I was recently in a conversation with a friend about the effects of driving while stoned versus driving while drunk.  He was of the opinion that they were equally bad while I was of the opinion that marijuana had little to no effect on driving.  Well, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is here to tell me that I was right. *does the “I was right” victory dance*

Yep, there is a negligible effect on the rates of getting into an accident while under the effects of THC.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that you’re safe to smoke up before getting behind the wheel.  The problem is that, unlike alcohol, ingesting a certain amount of THC has unpredictable outcomes.  What it does for one person can be radically different from what it does for others.  That means that while people with the same blood-alcohol level tend to be impaired at the same level, people with the same THC levels in their blood stream have varying levels of impairment.

What we need is more science!  Sadly, since marijuana is still considered a schedule one substance, there is little research that can be done at this point.  How marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin is beyond comprehension and common sense.  Hopefully, that will soon change.