For the habitual, chronic user there are predictable patterns which leave a person empty, hollow. And they don't realize it. I have yet to meet a marijuana primary person who didn't truly believe they were going to have it all together day after tomorrow. Right now they'll have another joint.

And they truly, truly believe they are smarter than anyone else.

Marijuana messes up short-term memory. Short-term memory is necessary for long term memory. That inhibits concentration. Once someone is having trouble with concentration they start getting frustrated. After that they have problems with those who start expecting things, authority. And so on. Mimics senility. The reason it does that is because it is absorbed by the surface membranes of some nerve cells, thereby slowing them down.

The results are that the folks who were stoners in junior high don't have alimony and child support payments, or houses repossessed because they don't get married. They usually don't get jobs which don't require names on their shirts. They are generally boring to anyone of the opposite sex who wants someone with whom to relate. They usually have a hard time with a job with requires performance. They can work in a head shop, but would be lousy roofers, for instance. Great bullshitters, poor doers.

Now, as to the more casual user who winds up quite accomplished. Marijuana in moderation quiets that part of us which tells us we're no damned good, we've never been very good. It will calm performance anxiety, shut up that critical parent and make life a bit easier. For that it can be effective, no doubt about it. Just as alcohol eases social situations for the occasional user.

I could go on, but that's the overview. If one has inherited the predisposition to addiction, there is no level of use which is truly safe. And if one hasn't, then there's little chance of addiction.

With one caveat. Mormons, or Seventh Day Adventists can carry and transmit the predisposition which is never expressed because they don't drink or use drugs. One of them who strays can well become dependent even with no family history.

Thanks for asking.

Arf