Legalizing marijuana in all states would not necessarily lead to increased incidence of impaired driving. Similar to the social and criminal effects of alcohol, individuals may choose to smoke or ingest marijuana but may not choose to operate a vehicle thereafter. However, a caveat to this is that, with the implications of increased use of marijuana after legalization, there might be an increase in impaired driving simply because more people are using the drug. Initially after legalization there would be a trend of impaired driving, but as the legalization becomes less unfamiliar it would be expected for incidences of impaired driving to decrease. It is also essential to note the methods that the criminal justice system will use to regulate …show more content…
As it stands, state laws do not effectively and concretely address the punishments that relate to the consumption of marijuana without interpretation. Impairment under the use of marijuana is unenforceable if the state fails to define how much marijuana is too much and what exactly the level of impairment is. If the government were to combat and fight the use of marijuana despite it legalization to protect citizens, they would need to issue policy with the mentality of the “war on drugs” and get harsh with enforcement and prosecution. With wavering enforcement and prosecution, individuals fail to identify the seriousness of impaired driving. Of additional importance, the legalization of marijuana has been on the state level not the federal level. It could be presumed that prosecuting individuals at the federal level rather than the state level could deter individuals from impaired driving. The federal judiciary would make far better strides in reducing the occurrence of impaired driving because they have the upper hand of the law. Thus, the state has an obligation to define a legal limit, use an effective and timely instrument of measurement for THC, and fully prosecute violators to efficaciously discourage individuals from driving after smoking or