# You steal a camera during MY Workshop? Fuck you, you piece of messed-up shit !

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [July 19, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223 "2010-07-19T14:22:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 11

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**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/201 "2010-07-26T19:20:25Z")

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No, the only thing that matters is whether it’s dangerous. It’s not dangerous. Every study shows that it’s not dangerous. Stoners drive more slowly and more cautiously.

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**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/202 "2010-07-26T19:21:43Z")

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> [@Malthus](#):
>
> There comes a point, as anyone who has smoked a lot of weed ought to know, where one is simply too stoned to ‘compensate’ any more. Hell, I’ve been too stoned to walk to the door, let alone drive! 😃

Exactly. But if you had to drive, you’d be much less of a liability than someone who was “slightly tipsy”, and probably no more dangerous than someone who was completely straight.

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**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/203 "2010-07-26T19:23:42Z")

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Nobody who is too stoned to walk to the door “has” to drive. Or should be driving.

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**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/204 "2010-07-26T19:28:13Z")

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I was never too stoned to walk to the door except very early on in my stoner career when I wasn’t acclimated yet. I wouldn’t have driven if I was THAT fried.

One thing about pot that’s really different from alcohol is that it doesn’t give you false courage or confidence. Just the opposite. It makes you hyper self-evaluating and cautious.

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/205 "2010-07-26T19:28:50Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Except it really doesn’t because the “impairment” is not significant enough to make accidents any more likely.

Stoned people produce far less accidents, on average, than drunk people. That is not because the impairment of being stoned isn’t significant - smoke enough pot, and it certainly is significant: it is perfectly possible for the average person to get so stoned that simple mobility shows impairment.

Rather, unlike the booze, stoned people tend not to lose the ability to judge their own performance - hence, “compensating”. The person who has had a few drinks _tends_ to think they are “just fine” to drive; the person who smoked a joint thinks “my goodness, I’m high”. If they drive (and they are more likely to choose _not_ to), they will go out of their way to be careful - even _over_-compensating.

It isn’t that they aren’t impaired. Get someone _really_ high and _force_ them to drive - and the results would not be pretty. But really high people know they are really high and mostly do not _want_ to drive - as opposed to your average boozer’s “scuse me ossifer. I mean oskafer. Waddya mean drunk I am?”

The net result is that stoned people cause fewer accidents than drunks - but that doesn’t mean it isn’t impairing. If the element of choice is removed, you’d see more problems. For example: if your job is to work with heavy machinery, it isn’t a good idea to get high at work, because you may not have the choice whether to operate the machinery or not.

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**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/206 "2010-07-26T19:33:02Z")

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> [@Malthus](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > Except it really doesn’t because the “impairment” is not significant enough to make accidents any more likely.
> 
> Stoned people produce far less accidents, on average, than drunk people. That is not because the impairment of being stoned isn’t significant - smoke enough pot, and it certainly is significant: it is perfectly possible for the average person to get so stoned that simple mobility shows impairment.
> 
> Rather, unlike the booze, stoned people tend not to lose the ability to judge their own performance - hence, “compensating”. The person who has had a few drinks _tends_ to think they are “just fine” to drive; the person who smoked a joint thinks “my goodness, I’m high”. If they drive (and they are more likely to choose _not_ to), they will go out of their way to be careful - even _over_-compensating.
> 
> It isn’t that they aren’t impaired. Get someone _really_ high and _force_ them to drive - and the results would not be pretty. But really high people know they are really high and mostly do not _want_ to drive - as opposed to your average boozer’s “scuse me ossifer. I mean oskafer. Waddya mean drunk I am?”
> 
> The net result is that stoned people cause fewer accidents than drunks - but that doesn’t mean it isn’t impairing. If the element of choice is removed, you’d see more problems. For example: if your job is to work with heavy machinery, it isn’t a good idea to get high at work, because you may not have the choice whether to operate the machinery or not.

Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.

