[ComeUpHigher]

The societal costs from alcohol consumption/intoxication/addiction are astronomical. How many dollars are expended just on efforts to treat alcohol addiction. Then there is the money spent to prosecute drunk drivers who are arrested without accident. If they are a repeat offender, we have the incarceration costs. Then, if they are involved in a single car accident which injures themselves, we have the medical bills associated with their injuries. When the injuries are permanent and debilitating, we have lost productivity from the injured drunk driver. We have the property damage cost associated with repair of the vehicle and whatever object they struck. If it was a multiple vehicle accident, we have multiple injuries with the medical costs for treatment. These injuries will temporarily result in lost productivity and if permanent, debilitating injuries will result in long-term lost productivity. There are the property costs associated with repairing multiple vehicles. The people who are injured because of the drunk driver will litigate their claims. Their will be the litigation costs associated with the the lawsuit—not only in terms of the burden on the court, but also the costs associated with either a settlement or judgment. All of the foregoing analysis is equally applicable when an innocent passenger or driver of another vehicle dies rather than simply suffers physical injury.

Of course we haven't even touched on the emotional/economic costs associated with immediate family members who live in the same household with a drunk. Child neglect, child abuse. Emotional trauma requiring counseling. Physical trauma from abuse requiring medical treatment. And then there is the emotional/economic cost to the victims of the drunk driver. Children left fatherless or motherless. Spouses without emotional or financial support.

The list of economic and societal costs could go on and on and on.

Knowing the consequences of alcohol consumption, now some want to legalize marijuana? When people advocate the legalization of marijuana as good public policy, I have only one question: “What have you been smoking?”

[SmallGovRepub]

You are assuming use would go up a lot if marijuana was legalized. According to government statistics already more than half of all adults under 60 have tried it. I sincerely doubt there are a lot of people out there just waiting for marijuana to be legal before they'll finally smoke it. And those that are that responsible and law abiding aren't likely to be that much of a problem for us because they are responsible and have self control. I bet most everyone who wants to smoke pot already smokes it, and those that don't smoke pot don't smoke it mostly because of all the good reasons not to smoke pot that have nothing to do with its legal status. Look at a country like the Netherlands where they allow retail sales of marijuana from shops that have permits. According to government numbers American adults are about twice as twice as likely as Dutch adults to have even tried marijuana. If legal possession and retail sales would make so many start smoking pot, why aren't the Dutch all stoned out of their gourds all the time? If our laws are really stopping so many from smoking pot, why do we consistently have about the highest per capita marijuana use rates in the world when there are so many other countries where they decriminalized it, don't bother people that possess it, let people get away with growing a little, and in the case of the Netherlands even allow retail sales and have for over thirty years? Most people in this country who want to smoke pot already smoke it, especially when it comes to those most likely to be problem users.

[Axenolith]

That Freedom’s a bitch ain’t it?

The costs you cite are primarily due to societies weak kneed approach to punishment and personal responsibility.

A libtard could substitute “guns” or “trans-fats” or “cigarettes” etc... for alcohol in your arguement and be flying high...

[mysterio]

If you feel that way about alcohol, why aren’t you fighting to make it illegal?

[Trailerpark Badass]

When people advocate the legalization of marijuana as good public policy, I have only one question: “What have you been smoking?”

That's clever.