As with drinking, you should not use marijuana or drive

The old guard is still working hard to get the war on drugs back on track, state by state.

Since the introduction of Uber and Lyft, drunk driving has been slowly decreasing. Researchers estimate that ridesharing resulted in a 6.1% overall reduction in traffic fatalities and a reduction in alcohol-related deaths within four years of its introduction. Drunk driving became illegal in 1988 when the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was fully implemented. But in today's world, drinking is slowly becoming less important than consuming cannabis. But like drinking, you shouldn't use marijuana and drive.

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While smell and alcohol testing have been effective for alcohol, the technology hasn't quite caught up with cannabis. But that shouldn't be a reason to ignore the issue and try to get stoned. Cannabis use can significantly impair your ability to drive and increase the risk of car accidents. Although the effects are generally less severe than those of alcohol, cannabis still poses road safety risks that drivers should take seriously.

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Although both substances impair the ability to drive, there are some key differences. Cannabis users tend to drive more carefully and slower compared to drunk drivers. The impairment is usually more subtle and shorter-lasting than alcohol impairment.

But marijuana alone affects several key skills needed for safe driving:

• Slowed response time: Cannabis use impairs a driver's ability to react quickly to sudden changes on the road.
• Impaired coordination: Motor skills and hand-eye coordination are impaired.
• Distorted perception: Cannabis can alter depth perception and time awareness.
• Reduced attention: Users may have difficulty concentrating on driving tasks and maintaining lane position

The extent of impairment tends to be dose-dependent, with higher doses of THC resulting in greater impaired driving and a higher risk of accidents

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Driving under the influence of alcohol and cannabis is illegal in all US states, even where cannabis use is otherwise legal. However, unlike alcohol, there is no generally accepted level of THC in the blood that indicates impairment, making enforcement difficult. Research for both private companies and governments is looking for ways to measure cannabis impairment.

The combination of cannabis and alcohol causes significantly more impairment than either substance alone.

The end of the story is: be careful and think of others when you think about getting behind the wheel.