Have you ever known a pothead, I mean one who smoked every day? All the ones I’ve known appeared to be definitely learning impaired and not in full control of their faculties. No cite, just personal obsevation.
Erowid.org (generally regarded as neutral or pro-choice source on drugs) lists aftereffects of marijuana as lasting 2-24 hours. Also says this…
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_effects.shtml
The difference you noted in the NIDA source was describing the same thing, the immediate effects of euporia that subside in 2 or 3 hours vs. aftereffects of alertness, coordination, concentration, etc, that can take as long as 24 hours to dissipate.
Well being a pothead, I know for a fact that after smoking at night, then eight hours sleep, I have never ever ever woke feeling the least bit high. Ever. No one I know has either. I have had Amsterdam, Vancouver and the best California weed and never been high the following morning. Pot doesn’t work like that. You go from being high, to not so high, to not high at all. I question those studies that say otherwise.
I know several. All are professionals in their 30s-50s. One is a corporate lawyer, and others have jobs that require a lot of brainpower and responsibility as well. None have flies buzzing around their heads while they squint at the blacklight posters and go “wow, man”. There is no difference, in my experience, between regular pot smokers and people who have a glass of wine each night. So our personal experiences collide. 
Thank you, Brain Wreck, for the additional cites. I see that it is theoretically possible. I still think it’s extremely unlikely to have ever been the cause of an accident, but I’ll eat those words too if someone can show me otherwise.
It doesn’t really matter, as he will be fired and his CDL revoked either way; I imagine getting fired for a drug offense makes it hard to find another job.
I don’t agree with the government’s attitude towards marijuana, but it’s really not a good idea to put your job and future on the line just for the sake of getting high.
Trouble is it’s a danger to his job; it’s probably not any particular danger to anyone else (though in my experience the effects of marijuana take over 12 hours to completely wear off. But I’m paranoid about driving while on any intoxicating substance; maybe I’m unreasonable in thinking that’s a bad idea.)
Don, tell your friend Don that this is really one of those situations where the rules are strict and he’s likely to get in serious trouble for violating them.
Yeah, that’s always been my experience. I can feel quite clear effects from marijuana the next day; my understanding is that the cognitive impairment actually lasts longer, but it was never perceptible after that for me.
I’ve never felt high the next day. The high wears off in a few hours at most. I’ve felt fuzzy-headed and like I couldn’t think straight the next day.
One wonders if you don’t feel it because you’ve become habituated to it.
Or maybe it’s not there because he’s become habituated to it. Tolerance going up doesn’t just mask the effects of something, it can actually alter them. Besides, people metabolize things differently. I’ve smoked pot when not a regular smoker and felt perfectly fine and normal the next day. I’ve never had the fuzzy feeling you describe. Oddly, though, I would get that from too many cigarettes. Anyway, it’s a mistake to assume that everyone experiences a drug identically. Hey, I even know a girl who’s not a complete asshole when she’s on coke. Anything is possible in this world. 
To be fair, the guys I’m thinking of probably toked several times a day.
As far as the pot being a contributory factor in an accident, I suspect that if someone died in an accident, much more likely in a bus, the drivers use of illegal substances would be an important issue in any legal proceedings.
Well, I’m no expert, but certain cognitive problems like a diminished short-term memory are fairly well confirmed. I have certainly read that general cognitive decline occurs in regular pot-smokers, but that may well have been government data, and I’m rather disinclined to trust the government’s take on drug issues.
I don’t know if it is just my state, or lousy cops, or what, but my friend almost died in a car accident. Luckily she didn’t, but it was bad enough that she was in a coma for several months. Anyway, it was her boyfriend who was driving, and it was clearly his fault because he ran a stop sign. The boyfriend was constantly high on numerous illegal substances. The cops asked him if he would submit to a drug test after the accident and he said “no” and they said okay. And just ruled it as an accident. On top of that, my friend’s family (and me) begged the cops to do a drug test on him because we knew it would turn up positive and the cops basically told us, “sorry, he said no.” So, I don’t know what is up with that, but that was my experience.
