In general it’s difficult to link drug use to criminal activity given all the complicating factors leading people to commit crimes, the lack of standardization in defining a “drug crime” and limited measurements of drug levels in people committing crimes.
What we do know is that pot is one of the drugs that increases impulsivity, and it’s not a big stretch to get to the concept that in some people that will include a greater propensity to break the law.
(by the way, I’m not big on the idea that pot use needs to be criminalized, but neither is it absolutely harmless like some folks would have us believe).
I’m still interested in what the surveillance camera showed.
And, as a former pothead, I’ll add that:
The idea that being high does not interfere with driving is bullshit. Should pot ever be legalized, an accurate test for Blood Cannibinol Level will be the next major commercial breakthrough. (“How many hits have you had tonight, sir?”)
The idea that being high turns one into a thief is bullshit. Someone who is already a crook is likely to be a more stupid crook while high, that’s all. The OPs description does not seem to be totally out of line with this scenario, but it’s because of the hero’s personality, not because he was stoned.
But . . . that said, I’ll repeat, I’m still interested in what the surveillance camera showed.
Drugs, including alcohol and pot, lower your inhibitions. That’s it. They don’t magically turn you into a thief. To steal something while drunk or high, you’d have to ***already ***be the kind of person who’d consider stealing something while sober. Most of us wouldn’t steal a camera at a class like this because it would be wrong, *not *because we just don’t think we could get away with it.
I just love that you’re such a fucking retard you can’t process the idea that everyone who disagrees with you isn’t necessarily a pothead.
It seems to me (based on my own plausibly deniable experiences) that the quality of inhibition-lowering caused by marijuana is significantly different from that of alcohol.
With alcohol, you begin thinking things like “aw, I’m fine to drive!” and “dude, that meter maid *totally *wants me!” and “guess what, biker gang: y’all just entered a world of hurt!” With pot it’s more like "there can’t be that many calories in this whole thing of cookies, right?
How can I even think about stealing stuff when the old man at that table over there keeps looking at me? He fuckin’ knows, man!
Someone lost motor skills because they smoked a doobie. This loss caused them to accidental put a camera in a trash can which was then perceived as theft. Poor bastard
I don’t drive, I don’t use drugs, I don’t drink. Others do these three things, which means I’ve ridden as a passenger with drivers who have been drinking and have been smoking pot.
As a nervous, non-driving passenger, I consider a stoned person a much better driver than a drunk one, if only because they are so much more cautious. The stoned person is usually even going to be a better driver than someone on a fucking cell phone.
The lead seems to have been buried - the camera was held up with a suction cup? Those stupid things have an alarming tendency to release on their own. I don’t trust them.
That’s the best you got? Is it supposed to be a cogent counter-argument? On The Straight Dope? Fighting ignorance and all that?
Well… ummm…uh… Does too!
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And… as a teacher with an inordinate number of stoners, I’d like to point out that they’re a lot funnier than the hangover cases.
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And… I don’t want to burst any bubbles, but I’ve heard of passing a pain-in-the-ass doper just so that you don’t have to put up with him again next semester…
If they’re pains in the ass, it’s because they’re pains in the ass anyway. I never was. I was pretty quiet actually. Always turned in my work on time. Never cheated or missed a test or ever asked for anything. I was even one of those rare students who always actually read the assigned material. You’re not busting any bubbles. I got my A’s on merit, aced tests and wrote good papers. It was the same in high school That’s why I graduated early from high school. And I was baked then too.
And because he was a “good student” by the standards of his school, this logically means that pot does not impair one’s motor skills or cognitive abilities, right?
Somehow I doubt that any of those A’s were specifically awarded for critical thinking skills.
I was gonna jump in yesterday and relate my THC-days, but was gonna stay outta the ‘hijack’. THC does not affect me anything like alcohol. Maybe a bit less ‘sharpness’ of physical coordination, but nothing I, or teammates in soccer, softball, whatever sport, noticed or cared. No stumbling/bumbling silliness whatsoever - ever. Alcohol, you bet, a LOT of effect, much more than THC and I purposely avoided it when getting ‘physical’ (or driving). I also grad’d tops in pretty much all my class(es) up through/including most of college. Never saw/knew/expected thievery from pot, but alcohol and/or man-made drugs (meth, etc) are much more likely to be related with crime then pot, unless pot is counted as a rime when counting, imho.
And my years of working Trauma (decade+ later) had me seeing that as often as not it was the non-THC positive-by-testing Trauma persons who were at fault for the ‘Trauma’ when presented to the Hospital. Seriously. I am speaking of things like car wrecks (solo or multiple cars), fall from structure, and other lack-of-coordination related injuries. And fighting - never saw a pothead start a fight myself. I’d not be surprised that most been-there Trauma nurses/Docs would say about the same as me. It was always kinda amusing to overhear the outgoing med-students/interns (~mentors) explaining to the incoming ‘1st year’ students that they would find THC to be not what they knew about from ‘the media/reporters’ or whatever concept of it they had from non-first-hand experience. I saw/heard an awful lot of drug screen results from injuries (usual betting fodder for Cokes! that and BAC-levels), and I may be off a small amount in how I am saying this, but not in any large ‘factor’. Admittedly, a ‘positive’ does not mean ‘presently intoxicated’ - take the results as you like. Alcohol, though…should be outlawed and THC made legal if a person is concerned about their safety ‘in public’. I sure as heck am, and feel this way. Its like America got it backwards so long ago, but such is society and ‘advertising’.
This came to my attention today, so I’ll link it as a cite of some relevance, especially with what I have said above. From the link " Persons with heroin dependence and inhalant dependence had the highest rates of ED visits, and marijuana dependence was associated with the lowest rates ". (italics mine) Cartooniverse, ya there? Video evidence?
Have a great day
(on preview, I gotta tell Dio that I, too, grad’d high-school early and ran out of ‘technical’ courses to take like maths/sciences. It happens, 'eh?)