> ...long term mental impact on regular users...regularly lose focus and zone out when I talked to them This is the number one stereotype of marijuana users, b

> ...long term mental impact on regular users...regularly lose focus and zone out when I talked to them This is the number one stereotype of marijuana users, but I implore you to not lump all of us into that group. There exists a large portion of users that respect intelligence and try to lead interesting lives. A big problem is that cannabis can make you feel totally OK with whatever you are currently doing, when otherwise you may feel bored and become motivated to do something else. Mix this with the fact that regular marijuana use probably won't destroy your life (it's simply not a hard drug), and you get people that float through existence feeling fine but then one day realize years have gone by and they forgot to develop unique skills or an interesting personality. However, many people figure this out before it's too late and make sure that getting high goes hand-in-hand with doing something interesting. i.e. smoke and then create art, music, or software. For the people who don't realize this, well... the cold truth is that many people aren't smart or talented to begin with and maybe need some alleviation from the more painful aspects of the human condition. I believe weed is a better solution for this than hard drugs, Rx pills, or everyone's favorite toxin: alcohol. Last of all I want to say that smoke is clearly carcinogenic, but there have been recent studies suggesting things that people would have thought crazy only 10-20 years ago: http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq#section/_7 http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis...