yeah, there sure would be many more schizophrenics if it were all that simple. i posted it just as, i guess, discussion bait. i've been back in school, studying substance abuse and, (for example) interestingly, heroin per se is much less physically damaging than alcohol; it's the unknown potency and stepped on factors that cause death and OD. that's true of marijuana, too. not that i encourage it - for so many people it's a kind of russian roulette. but "just say no" will never work and the financial incentives and big business aspects trump all. also, there are indeed definite therapeutic values - for marijuana and for opiates. the bigger issue is the huge abuse of other substances - club drugs, meth, PCP - which are having increasingly devastating effects AND the lack of affordable treatment options (Pat...) and stigma which accompanies them.