General Psychology

Marijuana has now been legalized in numerous states. Some people believe this has resulted in an increase of impaired drivers on the road and that traffic fatalities have increased as a result. While some drug tests taken at the scene of accidents do indicate the presence of marijuana, such tests only reveal that the drug has been used—they do not indicate actual intoxication, as indicators of marijuana use can stay in the system for days or even weeks after actual use.

What are some likely ethical issues arising from such testing? How do you think a status of “impaired” can be legally established to enforce safety if exact intoxication is not measured by current tests? 

The second half of your Discussion Board assignment will be your response to another PSY 1010 classmate in Unit III. Be sure to include the name of the person or question to which you are replying in the subject line. For example, “Tom’s response to Susan’s comment.” 

***Be sure to proof your responses before posting to eliminate misspellings and typos. Please also use punctuation and capitalize where necessary. Ex- “I” is always capitalized. Proofing your work will ensure that your message is clear and understood by your reader, a necessity in communication. Points will be deducted if these guidelines are not followed.
ALSO PLEASE REPLY TO ANOTHER STUDENTS COMMENT BELOW 

Christopher:

Firstly, I believe impairments of any nature should be prohibited while operating vehicles or heavy equipment. 

In this scenario I feel that there needs to be more accurate testing with a means of quantifying the concentration currently in the body to attain whether there is or isn’t an actual impairment. Ethically speaking, it isn’t justified to charge someone as impaired if your test is triggering a positive result based on a previous impairment not attributing to the investigation on hand. Charging someone for impaired driving for previous consumption that has already metabolized is comparable for getting a DUI-Alcohol for the half bottle of vodka consumed with dinner 48hours prior.

With a substance like marijuana, a more adequate way to test would be to find probably cause via the tests mentioned, followed by a cognitive function test after a positive test result. A cognitive function test could even be similar to the tests given by neurologists to concussion/TBI patients to guage the severity of injury to the normal brain functions.