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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (713931)	11/18/2005 10:18:26 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Booze is a drug.... (And, people are all different... though I've known plenty of people who would use marijuana moderately... but become really obnoxious drunks at the drop of a hat.) Never seen a 'marijuana bar' fight yet either... but I've seen plenty of the other kind, and booze is one of the leading factors in highway deaths, assaults, etc., every year. --- The only comprehensive study of marijuana's affect upon actual driving practices that I'm aware of was a HUGE study conducted by Great Britain's national equivalent to our 'DMV' departments... and it was conducted just a few years ago. The results were a bit surprising, because the Highway Department expected to see conclusive proof of a danger from 'stoned' drivers. Quite unexpectedly, the study showed exactly the opposite... and with statistically valid percentages. The drivers under the influence of marijuana had fewer accidents then drivers not under the influence, fewer traffic citations. The researchers had to scratch their heads a bit to try to explain the results, but they finally came up with a plausible explanation that they thought might explain the results: their theory was that --- because the marihuana users were aware of their degree of impairment, they drove more cautiously, at over-all lower speeds, in an attempt to compensate. Consequently, they posted lower levels for accidents then the general population. (With ONE significant exception: first time users of marijuana has a slightly higher accident rate then the general driving population. Only the 'experienced' users, defined as those who had smoked marijuana more then two or three times, posted lower accident rates then the average population.) This result has not been demonstrated in any study of alcohol's effect upon driving that I'm aware of. Alcohol appears to uniquely loosen inhibitions... and drivers under the influence of any amount of alcohol show impairment in driving abilities, and higher accident rates --- as has been demonstrated in countless studies.