I have used weed off and on since I was 18. It has helped me develop socially to a great extent. I used to be the loneliest person in the world until I started smoking weed and making those deep friendships that seem to almost magically arise from the sharing of bud.

I have also derived great medical benefits from marijuana. I started working in a labor-intensive position in March of 2008. My parents had moved away, and I weighed more than 300 pounds with a 56 inch waist. Not long after starting that job I lost my appetite and began to lose weight at a rate of 2.5 pounds per week. That doesn't sound like much, but after a couple of months I started feeling tired all the time, and lifting boxes felt more and more strenuous. I think I was malnourished, and my calorie intake was around 700-900 per day. I started toking up again after having been "clean" for four months. It helped me start eating more, and it got rid of pains in my joints and made tolerable a severe pain in my left foot which was causing me to barely make it from my car into my house when I got home in the mornings. I worked at that job for more than a year, and I think I would have made an epic fail without the use of marijuana. I also haven't used any other drugs besides two aspirins one day in the winter when I had a sore throat. Anyone who says it diminishes instead of enhances your life doesn't know much about marijuana.