It’s also been confirmed now, I believe, that those memory effects are temporary (and not universal). They go away when you stop smoking, and apply most when you’re still high. There was a pretty recent study released on this, but you’ll have to take my word for it as I’m having trouble digging it up at the moment.
All that said, I’ve known some burnouts too. It definitely happens. But I think it’s more like alcoholics when compared to casual drinkers. There are some people who have health (including mental health) problems that mean they shouldn’t drink or smoke marijuana. I think it’s not that those things are inherently so bad for any person, but that they’re extremely bad for certain people.
But this is a hijack. I am now trying to see if I can find a comparison of the effects of insufficient sleep and the aftereffects of marijuana, so I can get a better understanding of just how much danger we’re talking about here. If it’s as bad as lack of sleep (which is very bad, though subtle) then I’ll change my tune about whether it’s right for a professional driver of others to indulge.
My above-mentioned pot smoking friend had an accident with injuries (she drives limo) and was not tested. I found that odd.
That matches my understanding - that the cognitive effects are reversible and temporary. I also assume there’s probably a big difference between a wake ‘n’ bake kind of pothead and someone who smokes regularly but less often - but that doesn’t mean there aren’t subtler effects even on less frequent users.
I still think the legal realities make such things a somewhat moot point in the United States, something that I consider unfortunate. And obviously a lot of these things are not well-known; even the aftereffects of alcohol aren’t all that well studied, as far as I can tell.
But I would venture that how you feel is not necessarily a very good guide as to how it affects you.
Well, my concern was the moral/ethical and practical issue, not the legal one. If it is moral for him to do, then I think it is immoral for the law to prohibit it. But that’s another discussion. Primarily I want to know how likely it is that someone will be hurt because he smoked pot 12+ hours before work. If it is at least as likely as that someone will be hurt because he went without sleep, then everything else aside, he must quit either his habit or his job immediately.
I agree that how you feel is not a good guide. Reflexes and cognitive ability can be easily tested, for one, so it’s not necessary, but also, we fool ourselves all the time. Take the sleep thing. A person can really believe they’re doing just fine, and be seconds away from falling asleep at the wheel, or simply unable to tell how dazed they actually are. Because you don’t think clearly when you’re not thinking clearly. ;p
I was basing my feeling that it’s not so dangerous not on self-reporting, but still on nothing more than personal observation. I’ve known lots of people who drive 12+ hours after smoking weed, and if any of them were worse off for it, I couldn’t tell, and no harm ever came of it. But they were not professionals responsible for hundreds of lives each day, either. There’s a big difference between a teacher showing up hungover for work and a pilot doing the same thing, obviously.
In Illinois, you are within your rights to refuse breath or blood tests, and the penalty is automatic 6 month suspension.
Really? Does that only apply to accidents, or DUI’s in general?
I’ve a friend in Illinois who was pulled over, and the cop accused him of being drunk (guilty as charged). I forget the specifics, but I don’t believe his license was suspended. As I recall, he didn’t bother submitting to any tests, just faced the consequences. And I don’t recall them being as harsh as a six month suspension.
My understanding is that’s how it works here, too - in fact, I thought it was nationwide. It’s called “implied consent” - by owning a driver’s license, you automatically consent to alcohol testing when the cops deem it necessary; that’s why they have the right to punish you for not submitting to what would otherwise be an unconstitutional search.
In hindsight I see I shouldn’t have used the bus in my example Say Don is driving his car, has a standard wreck which results in injuries or fatalities to other drivers or pedestrians. How serious a wreck before he is tested if he is not showing any signs of DWI- injuries? fatalities? What if he is clearly not at fault?
Cannibis - thirty days
Crack - three days
Which drug will become more popular?
As for me, anyone who judges my work based upon my bodily wastes is just too weird for words.
IIRC, it doesn’t depend on the extent of the injuries. If you’re a private citizen operating your private vehicle, you’d only be tested if you seemed intoxicated as observed by the officer at the scene. If you’re operating as a commercial or city driver then it depends on the regs of that organization.