I think proponents claims for MJ’s magical properties are mostly hucksterism. I don’t think anything more than occasional usage is going to be a negative factor in most people’s lives. If I had my own company, for instance, I wouldn’t want my employees getting stoned every night. I told my son (at a high priced private college) that if he wanted to “party” a lot, just to do it at a lower cost state school (however, lucky for me, he doesn’t drink or toke–just not interested).

I just don’t like the hypocrisy and hysterics about MJ that I’ve seen all my life. It just hasn’t squared with my own personal experience with it. Never agreed that it is/was a legitimate function of law enforcement to get involved in what’s a personal behavior decision.

Tobacco is bad for you and bad for kids. Nicotine is powerfully addictive.
Alcohol is bad for you and bad for kids. Alcohol is powerfully addictive.
Marijuana is bad for you and bad for kids. It is psychoactive and addictive, at least for some people. It causes physiological changes.

Warning labels tell pregnant women not to use marijuana.

Important safety tip: don’t use drugs with warning labels.

My primary concern is for the children, whose brains we have every reason to believe are uniquely susceptible to structural change from marijuana use. Consider (from Scientific American):

“recent studies show that cannabinoids manufactured by our own nerve cells play a crucial role in wiring the brain, both prenatally and during adolescence. Throughout life they regulate appetite, sleep, emotion, memory and movement—which makes sense when you consider the effects of marijuana. There are “huge changes” in the concentration of these endocannabinoids during the teenage years, according to neurologist Yasmin Hurd of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai…”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-pot-really-does-to-the-teen-brain/

Tragically, these same young minds are also exceptionally vulnerable to the asinine influences of the entertainment and liberal communities that have celebrated and even glamorized marijuana use, elevating it from what it actually is, a risking and undesirable choice, to what it certainly is not, a harmless credential of rebellious sophistication and social cool.

If we were a pure libertarian society, people would be TOTALLY responsible for their own bad decisions.

We would have to accept the reality of miserable wretches lying in the gutters and people telling them “it’s your own damn fault”. Instead, we vote for big hearted politicians who are going to use government “to do something”, meaning make innocent taxpayers pay for the irresponsible wretches.

Legalizing marijuana and other “recreational drugs” just allows the pitiful wretches and drug profiteers to get their greedy, slimy fingers on my wallet.