[ChancyChance]

I don't know why marijuana gets a pass. Anyone in my age group >50 who knows lifelong heavy marijuana users sees the same thing: they're sort of middle-of-the-road schlubs or schlubettes who believe the craziest theories, don't quite have their shit together, and are largely intolerable for more than a few hours a month. They are very nice people (to those who don't question them), but just... damaged. Damaged from decades of weed.

Of course the whattaboutists are correct: alcohol has the same impact, but for some reason the myth persists that heavy weed use isn't dangerous.

[mythrwy]

Yep. The danger isn't really schizophrenia, that can happen but it's rare. It's exactly what you state.

You can't sleepwalk your way through 30 years of life and be a sharp normal person with a regular life and good thinking and personal management skills.

I'm also over 50 and have friends from high school I smoked with years ago as a teenager that took a different path with regards to usage and it's very much as you state. No overdoses, no tragedies, no schizophrenia, nothing dramatic. They just don't have their act together and are, as you state, damaged. And they missed out on a lot of life.

For the record I think marijuana is fine, possibly even useful or beneficial if used very sparingly and irregularly for most people. But decades of habitual use, which some people apparently will chose, does seem to produce less then ideal outcomes.