Sunday, May 15, 2016

How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder

Ellie Briskin AP Bio C Even
May 16, 2016 Current Event 20

Bromwich, Jonah. "How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 May 2016. Web. 16 May 2016.

This article discusses how much marijuana can be in one’s system before it is unsafe for that person to drive. Unlike alcohol levels, which can be easily discerned through blood-alcohol tests, blood tests are an unreliable indication of impairment by cannabis. This is an issue for “legislators seeking to create laws on driving while impaired by marijuana… While drunkenness directly correlates to alcohol in the bloodstream, cannabis impairment takes place only when THC makes its way into the fatty tissue of the brain.” This also means that the effects of marijuana differ greatly between people; some aren’t impaired at all, yet the THC could remain in a person’s blood for hours, days, and even weeks. The article doesn’t offer any solutions as to how to gauge a person’s ability to drive while high, but offers much evidence as to why testing blood alcohol levels are ineffective and can lead to faulty arrests and an overall misunderstanding of how marijuana affects a user.
I was initially drawn in with this article because I find the topic of personal safety extremely intriguing. Considering that marijuana consumption is becoming rapidly more popular and widespread, it is imperative that the public knows how to use it safely, without putting themselves or others in danger. We must continue to study the effects of marijuana on the body and their potential dangers, especially so that lawmakers can set regulations on the amount of marijuana one can be influenced by when operating machinery, specifically cars.

Overall, I was impressed by the presentation of this article. Its paragraphs flowed and were ordered in a way that made sense, making it extremely easy for me to follow along. I also felt that it was strengthened by the substantial number of expert quotes, which legitimized the arguments. I also enjoyed the fun, conversational tone that the author used; this was not only easy to understand but also kept me, the reader, captive. However, the one criticism I have of the article is that it was fairly minimalist, to the point of not having enough information. Although some find this better and most manageable, it left me with many questions and just confuses many readers. I would suggest that the author synthesises his information better, not just condensing what he has but really sifting through what is important and what is not, while still maintaining a logical flow. But overall, I thought this article was very well put together, and maintained my interest throughout.

7 comments:

  1. I read Ellie’s review of the article “How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder.” She explains the challenge of how to test to see if someone is too high. You cannot test their blood, impairment from cannabis occurs in the brain when THC makes its way their. Even then, there is no benchmark number to tell if someone is impaired. Ellie did a good job mentioning the shortcomings of this article, namely that they do not provide a solution to testing one’s ability to drive. She explains the relevance of finding a good way to test marijuana smokers, saying how it will protect people from reckless drivers.
    I think that Ellie could have talked more about the issue of not being able to have a definitive value that declares one impaired, and the challenges that will cause in making laws preventing the operation of machinery after a set amount of marijuana. She also could have talked about the laws already in place in many states that were discussed in the article.
    I chose this article because I wondered how one could be tested quickly by the police if they were clearly impaired by cannabis. In an age where more and more states are legalizing marijuana it is increasingly important to create laws that protect people from reckless drivers.

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  2. Audrey Kim
    Current Event 20
    Bromwich, Jonah. "How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 May 2016. Web. 16 May 2016.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/us/marijuana-driving-laws.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront

    Ellie’s current event was very effective in many ways. First of all, her summary was very concise yet informational. Her explanations throughout the summary helped me understand the material and the scientific terms better. Second, I think her assessment of her article in that it flowed well, which helped her understand the topic, showed a great depth in thinking about the information presented in the issue. Her praise of the article helped me assess the writing as well. Finally, I think that she connected the information presented in the article to society effectively. She stated that as marijuana consumption becomes more popular, we have to continue to study its effects, which I thought was a very interesting and valid point.
    There are a few improvements that could have been made to this article review. One thing was that I would have liked to see more statistical information that backs up the claims that are summarized in the first paragraph. Including such information would have painted a clearer picture of marijuana’s varying effects on people, improving my understanding. I also think that quoting the specific studies and scientists mentioned in the article would have been beneficial to the credibility of the article review. Not only would such information be very interesting, it would show the different viewpoints of the sources and increase the review’s credibility.
    My learning experience from this article review was very positive and thought provoking. I chose to comment on this review because I also thought that I should be better informed about a substance that is becoming more prevalent in society. I think that the physical effects of marijuana that are outlined in this article has changed my perception about what exactly the effects of the drug are. It also changed my understanding of how marijuana usage can be identified after an accident.

