Lisa let me start by asking you some simple questions. First I would agree with you that MJ is addictive, almost anything is anymore. Do you agree that a lot of things are addictive? Like eating, smoking cigs, chewing tobacco, caffiene, alcohol, TV, videogames, pornography, certain prescription drugs, etc etc.
I listed legal stuff for a reason. Secondly how addictive do you think MJ is? Remember less than 1% of the US population smokes everyday. I also know that people go to rehab for MJ, how many do you think are there cause they ARE NOT court ordered? Do you believe it is a gateway drug? Have you ever smoked. if so did you not like it or have a problem with it? Has MJ ever killed anyone directly that you know of? Remember their have been kids who dies cause they were so addicted to videogames that they have had seizures and died, seriously. Do you think not controlling it makes it harder or easier for children and adults to get? Do you know what cannabinoids or the endocannibinoid system are?
I can get you some non biased numbers when we get to that point, I promise. I know you didn't mean to be a jerk, and I was to a point in my first post, I apologize, but you need to understand a lot of us get judged everyday for it, and it's nothing compared to alcohol. I'm an alcoholic and that was hell for me...almost destroyed my life and getting sober was so hard and my body did get some withdrawal physically and mentally. I had a friend help me and her name was Mary, I now have a house and my own business and am much happier and feel 100 times better. I haven't been sick once since I quit, not once. I also smoke cigs and they kill you, and they are legal and some statistics say they are harder to quit than HEROIN. MJ is a scapegoat, and the Drug War is a farce IMO.
Also do you know the history of the criminalization of MJ, the racist angle, how about the fact that Anslinger might have been tight with the DuPont's and Hearst and they all benefitted from it. Dupont and his synthetics which was a directly competing with hemp. Or the fact that Hearst had paper mills and wrote sensational stories about MJ to sell papers....money money money. Did you know this year the gov't will spend about 60 Billion just to fight a war, not including all the costs to convicted and house prisoners? Did you know about 70 to 80% of all that money will be aimed at MJ, it stays in the system the longest and is the 3rd most used drug in our country?