Scare tactics? As in, misrepresenting the consequences of "responsible" marijuana use?
Satchmo -- Louis Armstrong -- was well known to be a lifelong pot smoker. Michael Phelphs sure as heck knew his way around a bong (judging by that hilarious clandestine video of him taking a huge toke at some party) long before, and long after he became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time (he's got 22 medals).
Boy, they sure led "meh" lives!
The best way to steer kids away from drug ABUSE is to tell them the truth. The best way to steer kids into doubting your honesty and therefore your wise counsel, is to tell them soft lies such as the one that all social/recreational pot smokers are dullards, while social/recreational drinkers can and do function just fine as long as they're responsible.
The reality is that it has zero to do with the substance, and everything to do with the moral priorities of the user.
I was rebutting the idea that marijuana is an addictive or gateway drug. Not that its “social/recreational” use will foul someone. However, its regular use will indeed do so.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse:
“Research has shown that, in chronic users, marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory persists after the acute effects of the drug wear off. A recent study of marijuana users who began using in adolescence revealed a profound deficit in connections between brain areas responsible for learning and memory. And a large prospective study (following individuals across time) showed that people who began smoking marijuana heavily in their teens lost as much as 8 points in IQ between age 13 and age 38.”