Cigarette smoking

[Packard]

I drove to the nearby Starbucks for a cup of coffee that I am now drinking.  I head-in parked next to a large SUV.

The driver alternately was smoking a cigarette, sipping an expensive drink from Starbucks and puffing on a vaping device.

At first, I thought, “Why would he smoke a regular cigarette and puff on a smokeless cigarette?”

Then I thought, “Maybe the smokeless device was for cannabis.”

And finally, I thought, “What is my responsibility here?”.

I settled on getting a cup of coffee.

I see out the window that he just pulled out.

Was my speculation that the smokeless device was for cannabis, likely to be correct?

It’s bugging me a bit (plus, nothing on my mind to post otherwise).  (And hoping that the news has no accident reports involving a black Highlander.

 

[Holzhacker]

I don't care if people want to sit in their basement playing video games and get stoned.
Unfortunately, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have to smell weed while I am driving. Can't stand it. We should be treating driving while smoking the same as drunk driving.
No clue if the vape thing has weed or not.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I don't care if people want to sit in their basement playing video games and get stoned.
Unfortunately, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have to smell weed while I am driving. Can't stand it. We should be treating driving while smoking the same as drunk driving.
No clue if the vape thing has weed or not.

They do. That's why it is called "Driving under the influence" in most places now. You can potentially blow 000 in a breath test, and still get arrested. Then they blood test you for "other" intoxicants.

The unintended consequence of legalizing weed (not every state has) is that the smell is no longer reasonable suspicion. Someone else, that you just dropped off, could have caused the smell. In that case, your driving performance has to be the cause, which is a bit harder to prove. That's where the "stupid human tricks" come into play. It gives them more evidence, to compel a blood test.

Smoking two different things at the same time is rather curious though?
Funny thing is the place I am most likely to catch the drifting smell is the grocery store.

One state even allows passengers to drink, as long as the driver isn't. (Maryland) at least they used to
Some others allow it with limos, where the driver is separated.

 

[semenza]

I drove to the nearby Starbucks for a cup of coffee that I am now drinking.  I head-in parked next to a large SUV.

The driver alternately was smoking a cigarette, sipping an expensive drink from Starbucks and puffing on a vaping device.

At first, I thought, “Why would he smoke a regular cigarette and puff on a smokeless cigarette?”

Then I thought, “Maybe the smokeless device was for cannabis.”

And finally, I thought, “What is my responsibility here?”.

I settled on getting a cup of coffee.

I see out the window that he just pulled out.

Was my speculation that the smokeless device was for cannabis, likely to be correct?

It’s bugging me a bit (plus, nothing on my mind to post otherwise).  (And hoping that the news has no accident reports involving a black Highlander.

    Considering you don't really know what was in the vape I'd say your responsibility was / is to leave the person alone. How do you know the Starbucks cup wasn't filled with alcohol? It's like saying 'I saw someone drinking from a non-descript travel mug, I bet it had whiskey in it.'

  What would you have done called the cops?

Seth

 

[Kev]

I was sitting in a carpark once waiting for my wife and saw a lady get into a large SUV on my left (I'm in a right hand drive car in the driver's seat). She'd just come out of a nearby liquor store with a bottle in a brown paper bag. I glanced sideways as she took the lid off of a sports drink bottle and proceeded to fill it from what turned out to be a bottle of white wine.

This was an attractive middle aged looking "soccer mum" and it was at about 2pm in the afternoon. My guess was that this is her afternoon ritual on the way to pick up kids from a nearby school.

I was tempted to phone in her licence plate but she'd back out and was gone .. plus the local cops in QLD are a joke unless there's something in it for them.

I like a glass of wine as much as the next person but it's sad when you see such blatant addiction so pathetically disguised.

 

[Packard]

A number of years ago I got a bad ear infection and that somehow affected my sense of balance.

My arthritis in my hip has gotten worse and I now use a walking stick.  Most of the time my hip is not so bad, but I still use the stick because it is reassuring if my balance is lost.

My greatest fear is that there is a traffic stop and they give the flamingo test for sobriety.  I can’t pass that test even though my last drink was the toast at my niece’s wedding 9 years ago.

