Police say they can tell if you are too high to drive. Critics call it ‘utter nonsense’

i have witnessed 100% sober drivers, blowing zero on a breathalyzer being arrested because the cops felt like it. anyone else failing so hard at their jobs would be fired, and these people are supposed to be trusted with extra responsibilities and human killing devices.

acab

I totally believe police sincerely think they can tell based on experience, but it's false confidence.

Story time: One night on my way home I was pulled over for a broken taillight, which I truthfully told the officer I wasn't aware of. After taking another look she gave me a warning but said, with a little lilt in her voice, "Lotta dust in there, looks like it's been broken for a while... surprised you haven't noticed it." As if she "knew" I was lying, because cops have heard it all before.

I really wanted to unload on her that I was on my way home from working at my job and then taking my shift sitting in the hospital room keeping my 10-year-old daughter company until she fell asleep. She had been undergoing cancer treatments for the last 2 months. So excuse the hell outta me but there were a lot of things I'd missed lately. Like Thanksgiving. And Christmas. And apparently a broken taillight. I'll get to it when I get to it but I can't make any promises.

That smirky little accusing tone of voice still sticks with me after 20 years. So fuck your smug-ass attitude, Officer I Know What I Know, because no you sure as fucking hell didn't.

Field sobriety tests are about as accurate as Tarot readings.

In most jurisdictions, the police can arrest you for refusing. Some experts say that if you're sober, it's better to refuse and be arrested, and then find it in court.

I mean, so can I in a sense -- guys passed out on my couch. "Yup, he's too high to drive."

In seriousness, I wish they'd just bust people driving recklessly. It's almost every day now that I'm almost side swiped by an aggressive muscle car driver; it's driving me crazy. I don't care what they're on, alcohol, cocaine, meth, or just pure uncut Machismo, I need those people fucking jailed before it's my kid on the news about getting hit and run'd.

Drunk driving is a legitimate concern. High driving, despite the vilifying by police, simply doesn't have even a modest fraction of the stats to back it up. And anecdotally is not remotely the same as alcohol.

Elderly driving is the conversation we don't apparently want to have. Just because Gamgam can still get around on her own, in the house she's lived in for 40 years, does NOT make her capable of driving a two ton piece of metal.

Their reaction speed is like a drunk person. Their decision making skills, also akin to drunk people. Elderly drivers injure and/or kill pedestrians and drivers every year, and we're supposed to be OK with it because they're old? Fuck no. They should be tested every year if they still want to drive, and losing their license means losing their vehicle too.

ah yes, the police. the people with a reputation for always properly assessing every situation

Nobody (especially pharmaceutical corporations) ever wants to talk about prescription mind altering medications and how normalized its become to be heavily medicated and still drive a vehicle on the highway. I've run into people in public at grocery stores and restaurants who obviously have had way too much medication and are literal zombies or wide eyed freaks then get into a car and drive away.

This isn't shaming anyone for taking medication. It's a good thing in the right circumstances but if someone has taken so much that it affects their ability to react to things quickly while operating a vehicle, it's definitely something to worry about. It's something I think about all the time when I'm driving down a public highway anywhere.

The problem is there is no legal threshold for marijuana like there is for alcohol. If they think you are at all intoxicated they will take you in. Never admit to a cop that you have ingested marijuana in any capacity if you are pulled over.

I got maybe a third of the way through the article and had to stop due to rage at the police. Again.

The police are legally allowed to lie about everything not under oath or not to another public servant. It is one reason to never bother with their polygraph. They lie about the results, and then act like their lie is proof.

They lie to the press all the time about officers names, ages, and whereabouts. It is their reflex to just lie and worry about it later.

Even breathalyzer are less reliable than the police would dare admit.

Sir, your skin is too dark to drive

One of the biggest culture shocks as a Danish person visiting California, was seeing how normalised driving high was. I smoke pretty regularly, but I would never even think about getting behind the wheel after a single puff.

These the same cops that mag dump because of an acorn? The same cops that "OD" if fentanyl is in the same hemisphere as themselves? The cops that lost a rifle while "raiding" an "illegal" "grow op"? Those cops?

(X)

I've only been too high to drive once. And you know what? I didn't drive. I was too high.

Cobb County Police in Georgia got some bad press for this a few years back. An officer took a weekend course to certify he could tell when people were drunk or high, and then he ruined a bunch of innocent people’s lives.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/the-drug-whisperer-drivers-arrested-while-stone-cold-sober/85-437061710

100% nonsense.

We've already got plenty of peer reviewed science.

Tolerance is everything, and there's no empirical way to measure it.

We give someone with a high school diploma a few weeks of training a badge and a gun. They don't even have to fully understand the law.

And now they can tell if you're high or not from first sight.

TIL police have a big enough god complex they think they are doctors with no training.

Sir you are too blacough high to drive.

if a police is saying something, that police is lying

Cops can't even tell the difference between a cellphone and a gun

As virtually anyone who has ever been to college knows: they can't.

wait, are you implying that cops are filthy fucking liars???

Even with body cams The Police still can't tell the truth. I'm sure this will be abused.

Stoned folks will drive straighter than an arrow at slower speeds. They are safer than an asswipe glued to their Galaxy or iPhone.

Cops. The ones who can’t do drugs as a rule of their employment.

Yeah, I’m sure they have all kinds of useful insights about drugs. I’ll tune into their podcast as soon as I finished the one from the Catholic priests talking about how sex and marriage work.

Oh then they can come back with a fucking warrant like any other “we can tell you committed a crime”

Does it slow your response time or impare your decisions? A question from someone with zero experience.

that wouldn't hold up in court. there had to be valid evidence of it, or there's no case.

I think a DRE with a doctorate can tell for sure.

Fuck driving. You'd be lucky to get me off the couch. 😆

Obviously ACAB, but...I have known a few jackasses who thought nothing of driving while high. Just don't. And don't reply to me about how you "know your tolerance" or that you can "handle it". Fuck you, you're impaired. Don't do it.

Trust the experts!

And everyone is a critic