THE DAILY TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

The state of Delaware is on a trajectory to legalize recreational use of marijuana, having approved medical marijuana use by prescription and decriminalized other uses. The First State also has an energized and organized citizenry lobbying on behalf of full legalization.

If that happens, Delaware will join Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massacussetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia, where it is legal to use marijuana to various degrees and could lead to some visible changes.

Related: Voters OK legal marijuana in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C.

In Colorado, there are reportedly about double the number of places to legally purchase marijuana than to buy Starbucks and McDonalds combined – 440 retail marijuana stores and 531 medical marijuana dispensaries.

It's fair to assume some Marylanders would visit Delaware to buy legal marijuana if Delaware gets there first. But Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis, while expressing his own strenuous objections to legalization, confirmed no beefed-up patrols of the state line are expected when Delaware gives marijuana a green light.

But what will happen in Maryland?

Reader view: Hypocritical leaders legalize pot amid heroin’s ravages

It's fair to conclude, based on established studies, marijuana is safer than alcohol, cigarettes or physician-prescribed narcotic pain relievers like oxycodone, all of which are legal for adults or as prescribed by a licensed physician.

Anyone who is looking for a study to support whatever opinion they already have about marijuana use can find one easily via internet search. There is no medical or scientific consensus.

Maryland appears to be on roughly the same trajectory, but without quite as enthusiastic or well-organized a citizen advocacy. Maryland, like Delaware, has legalized medical use and decriminalized it for other uses.

Reasons to legalize

»One compelling reason to legalize recreational marijuana use goes something like this: Plenty of Americans are already using it illegally, and Delaware's state government is missing out on a huge revenue stream as a result.

In the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 22.2 million of those surveyed admitted having used marijuana in the prior month. In Colorado, where it's been legal since 2012, nearly $70 million was collected in tax revenue in 2015 alone -- almost double the alcohol tax collected that year.

»Another benefit may be better control of the product itself, as well as a more effective system to keep it out of the hands of minors. Maybe.

»Legalization should ease the burden on law enforcement and prison systems, emptying jails and prisons of people who pose no threat to society and allowing those resources to be redirected to solving the opioid addiction crisis.

»A legal market for marijuana removes the need for users to interact with dealers who also peddle other harder drugs, reducing the likelihood of introduction to more harmful drugs such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine or crack.

»Marijuana is not addictive like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and crack are. It can create a dependencythat's said to be easier to kick than tobacco or alcohol.Marijuana smokers don't suffer fatal overdoses. And smoking weed doesn't seem to provoke risky behaviors the way alcohol does.

Reasons not to legalize

»The risk of an increased number of impaired drivers on our roadways and highways is also cited. Again, a fair concern.

While smoking marijuana does impair judgment, motor coordination and reaction time, highway accident statistics do not indicate a correlation between marijuana levels in the blood and increased likelihood of an accident – partly because THC lingers in the bloodstream long after the effects are gone, making it less clear whether its presence indicates actual impairment at the time of an incident.

While drunken drivers generally see themselves as unimpaired and therefore inclined to take unsafe risks, stoned drivers tend to perceive themselves as impaired even when they are not, and compensate by driving more carefully.

The greater danger is a driver who drinks alcohol and smokes pot at the same time, because marijuana appears to enhance the effects of alcohol impairment.

»Our federal government still considers marijuana an illegal narcotic. This may be the most compelling argument against legalization, because it can give users a perhaps false sense of security.

The good news: Any state pondering legalizing recreational marijuana use can take a look at what's been happening in any or all of the nine places where marijuana is already legal before making a final decision.