I highly (pun intended) doubt your friend is truly "addicted" to pot; that's like an addiction to caffeine, mild, but unpleasant to get rid of. Anyway, most American are addicted to caffeine. Second of all, who the hell are you to say a lot of people with chronic pain are using it just for fun? Have you ever had chronic pain, AIDS, or cancer? I have chronic pain, and the so-called addiction of cannabis is MUCH less damaging to someone's body than a hard-core addiction to opiate pain killers. It truly does help my pain, and who are you, or ANYONE to deny me that? I am an intelligent young woman in college, with a 3.8 GPA, and a good-paying job, and I don't fit the GOVERMENT-FORCED steriotype of a video game-playing "stoner" who smokes pot every day, irresponsibly. That steriotype applies to those few in high school who use it irresponsibly because they lack education on it. I was reading in my monthy nursing journals (Mom's a doctor, dad's a nurse, and they both approve) and there was an article that polled doctors in residency and practice who have used cannabis in the past month, and the figures were somewhere around 55% for those who have smoked it; those who polled yes who have been practicing for over 10 years have had less lawsuits and stress-related medical conditions than those who didn't smoke cannabis. To ask if cannabis should be legalized is completely useless, ESPECIALLY in this message board. You seem really flip floppy on the subject.