A flamingo easily passing a sobriety test: (Though he does look mightily annoyed.)

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That's why you don't participate in the "stupid human tricks". They are not designed to exonerate you, but to gather evidence against you.

 

[Vondawg]

I’m with Seth on this…not your responsibility not your business..but I too worry if I could do one of those sobriety tests at 72 and I don't drink or smoke

 

[Cheese]

..but I too worry if I could do one of those sobriety tests at 72 and I don't drink or smoke

I certainly couldn't...  [tongue]  ...my best shot at it would have been 10-15 years ago...maybe.  [smile]

 

[squall_line]

I'm curious as to drinking caffeine and inhaling nicotine at the same time. 

Granted, I used to have a Pepsi with a cigar back in the day when I was much, much younger, but I'm getting light-headed just thinking about it.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

We in the UK sit open-mouthed at the US 'standing on one leg' roadside police sobriety tests. Over here - when a driver gets pulled over on suspicion, our officers lean right into the vehicle and smell the driver's breath, whilst sniffing out the smell of weed. If the officer detects anything, the driver's immediately hauled out of the vehicle and handcuffed. He (or she)'s then legally required to provide both a breath-alcohol intoximeter test at the roadside which gives a 'pass' or 'fail' result inside 30 seconds - along with a tongue saliva swab which detects the presence of weed or cocaine. It takes 8 minutes for the result to show up at the roadside. A 'refusal to comply' counts as an automatic 'fail' and carries exactly the same penalty. The suspect is then taken to the nearest police station, where the tests are repeated using daily-calibrated intoximeter machines whose results are definitive and admissible as evidence. A first offence carries a £1000 fine and an 18-month driving ban. For repeat offenders - it gets, way, way, way, way, way worse.

DUI is rightly reviled in the UK as being amongst the most antisocial of all crimes. It's not your own life you'll risk by driving drunk or drugged - it's the innocent 'collateral damage' souls you'll take out along the way.

Edit - we operate the same law as the 'Maryland' one above. Passengers can be partying/virtually unconscious/stoned/whatever - but the driver has to be 100% sober. Logical. He/she's the one controlling the vehicle and the eventual outcome. Virtually every UK group outing will feature a 'designated driver' - someone who doesn't drink on that particular night. Regular groups of partying friends will take turns to be the DD.

Should the desire grab you - it's perfectly possible over here to get wasted and be safe + responsible at the same time. We also have buses which run until 3am at weekends, and which will get you to ther nearest city and back for under 5 bucks.

 

[squall_line]

Edit - we operate the same law as the 'Maryland' one above. Passengers can be partying/virtually unconscious/stoned/whatever - but the driver has to be 100% sober. Logical. He/she's the one controlling the vehicle and the eventual outcome. Virtually every UK group outing will feature a 'designated driver' - someone who doesn't drink on that particular night. Regular groups of partying friends will take turns to be the DD.

Should the desire grab you - it's perfectly possible over here to get wasted and be safe + responsible at the same time. We also have buses which run until 3am at weekends, and which will get you to ther nearest city and back for under 5 bucks.

Actually, the "Maryland" comment earlier referred to the passengers ACTIVELY drinking while being driven around, compared to most states where almost any "open container" within the passenger compartment is outlawed unless in certain for-hire vehicles with special circumstances (Limousines, party buses, etc).  Just riding in a vehicle drunk out of one's mind (or 'vapor-locked', as a late friend of mine used to say) is perfectly fine, provided you're still actually conscious and breathing.

And Maryland doesn't allow that any more, but I can't think of a state that would these days.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Over here, it varies by state. Some states you get your license suspended for refusing the tests, others you do not, it becomes a court thing. Even at that, the roadside "evidence" is just probable cause for the arrest.
The actual "proof" for court, comes from the tests done at the station, that can be breath or blood. Some places you get a choice, some you don't, but you have to submit to one of them. You effectively surrender to this by having a license.
The crazy part of this is that they have to ask you if you have any medical conditions that might impact your performance of the tests? Yet, most of them will still say you have to do them?

 

[luvmytoolz]

We in the UK sit open-mouthed at the US 'standing on one leg' roadside police sobriety tests.

Not just the UK! To us in OZ it's an extremely weird way to determine anything except lack of co-ordination or balance.

