re: What would you tell the people who have had marijuana destroy their lives?
George Bush is not going to have seen anyone for whom the US financial system hasn't worked, either. Dick Cheney will not have seen anyone who isn't a fervent believer in drilling for oil anywhere there may be underground oil. That's their world.
The MJ addicts simply drop out, at best disappear into jobs which require names on their shirt. They aren't going to be found in higher academia for very long. You aren't where they are, by definition, really.
You can't see them from your functional circle, but neither should you believe you know a representative section of them. I've seen them in the "wild", I've treated them, I know them in recovery. Lots of them.
We've flogged this one to death, I believe. Just have to agree to disagree.
Arf