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**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/207 "2010-07-26T19:35:01Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> I was never too stoned to walk to the door except very early on in my stoner career when I wasn’t acclimated yet. I wouldn’t have driven if I was THAT fried..

Ah! So it _is_ possible to be too stoned to drive safely. Good, now can we end this derailment?

And preferably the thread, only because every time I read the title I hear “Choo steal a camera during \*MY \*workchop? Fuck _YOU_, you piece 'o messed-up _CHIT_!”

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**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/208 "2010-07-26T19:38:19Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.

That doesn’t really jibe with your claim in post #17 that marijuana has no effect on one’s cognitive skills or gross and fine motor skills. Please to explain?

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/209 "2010-07-26T19:41:49Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.

Again, that’s the result of selection. It isn’t that smoking any amount of pot makes the average person a better driver - it is that smoking a small amount makes the average person compensate (or even over-compensate), and smoking a larger amount makes the average person decide not to drive. It’s the effect of stoner paranoia.

Anecdotally, when I was a reckless and stupid teen, I’d occasionally drive when slightly stoned. I used to hate it, exactly because of this - I was so goddam paranoid I’d screw up because I was stoned, I’d drive like my granny, hating it all the while.

Take any stoned person and _make them drive_ no matter how stoned they are, and those who are more than moderately stoned would no longer be able to compensate for their undoubted impairment and you’d get more accidents - but in real life, such people are far more likely to choose not to drive.

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**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/210 "2010-07-26T19:42:47Z")

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Gawd what a bunch of fuckheading retard pot heads.

You know who’s safest? The pothead that hasnt smoked AND is being extra careful because its just the right fucking thing to do?

But I guess you fucking potheads are only careful when your stoned, cause otherwise you are on your cellphone calling your brother to check out the sports news.

You know what? When I’ve had a few, I am extra careful too because I realize I am impaired. But I aint fucking stupid enough to claim I am actually safer slightly buzzed. Maybe safer than the average retarded pothead, texters, cell phone users, and general morons. But safer than I would be if I was sober?

Jesus Fucking Christ.

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**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/211 "2010-07-26T19:46:46Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.

Predictively we want our safest drivers in charge of shuttling kids. Should we insist then that school bus drivers toke up before starting their route?

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**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/212 "2010-07-26T19:56:35Z")

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> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > I AM the evidence.
> 
> Really? This is what you’re going with now? That’s cute.

Going with NOW? Didn’t you get the memo? This is what Dio the Dickless is allowed to do in every thread. Its even in the sticky at the top of the page. (I seen it there, which is proof of that).

Its like, an experiment or something. Something to do with the effect of retards upon the internet.

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**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/213 "2010-07-26T20:08:59Z")

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> [@Dante](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.
> 
> That doesn’t really jibe with your claim in post #17 that marijuana has no effect on one’s cognitive skills or gross and fine motor skills. Please to explain?

How doesn’t it jibe?

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**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/214 "2010-07-26T20:11:11Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> No, the only thing that matters is whether it’s dangerous.

No, the only thing that matters is that you made this 100% fucking retarded claim:

> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> > [@MTCicero](#):
> >
> > That’s just a load of self-serving pothead twaddle.
> > 
> > True, it doesn’t affect you in the same exact way that alcohol does, but pot certainly _does_ affect one’s cognitive abilities and fine and gross motor skills.
> 
> No it doesn’t.

Most of us don’t think that potheads are dangerous drivers. But most of us also realize that it \*is \*possible to be too stoned to drive, and that being slightly stoned \*\*\*only \*\*\*doesn’t make you a more dangerous driver because you’re \*compensating \*for your impairment–not because there \*is \*no impairment..

And look:

> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> I wouldn’t have driven if I was THAT fried.

You even fucking admit that pot can make you a terrible driver if you’ve taken a large amount!

> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Gawd what a bunch of fuckheading retard pot heads.

