Do you or anyone you know seem heavily addicted to Marijuana?

[Mo'f'k'n_KFC]

I'm not addicted I just don't want to quit

 

[!_MDMA_!]

anyone trying to prove you can't become addicted to marijuana is stating blatant lies. you can become addicted to any substance as minor as sugar and caffeine. just cuz it's a different magintude compared to heroin doesn't make it not an addiction

 

[Cane2theLeft]

Finally, it all depends on your definition of addiction. The non drug using world generally has a pretty broad view of what addiction is, while the using world tends to ignore facts that aren't congruent with their ideas.

Excellent point!

By the criteria given above I am addicted to alcohol. I am an alcoholic and should probably seek help. I inevitably drink again after long spells of dryness, I certainly develop a tolerance and need to drink more for the same effects. I am know to drink too much from time to time, resulting in poor decision making and adverse physical, mental, and social consequences.

I am not an alcoholic. Most of the time I have a beer with dinner, rarely I'll have a few in the evening. I don't need help, and my life is most certainly manageable with alcohol in it.

This is THE diagnostic criteria to label someone substance dependent which is a chronic (as in life long) diagnosis. From what you listed here alone, you would not be diagnosed as an alcoholic. For example, "dry spells" don't equal persistent and unsuccessful desires to reduce your use or quit.

Admittedly, I'm not certified as an addictions counselor yet (I'm an internship shy) but I have all the formal training in making this diagnosis.

My point is, before going out and quoting some douche with a PhD, take a good look at what they are claiming. Use some common sense and then decide for yourself what you believe.

As damien mentioned The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-TR isn't some Douche with a PhD. Its the consensus opinion of the entire psychiatric world in the US on what constitutes mental illness and how it presents.

Like I said, there is most definitely a physical manifestation of withdrawal in some users, no real sense in denying the obvious. For fucks sake, though, tha model of addiction is so far off. I mean shit, imaddicted to like everything in the world. MW2, cheeseburgers, running, my girlfriends pussy, sleep, beating my meat, and the list goes on.

I guarantee none of what you listed here would meet the criteria for addiction using the above criteria or any that I've read. This is *quite* the straw man.

^ lol the DSM does not = "some douche with a PhD".


Why would we want to limit the knowledge we could potentially use for wisdom?

^this.

 

[foxyloxy55]

Hmm... for me it's more like habit forming. I've been a daily smoker for about 7 years now and I find that I don't even care about getting high usually, I just enjoy the act of smoking. I like the way it feels in my lungs. When I smoke during the day, I end up wishing I didn't cause it just makes me tired now. If I don't smoke though, it doesn't have any side effects. I guess I feel a little lazy, but I could attribute that to so many other things.

 

[Monkeybizness]

Every one has there little habits weather it be shopping, cigarette, chocolate, pot,. Who cares as long as it makes you happy. and it doesn't destroy your life.

I smoke a lot. But it makes me happy And I am able to function. I enjoy smoking and doing things such as cooking, it doesn't persay gets me high anymore but just relaxes me, I also enjoy the act of smoking .

 

[Mafioso]

I get temporarily deafened every time I hear this topic come up due to the cacophony of people screaming "its not physically addictive!!!".

Most people get next to no withdrawal from methamphetamine or cocaine, especially when compared to opiates or benzos, but are coke and meth not addictive?

This is the DSM criteria for substance dependence disorder (in the medical and treatment worlds, they don't use "addiction" but this is the clinical equivalent)



Cannabis doesn't produce substantial withdrawal but only 3 of these criteria are necessary for a diagnosis...

3.) How many potheads smoke the same amount to get high after years of use?

4.) How many have quit at some point and gone back to smoking?

5.) How many potheads will spend hours and hours calling every person they've had a conversation with in the last 9 years if their usual hookups are dry? How many potheads spend loads of time during their day trying to find product, picking up, rolling joints/packing bowls, etc.?

6.) See Afroman song

7.) How many potheads have experienced anxiety, depression etc. that wasn't present before their use?

