American Journal of Epidemiology has published a study linking fatal automobile crashes with marijuana.
This is confirmed by Colombia University:
"Currently, one of nine drivers involved in fatal crashes would test positive for marijuana," said co-author Dr. Guohua Li, director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia. "If this trend continues, in five or six years non-alcohol drugs will overtake alcohol to become the most common substance involved in deaths related to impaired driving."
One in five are drunk. That's why the article states that the increasing trend means that, in five to six years, marijuana-impaired driving will result in more traffic fatalities than alcohol. Alcohol-related accidents involving fatalities have decreased over the last ten years, while marijuana-related accidents invovling fatalities have doubled in the same time.
There is no reliable way to test if someone is impaired. You can test for past use, but not within 2 days of the test. A person who smokes pot won't have that show up in his/her system before the effects wear off.
Marijuana stays in the system for 30-45 days, it being fat-soluble rather than water-soluble as are other drugs. It gets stored in the fat cells. Concentrations can reasonably be expected to register higher the closer one is to most recent use, but you're right, there isn't, at this time, a totally reliable test for recent usage. However, the presence of marijuana in the system at any level is indicative of impairment. It just can't be determined to what extent. Obviously, at the far end of a 30-day cycle without use, impairment is going to be infinitesimal.
Nah, not even close. You haven't gone over to the "dark side" yet. :laugh:
Suppose I am very drunk while (say 1.2).
I am drivng down the street
- I (fully*) stop at a stop sign - look and proceede - This#Dc - who as a good Baptist has never had a drop of booze pass his lips -
runs the 4 way stop sign - and hits me in my rear door as I am passing thur the intersection.
Would this be considered an alchol related collision
YES - even though I was not at fault - but because I had too much to drink - it is officaly noted as an alcholic related collision.
How many here have gotten a prescription for a medication from their doctor with the warning "do not drive or operate machinery while taking this medication"?
How many here disregarded that warning and drove to work and operated machinery?
I hope you mean ".12" -- alcohol poisoning sets in somewhere between .43 and .50, and you die. "1.2" means you'd have more alcohol than blood in your system. Unless you were embalming yourself, I don't think that's possible. :thumbsup:
Uh ... not so much. :laugh:
And you're absolutely right, and guess what? Salty is going to jail. Sorry, Salty.
Why should it not be so classified? You're found to be a driver involved in an accident and can be proven to have been drinking to excess. Can you be absolutely certain that your inebriated state had nothing to do with the accident? Could it be you thought you stopped but coasted through, instead. Could it be thought it to be a four-way stop, but in reality only those bound in either direction on your street were required to stop? Are you sure you even saw a stop sign with a .12 BAC?