I had three too many boyfriends who liked smoking pot more than they liked having an adult relationship, and I had to make a final decision NOT to date another pot smoker, which is how I met hubby (has never even tried it or been around others smoking it).
My own mom smoked it for years, and even did so around us, so being around peers smoking it makes me feel like those peers are ancient. It's just all so silly to be around.
BUT I think it should be legalized.
I know a couple people who like that it's illegal b/c it keeps them from trying it. I don't understand that! I got into a near-yelling argument with an old friend during my bachelorette weekend, over legalization. I think she's really worried about what she might do if it were legal. For me, the legality of it makes no difference. I know countless places where I could get it, b/c I live in the same town as those exes, and knowing where it is hasn't caused me to get it.
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Well - is it true that it can be put in baked goods? Or is that just rumor? You know - the whole "brownies" thing.. (I'm a dim wit when it comes to drugs - LOL..) Maybe it could be made in a form that could be mixed with food or made in a pill form?
It CAN be put into brownies. I have two stories about that.
My mom's second wedding was at the winery that she and her husband worked at. Well, it was the reception; the wedding had been in our front yard. Since children were invited, there wasn't supposed to be anything naughty going on (other than the wine of course), but someone decided to bring some special brownies.
My mom had a good friend who was rather innocent, and along with that she was an extreme overeater. She found the GREEN brownies (even I, at 10 or so, noticed the bizarre green color and stayed FAR away from them (I think I actually told my mom about them)) and ate probably 4 or 5 before anyone could tell her. She was found later passed out on the side of a hill in the vineyard. Yikes.
And the second story was from the last boyfriend pre-husband. He and his friends were getting ready for a huge Halloween party, and had a TON of marijuana. They had it b/c he worked with a teacher (he was a para educator) whose son had decided to do local wrestling, and he wanted to build a ring on their property. Since they (the teacher and her son) had been growing quite a crop, they had to cut it ALL down, and my boyfriend and his roommates had bags and bags and bags (paper grocery bags) full. It was ridiculous.
One of them decided they wanted brownies, so they started figuring that out. And after much experimentation, they found that the most effective and tasty way (the others were horrible, they said) was to make basically an "herb butter", then use that butter in the brownie batter.
So brownies are NOT an easy way of doing it.
And rather than being a pain reliever (I never noticed someone say "oh my pain is gone" when smoking it) I think it's more that it relaxes people. And it's used while people are having chemotherapy b/c it quells the nausea and allows people to EAT, which keeps them healthier.
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That's really the only thing I can think of too.. Certainly using marijuana would be far less addicting than oxycontin - easier to get off of - and cost significantly less..
Cost, control, not wanting to be the politician that legalized it, those all play into it.
As for the addictiveness of it, "they" have shown repeatedly that since it doesn't cause withdrawal symptoms, that means it's not addictive.
Don't know that I totally believe that, but if going by some official definition of addiction, I guess withdrawals are a big part of that definition, and it doesn't fit.
I've never seen anyone's life ruined by it. If people have a problem in their lives and they are covering it by smoking, they'd cover it with booze or shopping or gambling or any of those things, if pot weren't available. So it's the nature of the person that's the problem, IMO, not the thing itself.
In my boyfriends' cases, they just wanted to escape life. They COULD go without it, but they didn't LIKE to. They enjoyed the feeling of relaxation that it gave them, and the fact that it helped them not be adults and in a relationship (with the wrong person, which I absolutely was for them) when they didn't really want to be in one.
(And the side effects from that medication create a whole new set of problems that have to be dealt with by - SURPRISE! - taking MORE medications!!!!) 
He will not admit that he is an addict. He could not even stop smoking so his wife could get pregnant....
I don't know as obviously I have never smoked it..
