It's alarming that those calling for legislation specifically making it illegal to use marijuana behind the wheel don't understand the driver impairment laws already on the books.

Impaired driving, whether from alcohol, marijuana or any other drug, is already illegal. We don't need a separate law to spell it out. Current law states, "A person may not drive or attempt to drive any vehicle while he is so far impaired by any drug, any combination of drugs, or a combination of one or more drugs and alcohol that he cannot drive a vehicle safely."

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It is unfortunate that Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith, unlike his colleagues in the New Jersey State Municipal Prosecutors' Association and unlike the thousands of law enforcement officials who have joined Law Enforcement Against Prohibition in order to help end the drug war, refuses to listen to the will of the people and embrace marijuana policy reform.

The prohibition of marijuana wastes law enforcement resources, creates profits for organized crime, incentivizes violence, exacerbates racial disparities in the criminal justice system and creates an uncontrolled market in which kids sell to other kids.

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Gov. Martin O'Malley has recently made the case for beefing up law enforcement to battle this year's rise in crime, including in an op-ed in The Sun. "So long as levels of enforcement continue to decline," he argued, "shootings and homicides will continue to go up."

This argument overlooks the way an emphasis on enforcement prevents this city from tackling violent crime. In fact, overenforcement has the opposite effect and renders crime more pernicious in the communities that are most affected. To solve our problems with violent crime, we need to first repeal our drug policies.

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