I don't smoke pot anymore.
Except when I'm really sick, because it's a great distraction from hacking up a lung, and if I'm sick I don't have anything to do that pot would interfere with.
The reason I quit smoking it recreationally is that it was destroying my life. It made me extremely paranoid while I was high, and it caused lethargy and severe pain and discomfort afterwards. I'd become antisocial at parties. I'd wake up the next day feeling groggy and unmotivated. I wouldn't have the attention skills required to prepare a good meal, so I'd eat a bunch of junk food.
However, I know a great many people who don't suffer these side-effects from marijuana, or for whom these side-effects are insignificant or even beneficial. For example, my friend Jim has virtually no appetite due to medications he is taking for a chronic illness. Jim smokes pot so that he can eat something.
I am trying to get my dad to try smoking marijuana. He has severe nerve damage and is on a cocktail of about eight different medications. Three months ago, his workers' compensation insurance doctor prescribed him a morphine-based painkiller. After taking one pill he suffered an adverse reaction and ended up in an intensive care unit for several days. The morphine caused him to throw up, and he choked on his own vomit. That caused an infection in his lungs, from which he almost died. I would like him to try pot just to see if he can function better with it and stop taking all the meds, but he won't because it's illegal.
My point is that marijuana is just like morphine or any other drug. It's not right for everyone. It has side-effects that some individuals can deal with and others cannot. It has some amazing benefits that can help some people live more productive lives, but also causes some people to become unproductive.
So for me, the most important reason that we should legalize marijuana is that it's a drug that doctors should be able to discuss with and administer to their patients without fear of federal reprisals. The fact that doctors continue to be harassed by the federal government just for recommending pot (even though the law protects them) is immoral, uncaring, and just plain dumb.
Even though I don't smoke pot anymore, I believe very strongly in your right to do so. What really burns me, however, is the dearth of elected officials who are willing to stand up for what is right on this issue. Incidentally, Bill Richardson's lonely stance on medical marijuana (he just signed a bill legalizing it in New Mexico) is one of the reasons I am supporting him for president. It says something about a politician that he is willing to stand up for what he thinks is right, even in the middle of a national presidential race, facing the possibility that his stance could derail the campaign.
Sorry about the plug. I'll stop ranting now.