# If you saw someone smoking pot while driving, would you do anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214 "2013-03-28T20:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Saraya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Saraya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saraya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/61 "2013-03-30T22:57:59Z")
These days? Nah, we’re too apathetic to the point where we actually let people enjoy their liberty for all the wrong reasons. I’d probably let them go and hope they crash and die - without hurting anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/62 "2013-03-30T23:04:14Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > I’d hope they crash and die. You sound disturbed. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/63 "2013-03-31T02:35:15Z")
I would do what I have done in the past. License plate, color make & model of vehicle. People in vehicle. Call 911. You want to kill yourself? Go make the NR.A. happy and buy a gun and blow yourbrains out. You do that near me? I do everything I can to get you arrested. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/64 "2013-03-31T04:31:14Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I recently saw a study that showed that high drivers are more careful and drive safer than sober drivers (proving the common joke/meme true). One way I hear it put, and can confirm anecdotally, is that stoned people know when they’re too high to drive, unlike drunks who think they’re fine to drive when they’re clearly not. Stoned people are aware how vulnerable, mortal, they are. When I used to drive high I was cautious, non-aggressive. When “normal” I was less so. Just recalled an acquaintance of mine, walking up to his car, stoned on acid, and saying, “Jeez I’m not drivin’ it as long as it looks like _that_.” ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/65 "2013-03-31T04:48:44Z")
For stoned people, it would seem like things such as overcompensation, paranoia and distractibility would all, to some varying degree, have negative effects on their driving performance. ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/66 "2013-03-31T06:51:26Z")
How many people have died or cause a death while driving due to the use of pot? ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/67 "2013-03-31T10:04:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > For stoned people, it would seem like things such as overcompensation, paranoia and distractibility would all, to some varying degree, have negative effects on their driving performance. For some it might seem so. But, seeming aside, is there any reason to assume that stoned people are - paranoid, distracted, overcompensating, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/68 "2013-03-31T14:39:16Z")
I wouldn’t bother. A casual pot smoker is much less of a danger than a drunk driver or someone texting or talking on the phone while driving. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/69 "2013-03-31T15:47:36Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > For some it might seem so. But, seeming aside, is there any reason to assume that stoned people are - paranoid, distracted, overcompensating, etc.? Based on this thread, it sounds like w… er, _they_… have good reason to be paranoid. Lots of crusaders out there, it seems, and some of them with deep-seated issues. ---
**Author:** ![SussieQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SussieQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SussieQ)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/70 "2013-03-31T16:14:55Z")
If you couldn’t smell it, you cannot know for sure what he was smoking. If you called the police, were you going to trail him until the police caught up with him? There are certain times when we should mind our business and this would be one of those times. Anyway, the police wouldn’t have wasted their time. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/71 "2013-03-31T19:00:39Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > For some it might seem so. But, seeming aside, is there any reason to assume that stoned people are - paranoid, distracted, overcompensating, etc.? Yes, those are often side effects of smoking marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/72 "2013-03-31T23:57:05Z")
Fair enough, of course that will apply to some. I’ve found though, that the paranoid, overcompensating, easily distractible set tend to self-exclude from this practice as the smoking fucks up their driving and the driving fucks up their high. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/73 "2013-04-01T02:32:37Z")
It’s always amusing when a bunch of fairly intelligent stoners meet up to talk about how the straights just _cannot understand_ how perfectly in control they are while stoned. Driving a car, taking care of their children, performing their jobs. All just perfect. No problem here. You want to stumble through your adulthood baked to the freakin’ gills, hey go for it. Go forth and party on, dudes. You get behind the wheel and you’ve become **MY PROBLEM** And you know what? Self-righteous drug abusers who are hurtling down the thruway at 68 mph don’t deserve a bleary-eyed friendly slap on the back. They deserve to have their licenses revoked and a nice short stay in jail. Unless they go and kill someone while under the influence. In which case they get the long haul. As a retired New York State EMT, my experiences are first-hand. Picking blood-spattered victims- alive and dead- out of wrecks as the direct result of pot and alcohol gave me a perspective that the party hardy stoners may hold in contempt but which is in fact more accurate and valid than their smoke-hazed justifications. