First of all, cannabis is very addictive is a pretty broad sweeping statement and 'very' seems like a difficult term to justify and quantify. And when you follow it up with you shouldn't really be surprised if people stop listening to you. That statement alone puts you in the same extreme, entrenched camp as people who say cannabis is not at all addictive.
If a fairly mild, interrupted sleep pattern on cessation equates to physical addiction, then sure, cannabis is physically addictive. IME, there aren't any more symptoms to back up your argument, certainly none that will justify the use of the term 'very addictive'. I smoked dope pretty much non-stop for thirty years, holding down employment, family and mortgage with no problem whatsoever and then decided I'd been successful enough (my house is paid for) to go travelling. For six months. The first three months of this was travelling South America. Where I had no intention of buying drugs.
Because of prevalent attitudes like yours, I was worried how the fuck I was going to cope without my daily cannabis fix. I went 100 days without a spliff and barely noticed it save, as I say, for the mildly interrupted sleep pattern at the start. And even that had its advantages. Sure, for seven days or so you get some fairly hideous dreams. Following that you get 1-2 weeks worth of the most heavenly intense dreams...unimaginable. If that equals 'very addicted' then shit, maybe addiction ain't as bad as its cracked up to be.
To the OP. Who can't imagine a reason for getting out of bed if there is no joint. That's not a cannabis problem. That's a life problem. Your primary concern is not an addiction to cannabis, it's about running away from the shite your life has become. That's what you need to see a doctor or psychiatrist about, not some imagined bogeyman of cannabis addiction.
Nice quote there, totally taken out of context. Bravo, I can see where this is going now. I was waiting for it since this will always happen when a single critical word about cannabis is spoken here. I'm not surprised your looking for ways to twist my words around and decrease my credibility, while other people in this thread unhinderedly claim cannabis possessed no sort of negative side effects. I'm quite positive that this sort of thinking could be considered delusional and is no better than the other political extreme of those who still want to see it banished from the earth. Now here I am TRYING to find a middle ground that will not provoke this idiotic discussion, that the op will not profit off in any way and you come and attack me by intentionally misquoting. Why?
I'd say my opinion on cannabis is as differentiated as it can be, but it is not forbidden to talk about my own experience here, right? It shouldn't be after people in the above posts have claimed there was no addiction which extremely disrespectful to those who have experienced such. For me cannabis addiction has been a far bigger problem to overcome than stimulant addiction. For most people this is not the case, I am an extreme case in that respect and there is no denying it. But if you think that puts my views on cannabis into any sort of extreme position you are wrong. It is simply what I experienced after 15 years of daily drug use. I still would much rather consume pot daily than amphetamine and I surely don't think everyone gets that addicted to cannabis, but I think it covers up the truth a lot more to tell people there was no addiction to cannabis at all.
Your fear to quit was NOT due to my attitude towards cannabis which I try to have as little of as possible. I try to have an educated opinion. In fact, I find consuming cannabis highly pleasurable myself and condone it's use over the use of pretty much every other recreational drug. When I don't smoke, I'll still have pot for guests.
Acquiring such an opinion over the last 15 years (of daily use) was a pain in the ass because nobody will adequately inform you about it. It's either a heal-all-illness cure and can in no way bring harm to anyone (the opinion you prefer to team up with) or it turns you into a lazy psychotic failure and needs to remain an illegal drug. It took me 15 years of careful observations and reading to come to terms with the harm and benefit my own cannabis use or self medication.
Btw I am happy to hear your success story there. You are simply talking about dependence there though which you attested there is to some degree, even if it was relatively mild for you which it is NOT for some others. I can go and start pasting scientific articles about case reports if you like. I am not even gonna try to explain to you what happens to me when I quit so you won't try to make me look like a jackass again.
Your being able to hold a job for 100 years, marrying the queen of antarctica, giving her one child for every star in the sky, becoming a billionaire and sailing the seven seas contributes nothing to explaining cannabis potential for addiction. dependence or harm to mental or somatic health. It simply has nothing to do with it. Ok, you're not a filthy long haired cliché stoner, we got it. Nobody would have ever claimed anything like it, I surely would not have.
However, some people DO run into problems, either social, academical or legal problems or problems regarding their somatic or psychological health. Often times cannabis can contribute to or even be the cause for these issues and only then does it's addictive potential reveal itself.
And btw while I do think I know what you are trying to say, can you please tell me in all honesty if you can draw a clear line between a "cannabis problem" and a "life problem" when a person has been consuming cannabis either daily or with only short periods of abstinence? Even if you could pinpoint exactly whether a problem was related to cannabis use or "life" (which I claim you cannot), does cannabis not affect a person's behaviour and thereby his life?
