Legalize it, and half of our county jail would be empty.
Drunks will be drunks and pot heads will be pot heads.
As a past business owner both in Kalifornia, and the Peoples Republik of Washington, I can tell you first hand that I fired both drunks and potheads.
I also had both sensible users of alcohol, and of pot who were great workers.
Overall however, the drinkers had far more drive than the pot users.
I had my first business in 1977. I smoked pot daily. On a dare I quit for 30 days, and my level of energy spiked, and so did the success of my business.
I'm the opposite. I quit drinking and my drive went up incredibly- got back into college, hustled, and currently work 30 hrs/week, do around 20-30 hrs a week of school work, and still find time to volunteer, have a girlfriend, and keep my hobbies. I smoked pot occasionally in the beginning of my sobriety from alcohol and it never effected my drive, in fact made my focus stronger (have to pick the right strains). Currently I do not smoke, and the only things put into my body are occasional sugars, a medium amount of caffeine, and nicotine. Much of this has to do with my CPL and my work's drug policy. I err on the side of caution, but if it were to become legal I would have no problems with weekly use and my workload. It's about setting boundaries- don't drive/work while under the influence, don't depend on the substance, and don't get into a trap of being under the influence for most of your waking day if you can help it.
With that being said, my line of work has placed me close to multiple medical marijuana card holders, many due to injuries they will have for a lifetime (spinal cord/nervous system conditions). Most have been prescribed high levels of painkillers that have made them feel out of it all day and caused damage to their stomach/GI systems. Some use it for it's painkilling properties, other as an anti-anxiety treatment, and a few to develop hunger because many of the med combinations they are on can cause daily nausea.
It's silly that our nation isn't legalizing/taxing it. Some of this has to do with the powerful alcohol and pharm lobbies, who know that it will take a cut from their profits (recent reports show that a nationwide legalization could drop drinking down 25%, not a help in the recession-hit alcohol industry and hurting beer industry). There's tons of misinformation out about cannabis that has been recycled for 75+ years. It's funny though, when I'm talking about it there's always someone that will say OH YOU JUST WANT TO GET HIGH? No. My work policy might remain the same, and they might not issue CPLs with MM cards. I'll live, but to deny the benefits I have seen first-hand would be a shame. Also: students receiving PELL and other grants for education can lose their money/pay back what they have received if caught with cannabis. While some might argue that it's fair because it's a federal program I counter with this: a student could theoretically get up to two DUIs and be convicted of rape and still keep their grants. A single joint and they could lose them. Ridiculous.
I'll end with the DEA's head dodging cannabis questions during a judiciary subcommittee hearing:
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