From Stoned to Medicated Driving
On the last post Stoned Driving: degree and experience. I dug into my early memories of driving under #MJ from the 60s and 70s when I was still at UM. Except for my X-country excursions and a few road trips trips, I have not driven under the influence of herb in many years.
Since I still live in a non-legal state my current practice is to never use cannabis in my car in any form. At this point I work from home thus have no commuting trips, hence no temptation to indulge after work on my homebound trip.
That said, current new #MMJ patients have more complex issues than I to deal with, so I’ve put my thinking cap on to help them develop some guidelines to keep them out of trouble with the law
NIH notes several important facts
- Impairment via Cannabis is a function of dose.
- Experienced Cannabis users learn to compensate for the impairment
- Alcohol greatly increases accident risk when mixed with Cannabis.
- Stoned drivers tend to be cautious and often drive slower (my addition).
- Alcohol type breathalyzers wont reveal anything useful.
My Guidelines
- Use the “2 hr. rule” i.e wait 2 hr. after medicating before driving
- NEVER mix Cannabis with Alcohol before driving.
- Since you may think you are more impaired that you are, remain calm and focus only on the road.
- Keep any Cannabis supplies out of site to avoid a “probable cause” search.
- If possible add CBD to your Cannabis dose to help reduce impairment.
- If you get “red eyes”, remember to keep some viscine handy.
- If traffic stopped, be extra polite to the police.
- For smoker’s “weed breath” some breath mints make sense.
These guidelines only apply to patients who need to drive occasionally after medicating. If you are a recreational user in a party mode, order a Uber of Lyft ride share. It’s a very cheap insurance policy for party folks!