I work in the field of addiction and treatment, I also am a recovering addict/alcoholic who had been sober of all substances for years now. Notice my screen name? I was a pothead when I came up with it, just qualifying. Marijuana maintnence for treating addiction is not a solution to anything, I don't care what youtube says, I don't care what NBC says, I'm telling you from my experience personally and professionally. I've seen thousands of people whose life was destroyed by addiction, thousands. And believe it or not a very large portion was indeed destroyed by marijuana.
Now do I think it should be used as a medicine? Yep. Problem is too many people are full of crap when they see their doctor. Doctors are more the problem then the drugs. It's waaayyy too easy to manipulate a doctor for drugs, and there's usually no accountability. This I know from both personal and professional experience also. I understand you believe in the wonders of pot, that's great but people used to believe in the wonders of opium, coca and etc.... You know how that ended up.