As usual, you are talking without a clue. I have not smoked pot since the seventies, but I have used it in various forms for chronic pain and as a muscle relaxant, to aid in healing from a cold and pneumonia. Watch the film about cancer cure and see the studies have been done in university labs. No one has been ever harmed by the use of pot. The biggest nay sayers are those who have been conditioned to fear their own shadows.
I too grew up in the 60s and 70s too, Cliffy, and smoked my last joint when i was about 25. For a year or two prior to prior to that i was constantly stoned, to the point that i was developing serious paranoia, depression and psychosis.. something i never got from alcohol, which i similarly over did for a time. I still enjoy a few drinks on occasion, i wouldn't touch a joint these days with 10 foot pole.
All my friends of that period, quit about the same time i did, because it was impossible to go into work, or study, or get yourself sufficiently together to go out for an night on the town. or do just about anything if you were habitually using pot, much less develop a social, professional and family life. Those that didn't quit ended up getting into much harder stuff, or just dropping out into some subsistence and transient lifestyle.. and were searching for a psychological crutch, not a recreational escape.
The nature of the drug is such that you won't JUST be blissed out, not for long anyway.. you will end up having a great deal of difficulty relating to people, getting things done, developing a career, forming a family.. and there are increasingly negative psychological effects to heavy use. That's not just my experience, it was a widely held view in my circle.. which was, i think, a sophisticated, well educated and open minded group.
The psychotic effects of heavy marijuana use have been theorized and studied for some time. The paranoia and depression are well vetted as well. Marijuana is a mind addling drug that drives the heavy user into extreme introversion, to the point of severe social avoidance.. and to disinterest, a lack of concentration, a lack of dynamism or engagement on professional or familial matters.
My original point was that if the active ingredient of marijuana is truly therapeutic, then isolate it and test it under rigorous objective medical protocols.. clearly defining its negative consequences as well. Define dosages, methods of administrations, guarantees of consistency, potency and quality.. as well as a methodology of weaning the patient off a course of doping.. as exist with all other medicines.
The marijuana industry throws up it hands its disgust at the prospect. And they do because they know, from what tests have been done, that the outcome will show TLC has MINIMAL therapeutic value. Because they have zilch in terms of evidence except opinion and a kind of cultural mystique to offer. But that is the basis now of a multi billion dollar industry. And that industry.. is all about getting stoned. And i've stated the fact is that marijuana is a drug that in heavy and habitual use, will cause far more harm than the minimal and unproven 'good' its given credit for.