I never said you couldn't. You chose not to. I pointed out that comparisons to alcohol were appropriate as a comparative measure for determining acceptable risk. You agreed, but qualified it by saying that any comparison should only be made when and if the decision to legalize was made. You wish to determine wheather or not it should be legalized without any reference to risk, but I'm not sure what it is you intend to base that determination on. The decision that risk is not a consideration was yours.
Close. Legalization of marijuana should not be determined by a comparison to the risks of alcohol. For example, the arguments have gone, a) Marijuana is not as harmful as alcohol, b)Alcohol is legal, therefore c)Marijuana should be legal because it's not as harmful. I am not swayed by this argument, and it's an insult to my intelligence when it's made. I think there needs to be better arguments than that before people will vote to overturn the current laws.
If marijuana were legalized, then we can look at where it fits in with the other legal drugs (such as alcohol) in order to determine how it is to be distributed. Prescription only? State stores? Federal stores? 18 and over? 21 and over? Grow your own?