What makes you the expert on its effects?
The topic is not confined to Marijuana. Anyone of discernment is well aware that Marijuana is just the Camel's nose in the tent.
It is just like "gay rights." You open that door, and pretty soon you are being forced to bake "gay" wedding cakes.
And what makes me the expert? Apart from the experience I have had with numerous and sundry drug addicts and specifically pot-heads, I have been arguing about and researching this topic for the last seven years with a psychotic pot-head loon on another website. Again, just like "gay marriage" they will simply NOT SHUT UP ABOUT IT!
If they would just keep this stuff in the closet I could probably tolerate it, but it is this constant "in your face" advocacy that has simply made me sick of putting up with them.
Are you a certificated drug counselor? As you probably know, anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence. Correlation is not the same as causation. Just because the losers you encountered used drugs doesn't mean that all drug users are losers. For example, James Garner (the actor) smoked marijuana for almost his entire life, yet no one would call him a loser.
Have you publish the findings of your 'research' in any scientific journals for peer review?
But, you still haven't answered my question. Have you smoked marijuana?