 

[Packard]

I assume the cops use the flamingo test and the touch your nose test and more recently the count-down-from-one-hundred-even-numbers-only-test (100, 98, 96…). Because the Breathalyzer uses disposable mouthpieces and they are trying to save money.

The last time I was at a sobriety test, I said, “Let’s skip all the one leg standing and go right to the breathalyzer.” Apparently, that was a “sober” response and he said “you can go”.

A cop friend of mine gave me this advice:  If the officer asks you to breath into it a second time, insist that he turn off the device and test a second time.  The breathalyzer results are cumulative.  They are supposed to use a single breath only.

Also, radar that is used by cops is supposed to be calibrated at the beginning of each shift.  In New York they calibrate using two different tuning forks.  One will show up as 30 mph, and the other will show up as 55 mph.

So I was in a heated argument with the cop.  He saying I was driving at 55 in the 30 mph zone, and I knew I was driving at 40 mph.  He “proved” his point by showing me the radar gun indicating 55 mph, which still showed on the radar gun.

I said, “So, the ticket is going to show ‘tuning fork violation’?”  I got the ticket anyway.

 

[Sparktrician]

A number of years ago I got a bad ear infection and that somehow affected my sense of balance.

My arthritis in my hip has gotten worse and I now use a walking stick.  Most of the time my hip is not so bad, but I still use the stick because it is reassuring if my balance is lost.

My greatest fear is that there is a traffic stop and they give the flamingo test for sobriety.  I can’t pass that test even though my last drink was the toast at my niece’s wedding 9 years ago.

A flamingo easily passing a sobriety test: (Though he does look mightily annoyed.)

 

17 years ago I had a brain injury and lost 50% of my vestibular system in repair surgery.  There's no way in hail I can do the flamingo pose or a similar yoga pose.  Forget walking in a straight line.  I quit smoking 53 years ago and rarely use fermented beverages and never use distilled beverages or recreational chemicals.  I, too, am deeply concerned about any potential encounter with some hare-brained sheriff's deputy out to cause trouble. 

 

[Packard]

“Vestibular”, I had to look that up. Thanks for the link. 

Apparently, my vestibular issues were entirely avoidable if a doctor had prescribed prednisone, a powerful (and dangerous) anti-inflammatory drug early on.  But the medical practice I use habitually screens specialist doctor visits by first insisting I see a nurse practitioner or a physicians assistant.  Neither willing, apparently, to prescribe a drug like prednisone.

By the time I got to see the specialist he said, “You know, this treatment works best when done early on.”  So, I got the powerful and dangerous drug, but too late to avoid the vestibular issues I now have. 

Progress on the medical front …
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/20469-prednisone-tablets

 

[Sparktrician]

“Vestibular”, I had to look that up. Thanks for the link. 

Apparently, my vestibular issues were entirely avoidable if a doctor had prescribed prednisone, a powerful (and dangerous) anti-inflammatory drug early on.  But the medical practice I use habitually screens specialist doctor visits by first insisting I see a nurse practitioner or a physicians assistant.  Neither willing, apparently, to prescribe a drug like prednisone.

By the time I got to see the specialist he said, “You know, this treatment works best when done early on.”  So, I got the powerful and dangerous drug, but too late to avoid the vestibular issues I now have. 

Progress on the medical front …
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/20469-prednisone-tablets

That's a tactic to run up the bill to insurance companies while using less-compensated staff.  [mad]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I've never heard anything about Prednisone being dangerous? I have had it several times, for Poison Ivy infections. Two of those times as an injection, along with the "dose-pack" follow-up. The others were not as severe, so dose-pack only. The injection actually works so fast that it can be seen as well as felt.

It doesn't count as a DUI, but here in Ohio, you can be charged with "possession of an open container" for a beer can in the bed of a pickup truck that has been there so long that the label is sun-faded.
Somehow the fact that it was originally intended to store alcohol matters? It might not have had any for 5 years, but it will still get you a ticket (or arrested, depending on mood)

 

[Isan]

My dumbass friend almost got caught with one of these vapes once, cause they might not smell, but effects are still visible. It's safer and I prefer to vape regular vapes.