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  3. Ellie,

    Your article review was very pleasing to read. It was short but concise because you only provided relevant information and excluded any technical terms that may have been confusing. I liked the first paragraph because I knew right away what I was reading about. You described well how marijuana differs from alcohol and how it is much harder to test for drivers impaired by marijuana. Your quote integration was on point and furthered the points you/the article were making. In addition, your relevance and article critique paragraphs were well written and insightful.

    One thing I noticed while reading your review was that you seemed to stray from the point you were making in the first paragraph, which was how marijuana is hard to test for. You did do a good job however by including possible solutions to this dilemma. Maybe include some of the already existing laws, though.

    Overall, I enjoyed your review. You brought to light the imposing problem of marijuana, driving, and drug abuse. Unlike alcohol, marijuana impairment levels is hard to detect since it is not a direct correlation to how much THC is in your body. This is the biggest obstacle to overcome in regard to the legalization of marijuana, and I agree with your calls for research.

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  4. You did a good job comparing the measurement of impairment between cannabis and alcohol. You did good job describing the issue at hand and how measuring cannabis impairment is difficult. You did a good job conveying the main points of the article in an easy to understand way.

    One thing that could be improved is drawing further conclusions from the review. A discussion of possible expansions of legal marijuana would also provide a better understanding for the reader.

    I was surprised that this challenge is proving so difficult to overcome. Typically we perceive sciences such as drug testing to be absolute and precise, but in this case matching up the numbers with actual safety is proving difficult.

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  5. I think Ellie did a great job at reviewing the article “How much is too much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder”. This topic is highly relevant in todays society as marijuana is becoming legal in many states and has been discussed on it becoming legal nation wide. This drug definitely has an effect on consumers that can make driving dangerous. She discussed that unlike drunkenness, which correlates to alcohol in the bloodstream, cannabis impairment takes place when THC makes its way into the fatty tissue of the brain. This makes gauging the high almost impossible also because the THC could remain in a person;s blood for hours, days, and even weeks.

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  6. https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2016/05/how-much-is-too-much-marijuana-to-drive.html#comment-form
    After reading Ellie's review on "How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder," I feel like I understand clearly what this article is discussing. Ellie did a great job synthesizing the information from the article in a short and concise review. She starts off by explaining why it is hard for laws to be made about driving after smoking marijuana since the amount that effects a person differs per person. She also discusses this clearly with a comparison with the laws for driving will under the influence of alcohol and why this law would not be the same for smoking and driving. Cannabis stays in your body for a much longer period than alcohol, so it would make it more difficult for anyone to decide how much the cannabis really effects a person's driving ability.
    I chose to read her review because the title of the article drew me in. Ellie wrote her review about an interesting topic that is sort of out of the norm. Ellie could have improved her review by using more statists and the quotes that she claimed existed in the actual article in order to make her claims seem more legit. This review changed my opinion on legalizing marijuana because I realize how hard it is to make driving laws when marijuana is legal. This could cause many accidents and therefore now I don't think that marijuana should be legal.

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  7. In Ellie’s review of “How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder,” she did a great job of explaining why driving while high is an issue. She states that unlike alcohol levels, which can be easily figured out through blood-alcohol tests, blood tests are an unreliable indication of impairment by cannabis. In addition, she did a great job on explaining why driving under the influence of marijuana is dangerous, which is helpful in case the reader does not understand why it's bad. Lastly, Ellie did a great job of highlighting the importance of this article by stating it is imperative that the public knows how to use marijuana safely in order to prevent dangerous accidents.
    On the other hand, I think Ellie could improve her review by adding at least one quote from the article. This would have added legitimacy to the information she was providing in her writing. Additionally, Ellie could improve her review by including some ways driving heavily under the influence of marijuana can be prevented. She states that the article does not provide any, but I think mentioning some that she thought of would have added to her review.
    I chose to read this article because of the title. We often hear about drunk driving and not so much about driving while high, so I thought it would be interesting to read more about it. After reading this article, I learned that the reason I rarely hear about driving while high is because it is much harder to detect and different amounts of marijuana affect people differently. Driving drunk, however, is very easily detectable due to the blood-alcohol tests. From Ellie’s review, I will be able to take the information in order to prevent people later in my life from driving while high because marijuana still impairs the brain, leading to more car accidents.

    Bromwich, Jonah. "How Much Is Too Much Marijuana to Drive? Lawmakers Wonder." The New
    York Times. The New York Times, 13 May 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
    .

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