A study released this week has found legalizing medical marijuana has resulted in a nearly 9% decline in traffic deaths and a 5% reduction in beer sales in states that allow it. The study is the first ever to examine the relationship between medical marijuana and traffic fatalities.

The study, Medical Marijuana Laws, Traffic Fatalities, and Alcohol Consumption, could be an important intervention in ongoing debates over medical marijuana and marijuana legalization, reformers said. Opponents of loosened marijuana laws use concerns over drugged driving and possible traffic fatalities as one of their most effective arguments against liberalization, and this study could lessen the effectiveness of that argument...

Marijuana reform advocates who have studiously compared alcohol and marijuana liked what they heard.

"Every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far safer than alcohol for the user and society," said Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and coauthor of the book, Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? "It should come as little surprise that when we allow adults to make the safer choice to use marijuana it results in less drinking and fewer alcohol-related problems."

Tvert coordinated the successful ballot initiatives in Denver that made it the first city in the nation to remove all penalties for adult possession (2005), and designated possession as its lowest law enforcement priority (2007).  He is currently one of two formal proponents of a 2012 statewide initiative campaign to make marijuana legal in Colorado and regulate it like alcohol... 

Read the entire story at: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/nov/30/new_study_finds_traffic_fataliti