Discuss the specific adverse effects of marijuana on driving skills
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: Complex motor tasks, such as driving a car, are also more poorly performed while a person is under the influence of marijuana. It is not necessarily a matter of reaction time; studies of marijuana smokers in automobile simulators indicate that they are as quick to respond as control subjects. The problem arises from a difficulty in attending to peripheral information
and making an appropriate response while driving.
One researcher has put it this way: Marijuana-intoxicated drivers might be able to stop a
car as fast as they normally could, but they may not be as quick to notice things that they should stop for. This is probably because they are attending to internal events rather than what is happening on the road.
Given these observations in the laboratory and on the road, marijuana use is a significant risk factor for an automobile accident. Surveys that have examined accident rates among drivers testing positive for THC in their bloodstreams have shown them to be about three to seven times more likely to be involved in an accident than drivers testing negative for THC or alcohol.
An additional problem is quite serious. The decline in sensorimotor performance will persist well after the point at which the marijuana smoker no longer feels high, when there has been chronic heavy marijuana use. Significant impairments in attention and memory tasks
have been demonstrated among heavy marijuana users (daily smokers) twenty-four hours after they last used the drug.
Therefore, we have to recognize the possibility that some important aspects of behavior can be impaired following marijuana smoking, even when an individual is
not aware of it. This effect is likely due to the very slow rate at which marijuana is eliminated from the body.
You might also like to view...
Which is often used as the explosive core in a detonating cord?
a. TNT b. PETN c. RDX d. C-4
Three ______ responses to victimization that are common are depression, reductions in self-esteem, and anxiety.
A. destructive B. cognitive C. reflective D. affective
Officers' training should be ___________.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
Like many other aspects of U.S. law, the concept of a grand jury has a rich history, deriving its name from the French word that means:
a. misgiving. b. significant. c. large. d. grandiose.