[whateveracct]

Legalizing weed didn't do that. There's always been an opinion (argument?) that driving high is fine. Carl Sagan even discusses it in Mr. X (1969):

> I have mentioned that in the cannabis experience there is a part of your mind that remains a dispassionate observer, who is able to take you down in a hurry if need be. I have on a few occasions been forced to drive in heavy traffic when high. I’ve negotiated it with no difficulty at all, though I did have some thoughts about the marvelous cherry-red color of traffic lights. I find that after the drive I’m not high at all. There are no flashes on the insides of my eyelids. If you’re high and your child is calling, you can respond about as capably as you usually do. I don’t advocate driving when high on cannabis, but I can tell you from personal experience that it certainly can be done.

http://hermiene.net/essays-trans/mr_x.html

[CheezeIt]

Yes it did. Traffic deaths in Colorado have grown much faster than the population and much more than the national rate, since legalization.

[kstrauser]

Traffic deaths in CO were up 3% last year: https://kdvr.com/news/local/colorado-traffic-related-deaths-...

CO population increased by 15% in the last decade: https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/colorado-news/color...

It seems like it'd be really hard to defend the claim that the death rate (which isn't per-mile-driven, so lacks the context to actually evaluate it meaningfully) is growing "much faster" than the population.

[CheezeIt]

It’s actually really easy. Colorado marijuana legalization happened in 2014, not last year. So why are you looking at last year’s change?

[kstrauser]

I produced figures. Your turn.

Edit: Never mind, got 'em. Here's Colorado's own numbers: https://www.codot.gov/safety/traffic-safety/assets/fatal-cra...

Notice that fatalities are up significantly, but so are vehicle miles traveled. In fact, in 2013, Colorado had .0075 fatalities per million miles driven. In 2019, that number was... .0075. In other words, your likelihood of dying per distance driven was almost exactly equal to 2013.

This are the CO government's numbers, not mine or anyone else's.

I don't have a dog in this hunt. I'm not from Colorado, and I don't use marijuana. But it's really hard to say that legalizing marijuana in CO had any affect on traffic safety at all, when the fatality rate is essentially identical afterward.

[CheezeIt]

The chart you linked says your numbers are wrong, and between those two years there’s about a 6-7% increase in fatalities per mile, with even larger fatality numbers in the years in the middle.

If you don’t have a dog in this hunt why are you posting wrong numbers, falsely stating there was no increase, and ignoring the deaths from 2014-2018?

[1] 481/470 -> 597/545 is a 7% increase.

[whateveracct]

That doesn't mean it made people's opinion of driving high more favorable. It could just mean more people are high period, but the rate of people who drive high remained the same.

[CheezeIt]

Well, okay. I guess we’d have to read their minds to resolve this question. They might be less afraid of consequences for getting caught with weed, or caught while high, it being “just” a DUI.

[thatcat]

Yea, it's actually a banned substance in esports racing because of it's known performance enhancing qualities.

[whateveracct]

hah I did not know that

Does this mean all my rhythm game personal best are invalid '-'

[JohnWhigham]

And Sigmund Freud spent a decade using cocaine daily. Doesn't mean it's OK for everyone else to.

[whateveracct]

I actually wasn't arguing from authority. I think the paragraph stands alone without the author's name attached (in fact it was originally published under a pseudonym, proving this point.)

[throwamon]

Sure, the paragraph stands alone as a single data point. GP's point stands.