Well I have smoked enough pot in my youth for all of us.... been totally sober almost 19 years. I know it's effects well. Here's my understanding of it:
1. Pain relief??? Give me a break... didn't work. In fact, anything that hurt was worse! Throbbing became more intense after a nose surgery & general pain became more focused... miserable. I have never agreed that it is an effective pain reliever. So now everyone who has a headache smokes POT?? Look out America; you have not seen FAT & LAZY Americans yet.... legalize Pot & we will.
2. Years ago while in rehab, I was shown a brain scan of 10-year users of Pot, Alcohol, Coke/Meth, Heroin, etc.... each one had a similarity. Remember all the jokes about killing brain cells??? It is brain tissue leaving the brain.... physical flesh. In other words, craters were appearing on the surfac4e of each brain scan... disappearing tissue... like Swiss cheese. Ya know which one was the worst??? POT. Why??? It is the most reinforced habit & kills the brain cells like a machine. You want your kids smoking it?? "It is legal now; alcohol is worse"... blah blah blah... POT makes people underachievers, lazy, fat & STUPID. Alcohol is bad too... sooooo, lets pour gas on the fire & make pot legal.
3. Gangs/Cartels/Drug Lords etc.... they will continue to smuggle drugs if Pot is legalized. It is Coke, Heroin, & Meth that will never be legal & they will have continued demand. Except Pot will be legal & every burger flippin', bus driving, airplane flyin' pot-veggie will be in control of your kids, & lives a little more than now. Preventative drug tests you say???? Easy to pass a drug test. They make "legal" drug test kits & drinks that work almost immediately.
No need for peer pressure anymore... it is "Legal". "Good parenting" will prevent our youth from trying something they shouldn't??? That is naive.... like "saying no to drugs"... yeah, that campaign worked well. The enemy wants us to have more things to take us all away from sobriety. Tolerance is the new standard... it will be another nail in the coffin for us & our future generation. Legalizing Pot is another lesser of evils.... except the consequences are deeper than we will admit. I say keep it illegal. Maybe we don't crowd the jails w/ Pot smokers... instead the courts should impose a mandatory JOB/work sentence.
Pot is not the same these days... THC content is much higher. We don't have enough history of new weed & higher levels of THC... so we should not act like we are experts in what it will do/not do. One thing is for sure, it will not get weaker boys.... what does more alcohol proof do when added to booze?? It causes faster liver poisoning... which is the "drunk" people feel. High THC is an unknown long-term. It is a drug... not a simple plant or organic savior. The Opium poppy also made Heroin... it was a natural pant too. Whatever... my vote is NOT.