The likelihood of more people dying while driving under the influence of marijuana was not the argument that was made. It might look that way because the poster I was replying to chose a very poor measure of "mortality", but that was not the claim. You're jumping right into the middle of a discussion about whether or not marijuana use is more harmful than alcohol use (hint: it is not).
FWIW, it was the poster I was replying to who made the comparison to alcohol:
And to that, I replied:
He wanted proof, and I suggested mortality. He provided data about car accidents, which is just a horrible choice for a number of reasons. Most obvious, of course, is that the vast majority of people who die from alcohol use don't die as a result of being in a car accident while drunk.
I never made the claim that there wasn't a greater number of people who die while driving stoned. I would be inclined to believe that legalization
has increased the number of people who are driving while under the influence of marijuana, and consequently: I would expect an increase in marijuana-related accidents and deaths. That was not the argument being made but even if it was, it would still be a poor argument.
The argument being made appeared to be that alcohol doesn't kill more people than marijuana, and that is entirely false. Alcohol most certainly does kill more people than marijuana, but the vast majority of the time it's due to circumstances other than driving while under the influence.
Now that you are up to speed, I'd be more than happy to address whatever it is you want to discuss.
I'm not excusing anything. I don't use marijuana, and if I were to ever test positive for marijuana I'd lose my job. I'd also likely lose the ability to secure another position in my field for a period of time. There would be no 2nd chances, and there would be no steps I could take to avoid termination. I think it should be legalized entirely without restriction, but from a personal perspective I don't care if it's legalized or not.
As far as, "it just masks the pain", well...that's basically pain management in a nutshell. Hell, even a counterirritant like Icy Hot, "masks the pain".