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Reduction of that burden would be nice. Alcohol has been legal for the entire lifespan of a majority of Americans, Marijuana has not.

I am not arguing the WOD or prohibition, the topic is traffic safety and the effects of pot on the ability to drive.

My point is that the legalization of another intoxicant would be likely to cause an increase in that ER load, so why go there.

Keep in mind that that increase in ER patients, whether for testing or for trauma will be utilizing resources already sorely taxed in some areas.

Why, with knowledge and forethought, increase that load by legalizing another substance which would have to be regulated, tested for, etc.?

There are those who will argue that the DUI industry is already one which has surpassed mere traffic safety and become a cash cow for certain sectors, namely law enforcement, local courts, and the evaluation, treatment, and rehab industry. There are others who will argue that it has become an excuse to set up checkpoints and violate the 4th amendent rights of Americans en masse. Why add another reason?

Why not reduce the burden on the system by banning alcohol?

Reduction of that burden would be nice.

So do you support banning alcohol?

Alcohol has been legal for the entire lifespan of a majority of Americans, Marijuana has not.

So? There was a time when slavery had been legal for the entire lifespan of a majority of Americans; was that a good reason to maintain that policy?

I am not arguing the WOD or prohibition [...] Why, with knowledge and forethought, increase that load by legalizing another substance which would have to be regulated, tested for, etc.?

You contradict yourself.

There are those who will argue that the DUI industry is already one which has surpassed mere traffic safety and become a cash cow for certain sectors, namely law enforcement, local courts, and the evaluation, treatment, and rehab industry. There are others who will argue that it has become an excuse to set up checkpoints and violate the 4th amendent rights of Americans en masse. Why add another reason?

Those are good arguments for reining in the DUI industry, not for further violating the rights of adults by banning all use of certain substances.

It's as simple as this: Most who want to smoke pot already do. Legalizing it would make little difference in the way things already are. Already there are those who would smoke pot and drive. Already there are those who will smoke pot and drink and drive. The worst, the biggest partiers, already do what they are going to do. Legalizing marijuana would not change that.

If anything, legalizing marijuana would soften the rhetoric from both sides and hopefully make people think more about what they do, whether it be driving, going to work, or whatever. As it is there appear to be two distinct camps and those in between. There are those who over-demonize marijuana, and those who over-glorify it. There are those who insist it is absolutely harmless and those who insists it is the worst of all threats to our way of life. The truth is in the middle somewhere. Look at what is happening with cigarettes in this country. Do we see much glorifying of tobacco? Absolutely not. Almost no one remains arguing that tobacco is harmless. When marijuana is legalized, and it will be legalized eventually, we'll see it following the same path cigarettes are following today, only there won't be so far to go because hardly anyone smokes weed compared to all those who smoke cigarettes.