Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
From: [j--r--y] at [teetot.acusd.edu] (Jerry Stratton)
Subject: Re: speaking engagement: input wanted.
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 20:42:11 GMT

[c r d] at [cbnewse.cb.att.com] (charles.r.dobrovolny) writes:
>Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]> writes:
>> Marijuana users also have the same or lower incidence of murders
>> and highway deaths and accidents than the general non-marijuana-
>> using population as a whole.  Crancer Study, UCLA: U.S. funded
>> ($6 million) First and Second Jamaican studies, 1968 to 1974;
>> Costa Rican Studies, 1980 to 1982; et al.
>> 
>> Jim
>
>accidents sounds too good to be true.  Does this mean that there's
>absolutely nothing to the "impairs judgement" claim by drug warriors?

Not absolutely nothing. Practically nothing. Originally, studies
on driving could find no significant (significant in the statistical
term, that is, unexplainable by noise, not significant as in large)
difference between marijuana users and placebo users when testing
driving impairment. Further studies were able to find a statistical
difference, but the difference is quite small. You can find some of the
sources on the teetot.acusd.edu ftp site;

>Does it mean that MJ users rarely indulge while driving, or that if
>they do, driving 10 miles an hour below the speed limit cuts down
>on collisions? ;-)

Well, the 'reasonable' explanations I've seen, and these have not, as
far as I know, been backed up with study, is that alcohol causes people
to be more confident than they should be. So they drive as if they're
unimpaired. Folks on marijuana realize they're impaired, and drive more
safely. However, remember that research on marijuana effects doesn't
find any physical impairment. The main driving hazard would be impaired
short term memory. So I suppose if the nuns cross the street at the
same time as all the orphans start waving at you, you might be in
trouble...

"Don't drink and drive. Or, if you have to drink and drive, have a toke
instead."


=-==== And for the 'health hazards' part of this thread:

From "The Facts About 'Drug Abuse'", by The Drug Abuse Council:

p. 166

"Separate research projects in Jamaica(1), Costa Rica(2), and Greece(3)
did not find any evidence of brain damage or impaired mental or
physical functioning due to even heavy, chronic cannabis use."

1. Vera Rubin & Lambros Comitas, _Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical
   Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use_, (The Hague and Paris:
   Mouton, 1975)

2. P. Satz, et. al., "Neuropsychologic, Intellectual and Personality
   Correlates of Chronic Marijuana Use in Native Costa Ricans," in
   _Chronic Cannabis Use_, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
   Vol 282, 1976, pp. 266-306, Dornbugh, Freedman, and Fink editors.

3. Rhea L. Dornbush and Anna Kokkevi, "Acute Effects of Cannabis on
   Cognitive, Perceptual and Motor Performance in Chronic Hashish
   Users," in _ibid_, pp. 313-322.


Jerry Stratton
[j--r--y] at [teetot.acusd.edu]
-----
"One national survey taken in 1969 revealed that 42 percent of American
 parents would report their own children to the police if discovered
 using prohibited drugs."
              -- Zinberg & Robertson, Drugs and the Public