. :thumbsup:

No time to look up and cite specific articals...

There was a freight train/bus full of kids accident...attributed to the train operator being high on weed. Thinking it was was 20 or so years ago.

I'm fuzzy on the specifics, so don't quote me.

MJ and driving...thats all about the sort of high the driver has. If they're couch lock behind the wheel...yea, prolly a bit lazy and not even doing the speed limit. When a mental buzz...senses hightend sort of thing....driving is flat out pleasurable.

I totally believe marijuana can indirectly kill people. Get ripped enough and start laughing too hard at a joke and twitch the wheel of your car and head-on some other car, killing everyone in both cars. That kinda stuff. I cannot believe that marijuana has ever *directly* killed anyone though.

Vomiting would be my first bet - probably fell asleep and drowned in their own puke...

Shit, not a cool way to go.

Ok I found this:

"In Britain, official government statistics listed five deaths from cannabis in the period 1993-1995 but on closer examination these proved to have been deaths due to inhalation of vomit that could not be directly attributed to cannabis (House of Lords Report, 1998). By comparison with other commonly used recreational drugs these statistics are impressive."

Source: Iversen, Leslie L., PhD, FRS, "The Science of Marijuana" (London, England: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 178, citing House of Lords, Select Committee on Science and Technology, "Cannabis -- The Scientific and Medical Evidence" (London, England: The Stationery Office, Parliament, 1998).

Anyone who is a regular smoker is probably going to be capable of driving while high. It's something I find much easier to focus on while I'm high. Remember, your body can be tested, and metabolites from marijuana can remain in your system for at least a month, and you could've smoked in the previous week and be accused of being high at the time of the wreck :O

to delta9.....damn - that scenerio didnt even faintly cross my mind and i almost dismissed it as you joking until you showed sources for it. that would be the worst way ever to go....well. at least way up there.

and to markass...also damn haha. that would be lame as hell to get the situation spun like that from testing that doesnt properly show the problem. at the same time though, that could show some error in the statistics for non-fatal marijuana-linked car incidents...i guess thats one bright side.

thanks for your replies so far; as ive said, any input is great so to anyone reading this...feel free to toss down any knowledge or comments you may have.

Definately a less than stellar way to go.

Also I think MJ is involved WITH alcohol in a lot of other fatalities. So they can't say its an MJ death as such. Most people understand you can't OD but alcohol and MJ can be a strong combination and I think there must be some deaths linked in this way.

Still, we know the truth as far as MJ on its own is concerned - I mean 10,000 years of usage just can't be wrong - right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WaRuKaWa

As I am sure everyone here is well aware, there have been no deaths reported as a result of marijuana overdose. This has been a proven impossibility.

However, during a morality presentation at my school last year, two students (both of whom became pro-legalization after their research) showing a study on violence in society delved in various drug statistics as a side mark in their presentation. They listed that 35 deaths were attributed to marijuana usage in the past 30 years in America (dont quote me on that number). They made clear that it was impossible to overdose and actually included the fact as a balance to the heavy numbers for alcohol, tobacco and several other illicit drugs; showing that in comparison it was extremely harmless.

I asked one of them later in what way these deaths were attributed to its usage and he admitted that although he found that statistic on a website, he could not recall what site it was nor the circumstances of these deaths.

Not knowing the source of these numbers, I ask anyone who may have heard a similar statistic to please clarify the validity and circumstances of these deaths...but especially if these numbers include automobile accidents that were said to have been caused by marijuana influence.

This is where I come in with this post. If these numbers DO include automobile accidents attributed to a marijuana-influenced driver, I have to say that this is not a statistic showing marijuana usage to be negative. Actually, quite contrary, I ask you to recall your last experience when driving high: I don't know how others' driving is affected when high, but personally I feel it is MUCH easier...

Propaganda tells us that marijuana impairs the reaction time necessary to properly navigate a vehicle...but personal experience tells me that marijuana influence is almost an autopilot for my vehicle. I am free to listen to music, talk to others in the car and lay back in memory and thought while my car sails smoothely and otherwise legally down the road. Driving becomes second nature.

Coming back to my statement that this statistic supports the idea that marijuana usage while driving is not negative, please now consider how many auto-accidents take place annually while completely sober. I don't have a statistic for this, but we can all assume the high number of these tallied up on every street in America....and we can also rightfully assume that this number far surpasses 35 on a daily basis...let alone over a 30 year period.

I would hope by now you can see my point. I'm not saying that this is any kind of proof as I've written it here; I'm posting this to form a sort of idea or research bin in this thread for anyone who can further explain the statistic I was given earlier and possibly produce a theory out of this. Even if the statistic in the end is false or not properly applied, I would hope that we can find several more in support of the idea that marijuana influence aids driving ability.

I don't know about you, but I could never imagine being the cause of a car accident when high...I am much too careful and meek in that state of mind to be the fault of a road incident.

PLEASE POST YOUR SUPPORT, STATISTICS, OR OTHER CLAIMS HERE.

I don't know if this is a new idea or something that's been tested several times before, but that's the reason I'm here in the first place. I just want to find out the truth in this matter. Thank you. :thumbsup:

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good read, all true

now that i reread markass' post, i realized there is a little info in there thats also very important. i remember reading somewhere (possibly as a daily factoid on this very site) that a smoker can do any task just as well when high as they could sober as long as they get used to it in that mindset; it doesnt hinder your ability to perform, thus marijuana-influenced driving would at least be a MUCH safer scenerio than drunk driving...and at best (what this whole thread is about) could be SAFER than sober driving. just imagine if everyone on the road were high...DEFINITELY an end to road rage.

to captain hanks: thank you much for the support.

and to anyone else out there: have you guys noticed the thread i posted on here was the 420th posted in the Activism category? seemed very much worth mentioning haha. :smokin:

Well IMO, I think that smoking pot can definitely impair driving ability. It depends on the person, but even though I consider myself fully able to, I can understand the impairment factor.

But anyway, I'm suprised nobody has mentioned the fact that a good amount of people on the road smoking or high are only on the road high, because they are driving, looking for somewhere concealed to smoke, since marijuana is illegal. If it were made legal, perhaps this would help with this issue, but its not even like its a major issue now.

There's several studies that show marijuana has a very different effect than alcohol with regards to drving: alcohol makes you more reckless, pot makes you more tenative. I don't have the citations off the top of my head, but they're in the propaganda section of my site, sinsebility.com.

A single argument is not enough to convince an anti-pot person that legalization is right, though. It requires a complex and accurate education...

hey warukawa what song is that baseline to? i played it out on my guitar and it didnt sound like anything

only in dreams by weezer...thats been my signature since the day i joined the site. it used to be my favorite song/bass line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxEpqOp2w-0

im not promoting this video because ive never even watched it...but it should save you some time if you want to hear what the song sounds like; whatever this video is about is to that song, i just found it on youtube.

http://www.dea.gov/programs/forensic...ram/index.html