Relegalizing the mind-altering drug alcohol didn’t lead to such a population - why would relegalizing marijuana do so?
Because they are different drugs, and have different long-term effects on the human body?
Cheech and Chong was a caricature, but it was based on real people. I grew up in 1970’s California, and watched my mother and her friends smoke themselves into fecklessness.
I'm sorry to hear it. I watched my uncle drink himself into what it would be charitable to describe as fecklessness. Among Americans who used marijuana in the past year, 42% had NOT used in the past month, as compared to a corresponding figure for alcohol use of 22% - so marijuana is if anything less likely than alcohol to lead to a "drugged out permanently unemployed population."
“Among Americans who used marijuana in the past year . . .”
Legally used? Illegally used? Medicinally used?
The poll doesn’t mean anything. Right now, marijuana is illegal. When it is made legal, its use will spread.
There will even be pressure put on companies that refuse to hire on the basis of use after it is made legal:
“Mr. Moneybags, you used a mandatory drug test to determine whether my client uses marijuana, and when he tested positive for that legal substance, you rejected him as a candidate even though you believed he was qualified for the job, is that correct?”
“Mr. Moneybags: I can’t have users manning my equipment on the floor. He tested positive for cannabis, and then the retest confirmed it, so we didn’t hire him.”
“Do you test for alcohol use as well?”
“We don’t . . . (etc).”
As long as it is illegal, you can discriminate against users. Once it is legal, you have to hire the stoner until you can screen for it legally and not interview once you spot it.