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  • Driving

    Marijuana smokers are divided as to whether they should drive when high, and marijuana researchers are divided as to whether doing so is dangerous. Long-distance driving is popular with many smokers, especially if the car is equipped with a good sound system. Many smokers report that although they are capable of driving well when they are high, they prefer not to, because they have to concentrate so hard on the driving that all the enjoyable parts of the high are used up.
        Is it safe to drive under the influence of marijuana? There is no clear answer; it depends most of all on the driver's past experiences with smoking and with driving. On the surface, the issue seems clear: normal use of marijuana can produce distortions in perception and impairment of cognitive functions and short-term memory. But the real answer seems to depend more on the user than on the drug. An important experiment was conducted several years ago by Alfred Crancer, chief of research at the Department of Motor Vehicles for the State of
    Washington. Crancer's research team used a series of driving simulator tests, having previously shown that the simulator provided an accurate assessment of a driver's performance and ability. The team demonstrated that there was no significant difference in driving performance between subjects who had smoked marijuana and those who had not. A parallel test with the same group of subjects indicated that six ounces of whiskey led to considerable driving difficulties.
        But there is a catch: all of the subjects recruited for the study were experienced marijuana smokers, and it is well known that smokers generally teach themselves to compensate for being high while they are driving. With alcohol, only a certain amount of compensation is possible, but since marijuana has no significant action on the lower brain centers, with practice a marijuana user's degree of compensation can reach 100 percent.
        A more recent study by Harry Klonoff concludes that smoking marijuana has a detrimental effect on driving skills and performance in a restricted driving area, and a more serious detrimental effect on regular city streets. At the same time, some of the subjects in Klonoff's study actually improved their driving performance while on marijuana.
        So long as the issue is further clouded by the tendency of some smokers (generally men) to brag about their ability to drive well on marijuana, it will remain unresolved. To hear some smokers tell it, marijuana usually improves driving ability. While this may happen on occasion, it is still the exception, not the rule.
        A potentially beneficial result of marijuana on driving is its tendency to relax the driver.
    Murray tells of having to navigate through the streets of Boston under difficult circumstances:

    When I lit up a joint, there was no sign of snow, but suddenly it started coming down very heavily, and I had to go out. At first I thought of not going, but I decided to give it a try. I was nervous but I soon concentrated on driving, and decided to go with my stoned energy, rather than trying to fight it. I don't know if I actually drove better, although it certainly felt that way. I do know that I drove in a more relaxed way, without lessening my hard concentration on the difficult drive. It was an odd combination for me, this sense of relaxed concentration, and it helped me be confident that I would do all right. In fact, the drive went smoothly; I drove slowly and well, and I got there without any problem.


        Stoned drivers have a tendency to drive slowly and cautiously to compensate for their condition, and there is a joke from the 1960s that the easiest way for the police to arrest all the marijuana smokers at once is to round up everybody under thirty driving fifty miles per hour or under in the right-hand lane of the highway on a Saturday night.
        Smokers who enjoy driving stoned point out that it provides constant visual excitement: roadside scenes become interesting, and traffic lights on a rainy evening are positively glowing with color. On the other hand, there are smokers who worry about getting lost or having an accident:

    I don't like to drive when I'm stoned, because I become too careful, stopping at every corner and looking at signs until my neck muscles hurt. When I'm stoned, I can't drive and navigate at the same time, and if I'm alone in the car, it can be difficult.

     

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