Cannabis Use by drivers

[TrevA]

I’m increasingly finding myself being passed by drivers ( usually driving a white van) with a distinct smell of cannabis as they pass. It’s almost a daily occurrence around my way. You can’t tell by their driving but you get that distinctive waft as they pass. It’s illegal to drive under the influence of drugs, but the lack of road police means that much of the time they will likely get away with it.

Does anyone else notice this?

[Jdsk]

There is now a testing system and an available offence. But there isn't much evidence for the threshold concentration used. It looks similar to the scheme for impairment caused by alcohol but this is misleading, not least because of the very different distribution of the relevant compounds between water and fat. I expect that there'll be a successful challenge one day.

There's a reasonable modern review in this paper. Although it's about medical use it gives a useful summary of what we know and don't know about impairment caused by recreational use.
"Medical cannabis and road safety":
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... oad-safety

Jonathan

PS: Apart from driving the UK's current legal position on recreational use of cannabis is irrational and counterproductive.

[GranvilleThomas]

Yes, same here in the Caerphilly area. It is a daily waft from mainly white vans and hot hatches.

More noticeable this time of year, I assume because the vehicle windows are open.

One van that passed me recently was from a landscaping company. I will resist the 'smoking the grass' jokes.

I can only assume the chances of being caught are slim.

[Halla]

Yes where ever we go in Sussex we find this.

Also a not very elderly man on a mobility scooter in Uckfield yesterday morning smoking away as he progressed along the pavement, dodging the pedestrians.

However Sussex police do nothing about any crime, never see them unless a number of them are racing to yet another road crash

[rjb]

I've led a sheltered life, no idea what cannabis smells like. Some time in the past the police were giving away scratch cards so the public could have a sniff and report offenders. Anyone old enough to remember these. I missed out of course.

Google says it was 2013.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21833045

[axel_knutt]

I've led a sheltered life, no idea what cannabis smells like.

You beat me to it.

[CathM]

I've never used cannabis, but having lived round the corner from a coffee shop in the Hague I'm very familiar with the smell, and it's a lot more pleasant than tobacco!
A friend and I noticed the aroma wafting from a van window recently, and the friend noticed that the van belonged to a roofing contractor, which was somewhat worrying.

[GranvilleThomas]

I've never used cannabis, but having lived round the corner from a coffee shop in the Hague I'm very familiar with the smell, and it's a lot more pleasant than tobacco!
A friend and I noticed the aroma wafting from a van window recently, and the friend noticed that the van belonged to a roofing contractor, which was somewhat worrying.

Funny you should mention roofing contractors as my father in law who worked in fencing/construction for many years, recently told me that a number of the 'boys' that he knows that also work in construction, have taken to turning their lofts into cannabis farms.

They told him there was more money in it, compared to working on site.

Might partly explain the smell emanating from white vans around this area!

Risky business mind you, as the plant itself can smell quite distinctive when growing, especially when in flower and the police have used airborne heat seeking cameras in the past, as the heat signature from the growing lamps is easy to spot apparently.

Definitely worrying.

[UpWrong]

Yes I've definitely noticed and I can't stand the smell. I believe the modern stuff ("skunk"?) is a lot more potent than traditional "grass". And as you say it is often white vans, but it's rife everywhere. I can smell it when walking around the private surbuban estates here, and in parks and on the beaches.

I assume police routinely test when there at road traffic accidents, certainly hope so.

[ChrisF]

I was knocked off my bike two years ago by a driver turning right across my path. He was detained by the police and tested for drugs - it was 8am on a Sunday morning.
It took six months for the test results to come through - tested positive for cannabis but not at a high enough level to be convicted. So he probably got away with 'driving without due care & attention'

[eileithyia]

Some white van drivers are cyclists as well, and I've never smoked anything; tobacco or otherwise.......

[awavey]

it might sound weird but Im completely nose blind to it unless absolutely surrounded by it I cant smell it, whereas Im often left trying to control my gag reflex on the smell of strong aftershave from a driver after a pass.

it doesnt surprise me they are if you can smell it, though I actually think the amount of class A use by drivers is probably higher

[TrevA]

It’s not just white vans. Our group was passed by a Volvo XC40 this morning, with a kid hanging out of the window making rude gestures at us, and with the distinctive smell of Dope coming from the open window of the car. So a driver, high on Cannabis, with a kid in the car. Perhaps the kid was intoxicated too?

[Cowsham]

I've led a sheltered life, no idea what cannabis smells like.

You beat me to it.

Me too -- I'd probably think the smell was dodgy chip oil diesel.

[deejayen]

A friend and I noticed the aroma wafting from a van window recently, and the friend noticed that the van belonged to a roofing contractor, which was somewhat worrying.

It sounds like he would need to get high for his work.

In any case, he'd possibly argue that it's safer than a night on the tiles.