We need a more honest conversation about marijuana [View all]

It is because I support decriminalization for personal non-medical use and making it available with physician recommendation that I bring this up. I have seen articles about how it can cure disease, etc. I am not a believer in any magical cure all and it irritates me that that seems to be the strategy of some.
My position is that people should not be going to jail for simple possession and I think that it should be available to people who will benefit medically. But, the issues that are ignored are reliability of dosing and ensuring the safest delivery. The argument that it is not addictive is a poor one, because people do sometimes use it in excess and can develop a dependency that negatively affects their mood and behavior.
There are reasonable arguments to be made without claiming miracles and harmlessness. That said, I recently cast an advisory vote to endorse a measure that would decriminalize very modest (2 plants) horticulture for medicinal use in my city. I would like to see us move in that direction nationwide and hope that there will be efforts to put forth convincing arguments that do not rely on cure-all and "grandpa smoked and drank his whole life and lived to be 100" anecdotes.