I quit smoking weed, finally and somewhat surprisingly. Which means I'm now absolutely clean and sober, even more so than AA cultists who chain-smoke and cling to their coffee cups with the desperate attention sailors aboard sinking ships do their bilge pumps. (Okay, I, too, ingest caffeine, but from tea instead of coffee — much better!) The reason why I say it's somewhat surprising is because up until the day I quit I sincerely believed the only way I could through the monotony and stress of life was by being high at least a significant fraction of each day. In retrospect, however, it's not THAT surprising: I'd been getting tired of my dependency on the stuff for a while.
Because marijuana IS addictive. As such it IS a destructive force in people's lives, even if only minimally so when compared to addictions like alcoholism and gambling. It's just another way for people to avoid the hard work of deriving fulfillment from and coping with the stresses of life, when you boil it down to its essentials. Furthermore, it's physically damaging: inhalation of its smoke damages the throat and lungs, and daily use causes fatty deposits to form on the myelin sheaths of brain cells. It exacerbates depression and anxiery, and it hinders relationships. It impairs decision-making, and doubtless will prove nearly as dangerous behind the wheel as all the other intoxicants.
The only thing good you can say about it is that it's not as bad as booze or dope. Well, wars were less destructive when fought with swords and bows, too! I'm sure I sound like a Reefer Madness alarmist to some of the folk grateful for its legalization where they live, but I've ravaged my body and psychology with decades of severe alcoholism and smoking tobacco products, so I can't afford to play so fast and loose with my now noticeably mortal self. I quit drinking, then I quit smoking cigarettes, and recently I drastically curtailed my consumption of processed sugar; this is simply the logical next step. I was smoking daily, thinking I needed to in order to keep my head on my shoulders — and the result was a constant shortness of breath, never having money to spend on projects I only talked about engaging in, being bored whilst watching TV and playing video games (because I didn't have the brains to read), and eating fast food because I was too lazy to cook healthy meals.
Meanwhile, dispensaries all over the place are encouraging people to abuse a life-diminishing substance, flying the false flag of medical efficaciousness while simultaneously creating a connoisseur market from the corpse of a moldering Hippie counterculture. In states where it's legal, we now have Big Pharma and Bogus Pharma pushing their legal dope; both are just as corrupt, just as societally benevolent, and just as accountable — the difference lies only in scale.
I'm referring specifically to THC, not CBD, which is a medical boon for ailments such as inflammation and anxiety. It's also not what's being aggressively marketed and sold for consumption, probably because intoxication, not well-being, is what inflates profit margins. Because capitalist business models appeal to and encourage the baser elements of human nature, and because of this can only result in some form of exploitation and a resultant unhealthy society.
