Canada to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018
I see many comments here about the health and social effects of smoking marijuana and there&#x27;s of course a very valid point in each of those discussions - smoking (anything) is not good for your lungs and smoking around unsuspecting non-smokers is disrespectful (and gets them high, because weed smoke is active even in the air!).<p>But there&#x27;s another angle that I&#x27;m curious about: the mentality shift that it will generate in society as more and more people start using the herb - for recreation, medication or as an industrial plant.<p>It&#x27;s a very powerful plant, people have been using it for thousands of years,  because it grows everywhere and has lots of industrial uses.<p>And of course we&#x27;ve all been indirectly influenced by it: by listening to the music, lyrics, books or movies created by artists who were high.<p>It&#x27;s a great companion for both the consumption and production of all types of entertainment, from videos to video games, design and even coding !<p>So in a way it&#x27;s even more useful today than it has ever been, which is why, sooner or later it will get legalised in a lot more places.<p>Like so many things, if abused, It&#x27;s addictive and makes people lazy and demotivated, but the value it brings to its users ( and indirectly to the huge information and entertainment (and food!) industry) is quite high :)<p>I&#x27;m just curious how will society change after, say, 50 years of legal weed ? Will we still be trying to fight wars or will everyone just chill down, smoke the herb and play their sitars in peace ? :)