The report you mention, based on your blog, reports that Marijuana poses a smaller health risk than alcohol. That is an interesting fact. The premise that the legality of the drug is a yes or no decision based on its health risk is flawed. Using that logic would lead to the conclusion that cigarettes should be against the law.

Legalizing a controlled substance that is mind altering and intoxicating will take much more than comparing it to a user’s health of an intoxicant that is the leading cause of car accidents and highway deaths in the United States.

Nice try but we have enough social problems with the controlled substances that are already legal, we do not need to add another.

If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, then there is no logic in outlawing marijuana. Your claim of alcohol causing car accidents and death is misleading. Marijuana is far less liable to be a factor in accidents than alcohol.

It's a far greater societal problem when folks are arrested for doing something that is less of a problem than other legal behaviors. Marijuana prohibition has been a costly boondoggle, and it has yet to show a marked reduction in marijuana use.

It is speculation to say the marijuana is less liable to be a factor in accidents than alcohol. Both are intoxicants, both can be additive, and marijuana is much easier to carry and consume.
You say that having marijuana prohibited has not shown a marked reduction in use. This is an interesting statement. With the sale of the product being illegal, I can’t imagine there being any reliable data as to the amount of use. It has always been illegal so even if there was a way to measure use, how can there be a before and after? How about looking at this from another standpoint? How much would usage go up if it was legal?
It is prudent to look at both cigarettes and alcohol regulation when looking at adding another drug/intoxicant to the list of legal vises that our government would have to control use through laws and congressional debate. Both cigarettes and alcohol have in the past and continue to require our society to pay a large price in terms of dollars and physical suffering. The tobacco industry was successful in preventing the outlawing of the sale of cigarettes for many years. Then the undisputable facts came in and the regulation of tobacco products began with the elevation of the price. Laws continue to be more restrictive by removing the “where it can be consumed.
Alcohol continues to be socially acceptable and yet the use has slowly been restricted. Why? Because use leads to abuse and abuse hurts innocent people. We pretend to care by cutting off users in the 7th inning of a baseball game. We care by no longer providing alcohol at company sponsored functions. We care by requiring that the beer and liquor companies to pay for advertising warning that alcohol use can be deadly.
If we legalize marijuana, we will set into motion another set of laws trying to prevent health and usage issues. We will be doomed to repeating the mistakes made before on other products.
We are a family that has been the innocent victims of a drunk driver. We know first hand what it means to experience pain and suffering, monetary loss, and the fear of driving on the highway because a person had the legal right to consume alcohol. Yet due to the tolerance of drinking in our society, and the lack of enforcement of the laws we now have, that person who inflicted the pain on us walks free to do it again. We on the other hand, walk with the physical and emotional scars as the consequence. We do not need and should not allow another intoxicant to introduced into our society. I would strongly advocate that the illegal user continue to fight the legal system over use and distribution because it puts the pain on the user where it belongs.

Coppermine:
"It is speculation to say the marijuana is less liable to be a factor in accidents than alcohol. Both are intoxicants, both can be additive, and marijuana is much easier to carry and consume."
From - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/199...
'Recent research into impairment and traffic accident reports from several countries shows that marijuana taken alone in moderate amounts does not significantly increase a driver's risk of causing an accident -- unlike alcohol,..

Coppermine:
"(marijuana use stats)"
From - http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/marij...
'Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in the United States. Over 83 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once.
From - http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr5/...
'In 2007 there were 14.5 million current users of marijuana in the United States, compared with 14.6 million in 2002. From 2002 to 2007 annual use of marijuana declined slightly from 25.9 to 25.1 million. The number of Americans who have used marijuana at some point in their lives actually increased, from 95 million in 2002 to over 100 million in 2007.'

Coppermine:
"It is prudent to look at both cigarettes and alcohol regulation..."
Solved - stiffer penalties for those whose exercise of freedom harms another. Better regulation through sane control policies are what we need, not creating more criminals. 'Vices' have existed since the dawn of man, no outlawing of such has ever shown to be an effective deterent.

Coppermine:
"Both cigarettes and alcohol have in the past and continue to require our society to pay a large price in terms of dollars and physical suffering..."
Where alcohol prohibition was an utter failure in the past, I see no proof of it's efficacy against marijuana. People will find a way to enjoy their vices, this is inescapable.
Please see - http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/ca...