I believe you mean “\*\*Dio \*\*is a fucking retard.” Almost everybody in this thread, including a bunch of people who have smoked pot, are pointing out that he’s an idiot.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/215 "2010-07-26T20:12:35Z")

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Wow, this isn’t the thread I was expecting.

1. I think **Cartooniverse** ’s suspicion is reasonable, based on behavior - but I would be a bit more circumspect without proof.

2. Though I have a long-standing affinity with marijuana, I think it’s asinine to show up for a course high.

3. “There is no impairment while driving under the influence of cannabis” is an indefensibly stupid position to take. I can admit that when I was in my twenties, this seemed like a reasonable position to me, until I was in a car accident which occurred while the driver had turned around 180 degrees in his seat to speak to me. The car in front of us stopped at a red light, and the driver was not able to stop in time after the rest of us reminded him that he was, in fact, in control of a moving vehicle.

Marijuana does tend to narrow and focus attention, and it is reasonable to concede that in some circumstances driving skills may improve somewhat as a result of this… …if the attention is on driving. A moment when your attention focuses like a laser beam on some tangential thing is a dangerous moment.

I have had plenty of opportunity to observe my own performance in other tasks which require constant attention and hand/eye co-ordination, with or without the influence of THC. You bet your ass that performance suffers when you’re high.

Anybody that trots out the “If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s drive when I’m stoned” line ought to be smacked down hard. If there’s anything that might reasonably delay the repeal of an unreasonable prohibition, it’s dangerously deluded attitudes like that.

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**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/216 "2010-07-26T20:15:09Z")

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Colin Farrel stole your camera?

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**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/217 "2010-07-26T20:16:45Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> How doesn’t it jibe?

It’s been explained to you numerous times now. You’re either ignoring this or your cognitive skills have been impaired.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/218 "2010-07-26T20:18:19Z")

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> [@Malthus](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.
> 
> Again, that’s the result of selection. It isn’t that smoking any amount of pot makes the average person a better driver - it is that smoking a small amount makes the average person compensate (or even over-compensate), and smoking a larger amount makes the average person decide not to drive. It’s the effect of stoner paranoia.
> 
> Anecdotally, when I was a reckless and stupid teen, I’d occasionally drive when slightly stoned. I used to hate it, exactly because of this - I was so goddam paranoid I’d screw up because I was stoned, I’d drive like my granny, hating it all the while.
> 
> Take any stoned person and _make them drive_ no matter how stoned they are, and those who are more than moderately stoned would no longer be able to compensate for their undoubted impairment and you’d get more accidents - but in real life, such people are far more likely to choose not to drive.

This is a fair point. Stoners, unlike drunks, tend to err on the side of caution and self-regulate, but I would still maintain that exeprienced, chronic stoners never really get that intensely high anyway. At my most hardcore, even the best stuff would not really get me hardcore stoned for more than 15 or 20 minutes, then it would level off to the normal, low-level haze that was my normal setting for pretty much all of my 20’s and part of my 30’s. It’s actually on of the reaosns I stopped. It just wasn’t working for me anymore. I was smoking like a chimney and barely getting buzzed, even with really good bud.

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**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/219 "2010-07-26T20:18:44Z")

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Thank God he was stoned. You might never have found your camera otherwise.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-steal-a-camera-during-my-workshop-fuck-you-you-piece-of-messed-up-shit/547223/220 "2010-07-26T20:26:24Z")

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> [@lieu](#):
>
> > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
> >
> > Stoned people cause slightly fewer accidents than people on _no drugs at all_. They aren’t just safer than drunks, they’re marginally safer than people who aren’t on _anything_.
> 
> Predictively we want our safest drivers in charge of shuttling kids. Should we insist then that school bus drivers toke up before starting their route?

Of course not. I’m not a fascist. People should not be forced to smoke if they don’t want to. Nor should they be forbidden. I’m completely libertarian on the issue. That dude on the Simpsons seems to function just fine.

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