Legalizing pot

Here's another letter I sent to my local newpaper since I know they probably won't publish it. It's important info for anyone weighing the pros and cons of pot.

Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize pot. Clearly it helps for some conditions causing nausea and reduced appetite and more but there is a dark side as well. It has been proven to cause anxiety, depression and psychosis in those predisposed. Also, there are no long-term effects on memory or learning in adult users but there definitely are negative effects on all these things for those who smoke heavily in their teens. I would also like to point out that marijuana today is very different from what it used to be for baby-boomers; growers have increased the psychoactive effects of marijuana to the point that it is much more potent than it used to be. It is not simply a harmless herb anymore. On principle I think if alcohol is legal, then marijuana should be too. It is still less dangerous than alcohol overall. But as a marijuana addict who had to go through hospitals and rehab to stop smoking up constantly and ruining my life, I'm worried about the negative consequences. Marijuana will become as ubiquitous as alcohol and that will definitely help create more addicts. Even now in Montreal where pot is already quite ubiquitous, I meet more and more people who have a problem with pot and it is interfering with their lives. Even my psychiatrist says she is seeing the same thing in her patients more and more. If any place makes it legal, they should ban it from anyone under 18 and increase spending on addiction treatment services with the tax money. Just the existence of Marijuana Anonymous groups proves that pot can take over your life just as badly as any other drug if you're predisposed to addiction. 

a proper comparison

It's going alright so far with just one a day. I just really look forward to the 4 times a day I have a couple tokes. Otherwise I'm cooking, doing a little gardening, hanging out with my bro and the occasional friends. But I figured I should do an official comparison of the pros and cons of smoking, now that I'm more aware of both than ever before. It's crazy all the contradictory things it does to me and I want to motivate myself more by keeping the cons in mind. Eventually it is just untenable to continue in addiction.
Let's start with the pros:
- relaxation, muscles relax, calming
- dopamine rush, euphoria, happy feelings, temporary energy
- fun visual distortions, closed-eye visuals, music from nowhere and tripping
- stimulated creative thinking
- heightened perception of visual details, makes everything look magical
- opens up spiritual planes of existence
- distracts me from problems, personal issues
- prevents BPD driven episodes of self-destructiveness temporarily

Cons:
- exacerbates emotional issues stemming from my Borderline Personality Disorder: I become more emotionally unstable and paranoid of others.
- aggravates my asthma, I'm also allergic to smoke
- takes over and replaces most other pleasurable activities in my life
- sucks up my creative passions (don't play instruments or do artwork)
- withdrawal symptoms: agitated, insomnia, even more emotionally sensitive than usual
- hides issues and problems from myself, can't be aware of everything or work on self-improvement
- upsets chemical balances in my brain
- costs money, takes effort to roll and smoke undetected several times a day
- possible DUIs/accidents/problems with law
- lower motivation, less energy and ability to focus
- eventually leads to more mental instability and BPD episodes of self-destructiveness: emotional boomerang effect where negative feelings/thoughts I try to avoid come back with a vengeance.
- interferes with prescribed meds
- influences me to want to take other drugs eventually
- slowly keep wanting and smoking more and more, exacerbating all the cons

pot/weed/marijuana/mary jane

I've noticed more and more studies coming out saying weed can make mental illness appear faster in people already predisposed.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/story.html?id=4243830
And then the comments of others on the articles are always disproportionately rage-fueled rants against pharma or conservative conspiracies. Look, I know more than anybody how many benefits there are in smoking but the unfortunate truth is that it all comes at a price. It may not lead directly to death or brain cell death but it still affects the same dopamine system in your brain as alcohol, cocaine and other mood-altering drugs. And so your brain still changes its physiological structure to adapt to the higher levels of dopamine caused by continuous long-standing drug use, including weed use. So you can't kid yourself, the stuff still affects your brain chemicals and it's not all good. It's that cycle in the dopamine system that eventually leads to addiction. Of course, alot of people can use weed and not have it become a problem but just because it doesn't give you problems doesn't mean it doesn't give problems for others.
And then of course there's the stereotype that no one goes to rehab for marijuana. I thought that too. That's partly why I refused to go to rehab for a year though my psychologist kept suggesting it. Well here I am. I went to rehab because of weed mainly. It is my drug of choice. And when I got there I met others who were there because of weed too. It's not just alcoholics and cocaine users. There were also people there only addicted to prescription painkillers, or speed and ecstasy and gamblers who lost everything, and they don't even ingest any substances. Then when I got out, I found Marijuana Anonymous meetings and at the first one I went to, the speaker explained that he got addicted only to marijuana, and it eventually got so bad he started robbing houses to get the money to pay for his habit.
Conclusion: the dangers of marijuana are statistically small but still very real.