Within a few months though, a year at the most, she is off her meds, back on marijuana, and living homeless. She then ends up hospitalized again after being robbed and beaten or overdosing or becoming too erratic even for the streets. That provides a chance to get her detoxed and back on treatment for her mental issues.
When my cousin is homeless, she intermittently falls out of telephone contact with her mother, so her two brothers then have to check the homeless encampments and with the cops and the hospitals to find her. Her brothers absolutely hate marijuana for its effects on their sister and for its prevalence in the homeless camps.
For my cousin, marijuana unleashes a desire for the chaos, spontaneity, friendships, and drugs that define modern homelessness. Her mother lives in dread of a day when the police may call her as next of kin to arrange for a funeral for her bright, funny, kind daughter whose life was wrecked by marijuana and mental illness.
Based on direct, lived experience, there is no convincing my cousin's family that marijuana is harmless because for my cousin, that is plainly untrue. And that also holds for many millions of others. Again, I urge you to investigate and read the medical and scientific literature.
I’m sorry to hear that about your cousin.
Fortunately, not everyone is “programmed” the same, and the overwhelming majority of those who indulge in Marijuana, legally nowadays, do not experience any significant detrimental effects. Not everyone reacts the same, of course.
My point is simple. I believe you are misguided applying your cousins issues to the population in general. I take that from empirical evidence witnessed personally over 4 decades. Around %50 of adult Americans admit trying it. I suspect that number should be significantly higher.
The main reason Marijuana has been moving towards legality everywhere in this country is due to the fact that governments realized it was being consumed on a massive scale they could not stop, people were not flipping out “Reefer Madness” style, and they were missing out on an enormous amount of potential taxes.
From what I’ve observed in my life, Alcohol is far more destructive to individuals than Marijuana.