San Fran to expunge over 9000 cannabis convictions

[Yonadav]

I have one very serious reservation about the legalization of weed. People drive while high, and that really, really pisses me off. Studies have shown an increase in car accidents in the states that have legalized weed. The increase is about 6%. With about 30,000 people dying per year in car accidents, a 6% increase is 1,800 more dead people every year. People seem to be reasoning that since weed is legal, then driving while high is more acceptable.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consume...es-n921511

Eh, the research is not quite as clear cut as you're trying to make it out to be. A quote from CBS said

"The researchers note that the link between marijuana and car crashes is not as clear as the link between alcohol and car accidents. Policies and procedures for drug testing tend to be inconsistent, and many states don't include consistent information on driver drug use in crash reports."

It's also important to note that, unlike with alcohol, there's no easy way to tell if a person who tested positive for cannabis was impaired while they were driving. Another important note is it's not as if all of those 1800 people tested positive for cannabis. And this isn't a measure of fatal car accidents, just car accidents. It's not quite as clear-cut as you're trying to make it out to be, but it's certainly something to be considered.

That being said, I'd much rather see someone behind the wheel on just cannabis than just alcohol. Ideally, no one would drive impaired, but we don't live in a perfect world.

There are many more positives to the idea of drug legalization than there are negatives, that's for sure.

I'm not trying to make something seem more clear than it is. I gave you that link specifically because of its balanced perspective about the correlation between legalization of weed and car accidents. I have no anti recreational drug use agenda. I would certainly rather encounter stoned people than drunk people. But I don't want to encounter either while they are driving.