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New UK drug driving laws now active. Similar to those in AUS. please help me

M

mooseball

Greenlighter
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Messages
22
Hi all

Today is a really dark day!

I have smoked cannabis for 5 years, i am a productive member of society with a job and a car.

As of Monday 2nd March the UK police have the ability to test for cannabis and other drugs at the roadside, if you test positive, you will be banned from driving.


The test will be performed via an oral swab with a machine called "drugalyser" the limit for cannabis is 2mcg/litre of blood.

I am perfectly happy to not drive when i am high. However according to the following study, 4/6 people test positive 22 hours after smoking a spliff.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3717347/

"10 participants provided 86 OF samples −0.5 h before and 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 22 h after initiation of smoking. Before smoking, OF samples of 4 and 9 participants were positive for THC and THCCOOH, respectively, but none were positive for CBD and CBN. Maximum THC, CBD, and CBN concentrations occurred within 0.5 h, with medians of 644, 30.4, and 49.0 μg/L, respectively. All samples were THC positive at 6 h (2.1–44.4 μg/L), and 4 of 6 were positive at 22 h."

Would your experience in australia suggest this study is true? I am not a scientist, but i cannot see how this study would be wrong or irrelevant?
 
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Wait 8 hours after having a spliff or get someone else to drive. It's not that hard really.

The difference in Australia is drug driving is not a criminal offence, but the intent is still the same. Don't drive under the influence of weed, no matter how good a driver you think you are
 
Dude, i hope you are right, but what you have just said contradicts directly the study that i posted which says it shows in 4/6 people after 22 hours?

They did use a lab based machine, rather than a roadside one, but i guess it is still relevant?
 
Even the UK government guidelines States 6-8 hours. Of course unlike alcohol it is impossible to create a standardised dose with cannabis. It's impossible to have a half glass of wine equivalent and then hit the road.

From experience if I smoke the night before, I am safe the next morning. If if smoke during the day it is too difficult to judge whether or not I won't be picked up. The roadside tests only preempt more accurate blood testing anyway, but you'd want to be confident to push your luck.

It has resulted in a change in habits for me and my friends. A slight inconvenience compared to the good old days, but not really a bad thing in my opinion
 
One Thousand Words said:
Even the UK government guidelines States 6-8 hours. Of course unlike alcohol it is impossible to create a standardised dose with cannabis. It's impossible to have a half glass of wine equivalent and then hit the road.

From experience if I smoke the night before, I am safe the next morning. If if smoke during the day it is too difficult to judge whether or not I won't be picked up. The roadside tests only preempt more accurate blood testing anyway, but you'd want to be confident to push your luck.

It has resulted in a change in habits for me and my friends. A slight inconvenience compared to the good old days, but not really a bad thing in my opinion
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what is really interesting, i read in the study that anyone who smoked cannabis 10 years + has a lot more thc than someone who has even only smoked for 5 years, thus having more chance of being detected

thanks for your input

i am happy to wait 12 hours after smoking and before driving, but i still am not convinced that will mean i am safe
 
Around here the police unofficially use their disgression. My heady hippy mates will often get pulled over on the way to doof's and explain that they have last smoked the night before, and the local rural copper lets them go. This is rare of course but from experience the police know that a lot of false positives do occur and they will often make a judgement call. I expect there will be some teething issues in Britain.

Generally though drug buses are set up in obvious spots, such as exits from major festivals and nightclub districts, and will test punters on their way to and back home. The chances of them picking up munted drivers is obviously greater. It is rare for a patrol car for instance to test you because they will want to blood test you straight away in a seperate bus. I'm not sure if in the UK every patrol car will have the analyser.
 
One Thousand Words said:
Around here the police unofficially use their disgression. My heady hippy mates will often get pulled over on the way to doof's and explain that they have last smoked the night before, and the local rural copper lets them go. This is rare of course but from experience the police know that a lot of false positives do occur and they will often make a judgement call. I expect there will be some teething issues in Britain.

Generally though drug buses are set up in obvious spots, such as exits from major festivals and nightclub districts, and will test punters on their way to and back home. The chances of them picking up munted drivers is obviously greater. It is rare for a patrol car for instance to test you because they will want to blood test you straight away in a seperate bus. I'm not sure if in the UK every patrol car will have the analyser.
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yeah you would never get let off in the UK

however i think your right

it seems that the device used in the above study is a very good device, better than the police have on the roadside, so i may well be okay after 8 hours

i do not believe i will get pulled over, its just the risk of it happening and me getting prosecuted would cost me my job + my car. but if i will be safe after 8 hours, i have nothing to worry about :)
 
Once again it does come down to standardisation or the difficulty of. The guidelines might be for a normal smoker who as one or two spliffs, not someone couch locked for 5 straight hours smoking higher quality buds.
 
Someone on here said they were tested by the saliva sample test about 4 hours after they'd had bongs and it didnt test positive.
 
One Thousand Words said:
The difference in Australia is drug driving is not a criminal offence
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Not sure you know what criminal law means in ur own country. Traffic offences might not be taken as seriously as USA but it's still criminal law.

Also if you test positive they will always test you again since there are many false positives, or go straight to blood if they're feeling cocky. If it only goes a little pink rather than bright pink it depends on the cop as to whether you get a second swab.
 
poledriver said:
Someone on here said they were tested by the saliva sample test about 4 hours after they'd had bongs and it didnt test positive.
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The old test kits they had had a high rate of false negatives. A friend of mine was pulled up on a long road trip smoking a pipe while he was driving and had been stoned for 24 hrs straight. He tested negative. I believe the new tests are a bit more accurate. I wouldn't want to gamble on it. Thank fuck we have Uber here now.
 
Abject said:
Not sure you know what criminal law means in ur own country. Traffic offences might not be taken as seriously as USA but it's still criminal law.
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Here in Queensland a first offence carries a penalty of up to $1540 and you could be disqualified from driving for up to 9 months. It is considered a traffic violation and no criminal conviction is recorded. Obviously if they then find drugs in your car you can be also charged with possession. In the UK it is a criminal offence and you will be recorded as a criminal conviction

I am fortunate that my lovely partner is a great sober trip sitter. However I'm still asked to parallel park our truck no matter what state I'm in. I don't know whether that is an idicator as to how awesome I am at driving or how shit she is at parking ;)
 
What's so horrifying about testing people to see if they are on ice or pills or weed etc whilst driving?

It doesn't bother me really.

Sniffer dogs give me the shits but what can you do except have a whinge.
 
Personally I think it is way more dangerous to drive when fatigued than to have small amounts of those substances in your system. Whether that be the day after a meth/mdma binge or just sleep deprivation. At an optimum dose level I would argue that methamphetamine would improve your performance as a driver. Driving while coming down is dangerous no question. Peaking on MDMA ditto. Cannabis could definitely impair driving performance but the amount it would do so at 3-8 hrs afterwards would be pretty minimal.

The laws definitely have some effect on behavior though. Now I only drive on opiates,benzos and RCs.

In Western Australia the penalty for a first drug driving offence is similar to a 0.5 BAC drink driving offence. I think its $500 and 3 demerits. After that it gets significantly more punitive.
 
Going by that TV show "RBT" the oral swab test only picks up weed smoked in the 5-6 hours prior to the test.
 
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