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/74 "2013-04-01T04:49:31Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > It’s always amusing when a bunch of fairly intelligent stoners meet up to talk about how the straights just _cannot understand_ how perfectly in control they are while stoned. I would find that mildly amusing too, if I happened to come across such a conversation as you’ve described. > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > As a retired New York State EMT, my experiences are first-hand. Picking blood-spattered victims- alive and dead- out of wrecks as the direct result of pot and alcohol gave me a perspective that the party hardy stoners may hold in contempt but which is in fact more accurate and valid than their smoke-hazed justifications. I can well understand how that could make a dude bitter. You have, not my contempt, but my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/75 "2013-04-01T05:58:50Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > I would find that mildly amusing too, if I happened to come across such a conversation as you’ve described. > > I can well understand how that could make a dude bitter. You have, not my contempt, but my sympathy. Nicely done! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/76 "2013-04-01T13:51:01Z")
Oh boy, oh boy, he sure showed me !!! Nicely done? What, I should be impressed that Jerry Garcia over there showed a straight up? Arrogance and contempt. Please. Save your sympathy and save a few lives- yours included. Stay off the road if you are not in a state where you can safely operate your motor vehicle as defined by the state where you are licensed. If using pot does not alter your normal state of consciousness and alter any motor and neural responses, why use it? ( Please- don’t tell me every doper Doper here has a Medical Pot Card… :rolleyes: ). You use it for the same reason I did back when I was immature enough to do such things… in JR High and HS. To get stoned and enjoy the numbing detached out of control high. I get it. I do. Do whatever you want to. Just don’t do it while driving or in another situation where you could take someone else’s life. Or yours. ETA: You probably don’t realize this since the lines between fantasy and reality become deeply and sometimes permanently blurred after years of smoking pot, but the Dude is a ficticious character from the film The Big Lebowski. You want to refer to yourself as The Dude because it makes you feel some stoned sympatico with the performance delivered by Jeff Bridges. See, he’s real. The Dude is not. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/77 "2013-04-01T14:04:43Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > ETA: You probably don’t realize this since the lines between fantasy and reality become deeply and sometimes permanently blurred after years of smoking pot, but the Dude is a ficticious character from the film The Big Lebowski. You want to refer to yourself as The Dude because it makes you feel some stoned sympatico with the performance delivered by Jeff Bridges. See, he’s real. The Dude is not. 😕😕You do realize that \*\*The Big Lebowski \*\* was nominated for Best Documentary in 1998, right? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/78 "2013-04-01T14:05:22Z")
While tangential to the OP, this side dialogue feels like a hijack. Not my intention at all. Here’s the link to the BBQ Pit thread [that takes up the conversation that’s developing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16151530#post16151530) in the last few posts. My apologies to the OP’er for what may have seemed like a hijack. None intended. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/79 "2013-04-01T14:25:28Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I was waiting behind a car to enter a fairly busy, divided, 4-lane this afternoon and I noticed the driver of the car taking a hit off a pot pipe. (Yes, I’m sure.) He was pretty young and had a female passenger. He pulled out when it was safe and I proceeded on my way. I briefly thought about calling 311 and reporting him, thinking about the safety of other people, but I didn’t. I have no idea if he was impaired, but I feel the same way about high-driving as drunk-driving. Looking back, I think I should have called. > > Would you have reported him? In a heartbeat. That idiot is trying to kill himself, the girl in the car and some innocent people in other cars. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214/80 "2013-04-01T14:27:23Z")
I wouldn’t call the police unless the driver was obviously intoxicated or I could smell the weed. I don’t understand how you could be sure it was pot just from seeing the pipe (unless it was a bong). > [@Blackberry](#): > > I wouldn’t think of calling the popo unless they were actually doing something. Now, I know that driving high isn’t exactly ideal but my boyfriend does drive for hours every day, my baby is ALWAYS high (I’m not a huge fan of that but it does vastly predate me and I’ve been around for a decade) and he’s a black dude with a nice car without a valid license, so…draw your own conclusions. Your boyfriend is stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-smoking-pot-while-driving-would-you-do-anything/654214.md?page=5)