A growing number of high school seniors are getting into cars after smoking pot, or with someone who has, a distressing trend that reflects misperceptions about the dangers of marijuana.
An estimated 28% of high school seniors reported riding in a car within the past two weeks with a driver who had used drugs or alcohol, or said they had driven after using drugs or alcohol themselves. While driving after drinking has declined in recent years, driving after use of marijuana has increased from 10 percent in 2008 to 12 percent in 2011, according to the Monitoring the Future project.
“A higher percentage of students reported driving after using marijuana than after having five or more alcoholic drinks,” the researchers wrote in a report published in the American Journal of Public Health. “We don’t have any good degree of impairment,” O’Malley said. “It’s almost impossible to say what the level of marijuana in your system is.”
The study, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found it didn't matter where the students lived. The increases in marijuana use were the same in four geographic regions.
“I’m very concerned, when you do the math, which we did," Wallace says. "That means of 13 million driving age teenagers, as many as 3 million impaired teenagers may be on the road.”
“That’s a problem,” Wallace added, particularly with the disturbing tendency of teenagers who say they don't think pot is a problem with driving.
“It’s a real call to action for parents, they need to get young people to hold the line on the legal drinking age and know what constitutes safe driving behind the wheel.”
Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/high-cars-more-high-school-seniors-hit-road-after-smoking-8C11140131
Do you think that all impaired driving should be illegal? Should science teams find a way to measure what level of marijuana your system is?
Replies
Great job on both of your forum posts Maddie!
i think that impaired driving should be illegal to an extent. like with alcohol you're alcohol level can be .08 so they should find a way to measure the amount of pot and other drugs in people's systems and create a level at which it is still legal to drive.
Yes I believe that it should be illegal. It is not only putting our lives in danger, but their friends, and their selves.
If scientists find a way to measure how much is in their system, how bad should the punishment be? Should it be the same punishment as drunk driving?
I really think that driving impaired should be illegal. It is very similar to drinking and driving. Driving high is pretty much the same percentage as driving while drunk to getting in a wreck. And yes I think science teams should find a was to measure on what level of marijuana your system is. That would be very helpful.
What about the funds to find a way to measure the marijuana? You would think it would get very costly. Do you really think it's worth it?
I think driving impaired should be illegal. Although driving high in my opinion and from what I know isn't as bad as being intoxicated by alcohol you still shouldnt be driving when high.
I've heard that driving high is just as bad as being intoxicated, maybe worse.
Either way, you shouldn't be driving under the influence at any time.
I think that impaired driving should be illegal because it makes you not 100% aware of what is going on around you.
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