Coppermine:
"...we will set into motion another set of laws trying to prevent health and usage issues..."
Quality of laws should weigh heavier than quantity. Regulation of alcohol is far better than prohibition (historically). I am sure the same would go for marijuana.

Coppermine:
"We are a family that has been the innocent victims of a drunk driver..."
I am genuinely sorry for your loss. The fact is that marijuana 'dui' is far less dangerous than alcohol 'dui', as such, equating one with the other is a bit wrong. Obviously dui itself is a serious offense, and should be dealt with as such.

As intoxicants go, marijuana is orders of degree less harmful than alcohol. Marijuana use is a part of our society, it shows no signs of going away. To compare alcohol to marijuana is really apples and oranges. Compared to alcohol marijuana users are less violence prone, less accident prone, and less disruptive to society as a whole.

I have been thinking about the legalization of marijuana and all of the studies about its use. I can find studies that show it to be the less harmful chemical you refer too in the comments you have made. I can also find research that shows it to be something that is as bad as alcohol and show it to be a gateway drug. I can find research and statistics that prove it to be harmful to the health of the user. I have even located a study that shows it to be as high a risk on the highways as alcohol. The arguments, pro and con can go on forever.

Something in the back of my mind about all of this rhetoric kept bothering me and I believe I just realized what it is. I find it interesting you are using Drugscience.org as a reference. I assume you know who they are because of your reference to their work. They are, if I am not mistaken called The Marijuana Policy Project Foundation. Not exactly a neutral source for the interpretation of statistics. They are a group listed as a 501 C 3, but with political goals. The Better Business Bureau also has them listed as a non profit that is not in compliance with the accountability rules. The political activist who wrote the articles you refer too is Jon Gettman. Jon Gettman has also been the major contributor to the magazine “High Times.

Here is my idea of what is going on here. First, the goal is to legalize marijuana because Jon Gettman and people like him want to be able to use this intoxicant. The methods used to accomplish the goal of being able to use, have been centered around political lobbying. The objective has been to use the idea of public expense and public use as a reason to legalize this drug. If this foundation can convince our legislators that the drug is harmless, that the general public doesn’t oppose the legalization and in fact most everyone uses it, and we all can save time and money by not having to enforce its prohibition then is should be made legal. After all, it should be simple to white just a few laws to regulate it like alcohol or even remove all regulations and have another tobacco product for sale. The emphasis here is on reduced cost and enforcement. Come across as being concerned for the good of all and be able to promote a special interest group’s agenda. The underlying flaw in the method being used is that the voter’s do not agree with the idea of legal use. I would suspect the frustration of the activists has been that they are hung up on the statistics. They are convinced that everyone should be able to see the clear and rational conclusion of legalization. The truth is that the statistics are not relevant to the voters. They have not and do not want marijuana legalized and have expressed that fact to their congressional representatives.

I appreciate your reasoned approach, and I accept the facts you have presented.

My point of argument is that the harm of incarcerating otherwise decent, law abiding folks because they use a drug that is relatively harmless is a far greater problem. The number of users is great, I think all can agree. The amount of harm caused to society by users is really only due to the potentially and actively violent criminals prohibition empowers.

Abuse of any drug, from aspirin to the worst you can think of is harmful, and moderation is always the best course. The amount of marijuana required for overdose is near impossible to consume. The amount required to impair driving equal to alcohol dui is also near impossible to consume. My whole contention is that folks are going to use marijuana, there's little that can be done to stop it.

There are all sorts of potential ways to monitor/control the use, draconian or simple. We can cross that bridge once we all agree marijuana use is not going away, it's not such a horror as some would claim, and jailing people is not the answer. The claim that it is a gateway drug is a bit off as well. Folks who are going to get into drug use are going to find their drug of choice. Where many settle into marijuana use, many others would progress to 'harder' drugs regardless of whether they used marijuana or not.

Allowing folks to use legally what they are already using illegally could have potential benefits as well. There is a huge potential tax source that is going now to potentially/actively violent criminals who profit greatly from prohibition. Of course many dealers are just ordinary, honest, decent folks who only break even or profit marginally. But if the 'real criminals' are no longer able to profit, and some of the legal profit could be taxed, then there is a potential goldmine waiting.

These taxes could be used for education of potential harms, administration, as well as general funds. It could be used to help people who are addicted to even more harmful drugs as well. To me there is just so much potential going to waste through prohibition.