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I've gone in the complete opposite direction as you when it comes to cannabis. I used to feel very strongly that it should be outlawed, that it is a gateway drug, that it will make you crazy, etc. But as the years went on, with states legalizing it for medical and later recreational use, I just haven't seen the "downfall of society" that conservatives have been espousing since time immemorial. As I understand it, the benefits of legalization have been (1) decreased arrests for possession and growing, (2) a viable treatment option for neurological and psychiatric disorders, (3) an increase in safe and quality products, and (4) an alternative recreational substance to alcohol. I am a daily cannabis user. I have a dry leaf vape and a 510 vape that I go between. I only consume cannabis after work to wind down and I certainly don't get behind the wheel when I'm high. I don't find it do have affected my performance at work in any way. Are there people who abuse cannabis? Absolutely. Should those people seek out treatment? You bet, no different than someone who's an alcoholic or abuses any other substance. Are there people who drive high? Certainly, and they should be prosecuted in the same fashion as any other impaired drivers. I find it very interesting that staunch conservatives will be so opposed to legalization and yet they will give alcohol a free pass. One could certainly make the argument that alcohol is an objectively more dangerous substance -- binge drinking can lead to poisoning (you could wind up in the hospital needing your stomach pumped), hangovers are a bitch (never had one coming down from a high), it can lead to developmental abnormalities in unborn babies, lead to liver disease/failure/cirrhosis. I don't see any concerted push by conservatives to bring back Prohibition, but yet when it comes to cannabis legalization, they immediately push back.
It’s interesting that everyone in this thread who’s changed their mind on this direction has also become a regular user.
It kind of undermines the strength of the point
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From my very distant PoV (weed isn't legal here and neither me nor any of my friends smoke), it seems like this isn't an entirely good thing. When I listen to some podcasts, life long smokers talk about how it used to be that you couldn't really overdose because the weed was kind of shit but now with capitalism fueled breeding operations and distilled specialised products, this is now a real concern, especially for new users.
I guess it's mostly a thing where culture and regulation needs to catch up to the new reality but the process isn't entirely painless.
Oh yes, potency is definitely a concern now. My state actually restricts the max potency of recreational flower to 30% or less. There's some flower that goes up into the 40s or 50s. I was getting more at the fact that the safety and potency of the product is more consistent, now.
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Non-overlapping social spheres contributes to this IMO. Functional weed users may be more common than they used to be, but I would be many perhaps most conservatives have never met a truly functional weed user of the sort that's going to be somewhat overrepresented among rationalists. The people they know that use weed are the grungy ones that stink to high heaven even at the grocery store or the neighbor's failson, nice kid but never really grew up and can't keep a job.
On the alcohol side, they know functional alcohol users because they are functional alcohol users, and most civilizations have been alcohol-civilizations for thousands of years.
Also the common trait that users on both sides underrate the risks and overestimate the benefits of their preferred intoxicants, same as any policy or preference.
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