[Puppage]

Ummm, I believe the guy in the other car does.

[agere_contra]

Just over a month ago I was nearly deliberately run over by a carload of reeking paranoid potheads.

So, +1 to your excellent comment.

[Zathras]

Or the person in the apt next door.
Funny how CA nearly has public executions for cigarette smokers and now thinks smoking pot anywhere is just fine.

[Lancey Howard]

Whenever I see some high pot-smoker weaving down the road I feel like pulling up next to him and throwing a beer bottle at his windshield. Pees me off.

[buffyt]

YOU ARE RIGHT! That was my first thought, too. LA freeways are dangerous ENOUGH already! We have lived there four times and the traffic is the most horrible thing about that state, no one knows how to drive, they are all in a hurry, all on their cell phones, no one is paying attention, they don’t need stoned drivers added to the mess. Smoking pot also makes you sleepy and I have heard lately on the news that sleepy drivers are more dangerous than drunk drivers.

We were at Hollywood Bowl for Santana Concert a few years ago and people were openly smoking pot, it was still very illegal at that time. No one cared. Yet when someone lit up a cigarette everyone freaked out and made them go to a special area for smoking. Pot smoke, they didn’t care about. About 2001 or 2002.

[CaliforniaCon]

RE: “Ummm, I believe the guy in the other car does.”

****************

LOL — my ultra lib, self described ‘Progressive’ Obama-loving and very annoying
neighbors, are having a hissy fit because the neighbor next to them sits in her convertible at night with a friend or two, smoking pot. The smoker is in her late forties and the complainers are in their late fifties.

It seems the complainers have a teen daughter whose bedroom is near the pot smoking site and they want to shield her from that. Funny??? I thought so!

These same people, known for infringing on the rights and property of others (loud when outdoors, barking dogs that never stop, trampling over others’ lawns, etc.) have ALWAYS indicated they felt people should “live and let live.”

I once pointed out to them that it seemed their stance was really more like “WE do what we want and YOU have to tolerate it.” Needless to say, there are few words between us anymore, thank heavens.

[VADoc1980]

Even if you completely legalized marijuana, deaths from marijuana-impaired drivers would still be dwarfed by deaths from alcohol-impaired drivers by a factor of at least 20. Studies have been done on the impact of alcohol vs. marijuana in terms of driving impairment, and there's no question that alcohol is far more dangerous to be driving with. That said, the ridiculous notion that legalizing marijuana will lead to a substantial increase in the number of impaired drivers is simply that. Ridiculous. Selfish people who drive under the influence of anything are going to do that regardless of the laws. What your post shows is that you can't debate the legalization of marijuana on the merits. You have to invent these slippery slope arguments that detract from the real issue at hand.

I hear the arguments that we already have enough problems, so why legalize one more drug. That's a silly argument, however, because it implies that there aren't any benefits to legalizing marijuana. For one, legalizing it will provide one less excuse to California law enforcement to run roughshod over the 4th amendment rights of citizens in an attempt to get their hands on an ounce or two of marijuana. It will also reduce the influence of foreign cartels in the California marijuana market. This is a stupid issue because California already has de facto legalization already. Anybody with any sort of ailment (minor lower back pain or clinical depression, for example) can go to a family doctor in California and get a medical marijuana card.