Alcohol And Driving Is Dangerous Enough- Now Drugs Too?

Drug Driving
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Pune has enough on their hands with the increased cases of drunken driving and the consequent mishaps and fatalities…

If this wasn’t lethal enough, the city is now witnessing an increase in the cases of people driving and riding under the influence of drugs and psychotropic substances.

While all these substances and intoxicants seriously impair cognitive function, they are almost impossible to detect without hi-tech equipment available with the police.

Pune365 spoke to medical experts and others to understand the dangers of drug use and its short and long term impact on the users.

Dr Roshan Palresha, Head of Emergency Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital opines, “Prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and illegal drugs may cause impairment alone or in combination with each other and/or with alcohol.

Whether by drugs -legal or illegal -alcohol, or a combination of both drugs and alcohol, impaired driving puts the driver, their passengers, and other road users at risk.”

The numbers are hard to say, as this illegal drug testing is not routinely done here. But, its safe to say, the numbers may have increased. If you’re not looking to become a part of this statistic, knowing that you could always look at sites like 420highStreet.org for advice on how not to get caught and pass a drug test. It may seem impossible once it is in your system, but with a bit of research, you may find that it isn’t as difficult as you initially thought.

Studies show that these drugs impair psychomotor skills, lane tracking, and cognitive functions, but it is still unclear to what extent they contributes to accidents and crashes.

These drugs are substances that reduce the functioning of the brain, impairs thinking, reasoning and muscle coordination. All these abilities are essential to drive a vehicle safely.

Dr Roshan Palresha further explains the long-term effects, he says “The longer an addiction lasts, the more stress and strains it puts on the individual.

There is an overwhelming number of long-term physical and emotional effects addiction can have, that can easily turn a healthy man or woman into a frail shadow of their former self.”

Psychological Effects

  • Depression: Depression and other mood disorders are clearly related with substance abuse.
  • Anxiety: Anxiety and panic disorders are caused due to the addiction to drugs.
  • Paranoia. Some drugs, like cocaine and marijuana, can cause feelings of paranoia that may amplify with long-term abuse. People struggling with addiction may feel that they need to hide or lie about their substance use with the fear of being caught.

People who suffer from substance use disorders are approximately twice as likely to also struggle with a mood or anxiety disorder.

Physical Impacts

There are numerous mental health issues that are a result of long-term drug addiction, along with that there are various issues that affect the physical health of the individuals who are consuming drugs over a long period of time.

The Kidneys A kidney can be damaged both directly and indirectly by habitual drug use for over a period of time. Overusing certain types of drugs can cause dehydration, muscle breakdown, and fever-all of this contributes highly to damage the kidney over time.

The Liver It is known that liver failure is a major and a well-known consequence for consumption of alcohol, however, it can also affect individuals using opioids, steroids, inhalants, or DXM habitually over many years.

The liver plays an important role in clearing the toxins from the bloodstream and chronic substance abuse can overwork this vital organ, leading to damage from chronic inflammation, scarring, tissue necrosis, and even cancer, in some instances. The liver may be even more at risk when multiple substances are used in combination.

The Heart Most of the drugs are the potential reasons for the increased cardiovascular disease be it from increasing the heart rate and blood pressure to blood aberrant cardiac rhythms and myocardial infarction (i.e., heart attack). Individuals who inject the drugs in the body are at high risk of collapsed veins and bacterial infections in the bloodstream or heart

The Lungs Smoking or inhaling drugs, such as marijuana and crack cocaine can suffer damage in the respiratory system. Direct damage due to the drugs, slow a person’s breathing, such as heroin or prescription opioids, can cause serious complications for the user.

Behavioural Effects

Addiction isn’t just about drug abuse; it is an entire set of behaviours and habits surrounding substance use. it looks different for every individual and it takes over a person’s life. Most of them lie about their drug use or may get defensive when asked. Others may neglect their family and friends in favour of using.

Impaired driving is illegal and deadly. Being a responsible driver is simple – if you are under the influence of any substance, DO NOT DRIVE.

Those that find themselves in trouble with the law following an incident of DWI may wish to get in touch with a criminal law firm to aid in protecting their rights.
An enforcement official who wishes to stay anonymous says, There is definitely a rise in the people consuming drugs and driving and nothing much is done about it.

We don’t have the appropriate equipment to check and we can only send their urine and blood sample which is again a tedious process. In extreme cases their behaviour can help us detect. While in the case of drunk drivers, we have breathalysers and hence it makes it easy to detect the levels.

The availability of drugs should be restricted as it has now become a rampant issue, he added.

Ankush Gaikwad, a student says, For students like us, weed and hash has become an alternative to alcohol. Especially since it’s become easier to get hold of a freeze dryer. This means we can make it much quicker in the freezer than if we were to let it to dry itself. Another advantage is that weed and hash are difficult to detect. The instrument our cops use can barely detect alcohol and there is no way they can detect drugs.

Moreover, it doesn’t smell much. Hence it is difficult to make out if one is high on drugs and not acting weird. Due to this, there is an increase in the consumption of drugs and it is quite easy to get away from the police.

Gaurav Salunke, Techie say, Our policemen use detectors only till their target is completed or on 31st December.

The city is always talking about the traffic menace and violators. It is now time for the police force to focus on cases of driving under the influence of alcohol and or drugs.

Our office had a party on weekend, 80% of the people from the company were drunk and drove their own vehicles home. Fortunately, all were safe and sound. And not a single person was stopped and caught.

They were lucky this time. But if they decide to drink and drive at the same time again, then they still have the possibility of getting caught by law enforcement. Some states, like Arizona, have zero tolerance DUI laws which could result in stricter outcomes if you get pulled over for driving under the influence. You should always be aware of how much alcohol you’ve consumed before deciding to get into your vehicle, as there is a very high chance that you could be over the limit.

Talking about drug detectors, am sure we can import it from other countries who are using it effectively. However, there is no point in all this unless the force uses the technology and devices they are given regularly.

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#All views expressed in this article are those of the individual respondents ( names changed on request) and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.

#Narcotics and psychotropic substances and alcohol can be lethal and impair cognitive function.

Ankita Malekar