That’s probably one of the reasons the Dems have been so pro-legalization. If it were simply for medical purposes, it doesn’t need to be smoked: marijuana based painkillers and anti-nausea drugs (for people on chemotherapy) are already available in standardized, processed, prescribed pill form.
This was to open up the market. US tobacco companies have supposedly been pushing for this for years, with the progressive illegalization of tobacco, and there are obviously well-established foreign networks that would like to get in on the deal.
Interestingly, it is being legalized with no health requirements or standards, no restrictions (for example, intoxication for driving purposes), little way of checking except posthumously or after arrest for presence in the system, no price controls, no taxes, no nothing.
Personally, I think it’s because a stoned populace is a submissive populace, and also because while Islam prohibits alcohol, it runs on qat, hash, and many other drugs of this nature produced and shipped from Islamic countries or from Asia.
The edible forms don't work as well for many people, are more difficult to dose (especially with the changing tolerance) and side effects last longer. Cannabis is a “cocktail” of natural drugs that work together. You can't simply isolate THC into pill form and get the same effect.
A better option is vaporizing real cannabis extract but for some people that does not work either. Not all chemicals are extracted and even fewer chemicals are vaporized at the lower temperatures.
Some people only get the medicinal effect from smoking the whole plant since they get all of the chemicals in an inhale-able form. The slight lung damage from smoking is nothing compared to their ailment.
IMO, all options should be available and the choice entirely up to the patient.
and therein lies the problem. How does one determine a regular user, from someone who is high now, but not a regular. BAC is similar but more obvious. I had a friend who blew a 0.38 BAC after a minor fender bender in which he was not a fault, and the deputy put into the report "suspect did not appear intoxicated"