Yes, if you test such things as hand-eye coordination, basic sobriety tests, a joint (certainly even more so these days) is worse than a drink, a glass or two of wine, or a bottle or two of beer, depending on their alcohol content.
As we both know, you are allowed to drink and drive. Your blood alcohol just has to be below .08, if my memory serves me correctly.
It is true, being “high” is a subjective term. How altered is too altered? We have some arbitrary measurements and tests, so we use those.
So, the general idea is that you drink wine for the taste.
Some drink vintage Whiskey(the water of life) for the taste.
But when you smoke, you are not doing it for the taste and, furthermore, if you have high quality smoke, you may be more uncoordinated.
However, your argument corresponds with mine in a point. Unregulated Pot is a roulette wheel. You never know what you are getting. Does it make more sense to have the FDA involved so you know what you are getting?
I would think that if someone didn’t want to get high or impaired, but wanted an experience similar to a glass of wine or a couple of beers, they would just not smoke a whole joint, but maybe a puff or two.