Is driving while high legal in California?
No. As stipulated under the California Vehicle Code § 23152, it is not legal in California to drive while high. As a matter of fact, it’s treated like a DUI if people get caught doing so by the police.
However, unlike alcohol, it’s hard to quantify just how inebriated a high person is. Legal THC levels conducive to driving aren’t set, which is why people who are high still feel compelled to drive regardless of the state they’re in.
But never mind about the legality of it all for a bit. High driving still poses a risk for accidents and injuries. People do not need to ask themselves: is driving high safe?
Because the answer is always no.
Let’s dive deeper into that, shall we?
Is driving high bad?
Ever since recreational marijuana was legalized in California, crash rates have shot up according to a study done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Some say that this may be due to the effects that THC (a chemical in marijuana that gets people high) has in the brain. When people are high while driving, their judgment gets compromised, leading them to struggle a little bit with staying in their lanes or switching to another one. In addition, driving high also leads people to cruise down the road a lot more slowly than they normally would, opposite to the usual effect of drunk driving. This isn’t always a good thing, especially when they’re driving on the freeway where people are actually required to drive at high (no pun intended) speeds.
Is driving high dangerous like people are saying it is?
Some argue that there is no sufficient evidence pinpointing that the legalization of marijuana directly causes the increased crashes. In fact, the IIHS says while marijuana does affect the motor functions and slows the reaction time of the driver, they also have the tendency to drive slower and make less risky driving choices when inebriated.
Moreover, it’s also hard to say how much of an effect marijuana alone actually has in the overall increase in car accidents since 2018. Marijuana stays in a person’s system for a long time, so when people are being tested, it’s hard to say whether they were actually inebriated during the time of the accident or not.
It is apparent, however, that combining alcohol and marijuana will significantly impair your driving. So while there isn’t enough data to back up the claim that high driving directly leads to more accidents, some experts suggest that cannabis consumption encourages alcohol consumption. This in turn endangers the lives of inebriated drivers (with alcohol and cannabis in their system) as well as those around them.
Safety Tips
Unlike when people consume alcohol, there are numerous ways people can get high. Smoking cannabis can make people feel woozy in an instant, but that’s not always true for those who ingest a cannabis-infused product. Those who fall under the latter category have a false impression that they are safe to drive only for them to feel the effects later on while they’re cruising down the road. When you’re at a function and you know that you’re going to smoke and get high, it’s best to allot time for recovery. Ask your friends if it’s okay to sleep over at their house, or if they can drive you safely back home.