Repeat something enough times and you’ll believe it without qualification.

An example: Marijuana is much safer than alcohol.

Explain that to the family and friends of those killed by a driver impaired while under the influence of marijuana.

To be clear, everything from tracking and under reporting to the analysis of cannabis-related traffic crashes are in the infancy stage compared to the massive volume of data for those involving alcohol.

Screening for the possible involvement of marijuana as a contributing factor is limited and far from universal.

That said, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reported a 6.5 percent increase in traffic mishaps in California since 2018 when recreational marijuana was legalized in the state.

A Canadian study indicates between 2010 and 2021 that marijuana involved traffic collisions increased 475 percent. During the same time frame alcohol related crashes were up 9.4 percent.

Keep in mind the raw numbers in that Canadian study had marijuana involved traffic mishaps in the hundreds and alcohol involved ones in the thousands.

The bottom line is marijuana is a significant upswing in being a factor on traffic fatalities and injuries.

Yet, those hellbent to legalize it took shortcuts in declaring it is safe to use — or no more harmful  — than alcohol.

In doing so, they sent a message that is was not as dangerous as alcohol.

And they did so by glossing over common sense as well as science by making that premise universal.

Excess or addictive use of anything can have ill effects.

The argument that marijuana as opposed to alcohol has less long range harmful effects on one’s body has a good chance of holding up under long-range scientific scrutiny.

A major industry has sprung up over the decades regarding alcohol-related heath and safety issues. Not so for marijuana.

But it is clear that marijuana, like alcohol, can and does relax users and therefore slows down reaction time as well as overall awareness as one consumes more and more.

The huge qualification that those on the vanguard of pushing for legalized marijuana glossed over was this: Cannabis use, just like alcohol, can imperil the safety and lives of others that the user comes across.

That is true on the streets of Manteca as tragically happened on West Yosemite Avenue on Sunday night or in the workplace.

Marijuana is not alone.

There is a who list of illegal narcotics, prescription drugs, and even over the counter medications that can impair reaction time and make people less alert.

Manteca has had its share of such “accidents”, which by definition, were not accidents.

Rare is the traffic mishap that is an accident.

It is either someone driving too fast, not paying attention to the road by being distracted by texting et al, failure to do proper maintenance, misusing alcohol/drugs/medications, or those who just plain blow off warnings on over the counter meds such as Sudafed because they have a delusional super human complex.

In the mid-1990s. Teresa Martin was getting out of her car in front of the Manteca Library on the very wide Center Street.

She was struck and killed by a hit and run driver.

A driver, who later that day, was caught after she had another hit and run incident that involved another parked vehicle.

The woman driver was found to be under the influence of prescription drugs. She basically disregarded warnings and drove.

A warning, by the way, that applies to operating heavy machinery.

That is not an aside as much as re-enforcement of the deadly folly of buying into cannabis boosters that seem hellbent on rolling back workplace rules guarding against marijuana use.

Marijuana, to repeat, relaxes and slows down users’ reaction time just like alcohol.

Cannabis may be detectable in the system much longer than alcohol without undermining motor skills or alertness that would pose a risk to others.

Hair strand testing is an example.

But the effort to toss all workplace safeguards regarding marijuana use out until definitive tests can be made to support a universal replacement of the rules is about supporting a multi-billion dollar industry.

At the same time it elevates the “rights” of users above potential victims of the impairments marijuana consumption can create in the workplace.

And since the argument always comes to “rights”, let’s go there.

There are more rights than the rights of the users of marijuana, alcohol, or medication in play.

The rights of bystanders, if you will, are just as important.

If the use of any substance by an individual dilutes the rights or  can jeopardize the health and safety or another it must be tempered.

Marijuana is no different than alcohol.

Nor is it any different than the use of tobacco cigarettes.

You rarely see — or smell — someone today lighting up cigarettes in public places where the law restricts ones from doing so.

That’s not always the case with marijuana.

Marijuana and alcohol are different animals.

If places that sold alcohol had the security mandated in place such as legal cannabis sales do, armed robberies would plummet and the number of underage shoplifters of beer and other booze would virtually vanish.

On the flip side, there are not a lot of moonshiners out there that are cartel backed still farms in old growth redwoods guarded by armed workers or someone fermenting 50 proof vodka in their backyard to sell on the street.

The law needs to protect the rights of everyone.

And it doesn’t help the cause of the cannabis industry for them to keep repeating the half truth that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.

It might be the case for the user that does so responsibly and in moderation, but it isn’t for others when cannabis is used irresponsibly and in an excessive manner.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com