If you read any weed forum you’ll find endless posts of people who can’t smoke anymore because it causes paranoia and panic attacks. Same with me, used to be fun and now it causes anxiety. There are definitely some long term effects and changes to the brain that have not been sufficiently studied. Luckily it will be much easier now to do those studies.
I've never used, but even w/ health risks, it's better to legalize and decriminalize than send young mothers/fathers to jail and basically create cycle's of poverty.
One of the biggest demographics of poverty in America is single-mother's who's bf's are incarcerated usually for drug offenses, though of course some might be gang and other criminal offenses - but still a lot of that has drug related connotations.
If mj is regulated/sold openly then likely they won't be distributing on street corners and going to jail, or using and going to jail for possession, causing them to become even harder criminals by association and thus start life-long criminal careers, and giving up on being a good father, and provider.
My philosophy is let anyone ingest anything they want (Tide pods are still legal), if they're stupid enough to die or maim themselves -- people shoot firecrackers from their hand and doesn't always end well - people just do stupid shit, but it's their choice/freedom to do so. Until they step over the line and injure others as a result of their stupid actions, let them have that freedom and the government should step out.
The government should have help for those who need it to get into rehab/medical treatment and support those who want to get off hard drugs, but deal with it as a medical condition, not a criminal one. People should feel safe going to a hospital and saying I have a drug addiction and want to quit, please help me - without fear of going to jail.
The government can prosecute blackmarket sales though, all night/day, I'm cool w/ that, I feel the end-user's are victims even though they choose to 'buy', I don't think they should be at fault for being a 'consumer' of goods, those capitalizing on it should be the only ones charged.
