My worst experiences have just been nervousness and eating way too damn much.

It's illegal because there's a lot of money in keeping it illegal. The hemp plant has many uses but because it's illegal here there isn't a lot of production or research on what can be done with the plant. Harvesting techniques aren't as sophisticated as they could be and that's completely the point. Some people mention that hemp wouldn't make as big of an impact if it were legal in comparison to what it's supposed to replace. However, I think they're underestimating the efficiency in growing hemp that could be achieved if we based large-scale markets around it. Considering one of Henry Ford's prototypes of his model T was built completely from hemp and used hemp oil as fuel, you can see how useful it is.

Besides that it gives the government an easy way to lock up people it doesn't like. During the Vietnam War Protests many of the protesters smoked pot. Well you can't lock people up for protesting so they were sent to jail for smoking weed.

Also, as much as we try to pride ourselves on equality most of the people who get locked up are minorities, even though white people are actually more likely to use or sell drugs. Rich white people tend to not like minorities.

Now we have all of these drug rehab centers, an extremely powerful DEA, and powerful tobacco and alcohol lobbyists who all pay to keep it illegal. We have private prisons who basically use prisoners for slave labor so the more stoners they can lock up the more labor they can have and the more prisons need to be built.

Cops love to bust potheads and raid houses in full SWAT gear because it makes them look powerful and they get a lot of money for it. They get cash incentives for drug busts but not for catching murderers or rapists or actually dangerous people. Also they consider SWAT raids fun when they know they don't have to worry about actually getting hurt.

The drug czar is required by law to lie and misinform to keep marijuana (and other relatively harmless Schedule I drugs) from becoming legal.

If we were to legalize it, many people in power would lose lots of money. This is why so many people are fighting against it even though 50% of the country is for recreational legalization and 74% are for legalizing it medicinally.

Some people smoke weed all day everyday and it negatively affects their lives in this way. It's not the weed itself but instead a personality flaw exacerbated by smoking weed.

As for me, since last year I've been smoking weed almost everyday (I take breaks for a few days every now and then). However, I smoke it in social settings and when I want to relax and don't need to do anything. It hasn't hasn't made me lazy or unmotivated. I'd say it did the opposite in fact. I've become a much more motivated person after I started smoking.

When I have serious work to do like school or the gym, I don't smoke. By being responsible in my usage I've avoided any negative consequences I think.