Thanks for your informative and fun piece. For me it started in the sixties so you can guess there was a huge info gap there.
We used to smoke to get higher than kites. I no longer desire this sort of experience.
Ive had cancer and the resulting quirks and occasional discomforts remain. For this reason I wouldn't mind getting some edibles.
Unfortunately here in Guatemala we still are not legalized. According to what people tell me, as you said, the stuff people smoke here is probably laced with something. Of course I have no proof. But I'm not going to find out.
I'll wait until it's legal.