_____________________________

Obviously not everyone who smokes pot is going to become addicted and compared to most illicit substances, the occurrence is rare. However, with anything that is pleasurable and mind-altering, people can develop unhealthy relationships with cannabis that detrimentally affect their lives.

pretty much said it all.

 

[Coolio]

Cannabis is definitely physically addictive.

 

[rave23]

i'm the first one to admit i am addicted.

Now hear me out. I have also been addicted to opiates, and i know the two don't compare by any length.
However, i find the cannabis to be ultimately more addicting. You can virtually use cannabis all your life without ever feeling any apparent ill effects from it. Therefore, it never even occurs to you that you should maybe stop, and then there comes the point when all your friends are smoking weed, and you don't even know any non-smokers anymore. It happened to me, i would look forward to smoking weed every day. It was on my mind 24/7 and i didn't even seem to care. it's just weed right? What should have been on my mind is personal advancement, social skills, and pursuing a good school education. but no, as long as i had a job that would pay my bills and i had enough weed to smoke i was a-ok. it didn't even occur to me that i could have done so much better if weed wasn't on my mind all the time.

At times, i ran out of weed, and i would literally skip work to go find weed. When i ran out it was THE MOST STRESS in my life. Nothing could stress me as much as not having any weed. Here, i started to notice that something odd is going on. Sure, i quit cold turkey after going a year all day every day, and i experienced nothing comparable to an opiate WD, but i still wasn't quite the same.

Either way, you are lured into a sense of false safety. The moment a substance is on your mind all the time you start having a problem. When i realized i was doing dope every day, i saw the ill effects it had on me (health wise, withdrawals, financial situation etc.). With weed, i never perceived anything wrong. And if something seemed odd, it was ignored until it became a problem or went away on it's own. So i missed many many chances in my life being caught up with cannabis. It seemed like everybody was smoking it. That was because i only surrounded myself with weed smokers, i didn't even know any normal people anymore.

It came to me one day, when i walked into the house i sometimes smoke at. everybody there was already stoned, and just staring at the TV while one person was playing COD. I was sober at the time, and i realized that these people do nothing all day except smoke weed, sit on their ass, and are caught up in a world of distractions while they should really try to improve their own situation. but no, as long as there was a place to sleep and weed to smoke, everything was A-OK.

Ever sine that day, i greatly slowed down with weed. I still smoke every day. But i changed my usage patterns drastically. Back then, i would sit around and get high, and then, i'd get more high. Today, i save the weed until my day is over, i accomplished something, and i don't have to deal with anything major. And then, i smoke a joint or two, enjoy the high while relaxing, and go to sleep. It's not a sport anymore to get as high as possible. These days are over for me. Nowadays, it's the less weed i smoke, the better.

I try to derive something positive from it. It needs to do something good for me, otherwise it's wasted money. When i smoked every day all day, it did nothing good for me, except slow me down a lot. Now, i get relaxation after a stressful day from it, and i believe this is the way this stuff is meant to be enjoyed. If i smoke too much, the cons start to outweigh the pros, but smoking weed, you don't see this. That is why i make it my priority to spend most of my day sober. My sobriety is something i cherish, because only when you know what sober feels like you can truly appreciate the drugs effects.

 

[jamesmartin]

i personally think its addicting .

And i AM addicted .

I think over the years ive used it to cope with stress and constant depression .
And now body kinda relys on it now to cope with this .
It hasnt developed its own way to cope


And this isnt good haha .

 

[rave23]

yeah, i know what you mean, your natural coping abilities sure go out the window.
I know people that smoked it during their early years of development, and coping skills are unheard of!

 

[onmyway]

I always used to hear and read that it was impossible to become addicted to pot. I must admit that most of that info came from High Times and from pot smokers though, but I also remember hearing a few 'experts' make the same claim way back in the 80's and early 90's.

Now as I've pointed out on other posts here, I have never been a big pot smoker. I would occasionally smoke it, but certainly not every day.

However, I had several friends who were major pot heads. This meant that they would usually smoke pot early in the morning, throughout the day, and in the evening. Sometimes, when they had the day off, which was most of the time, because a few of them rarely ever worked from the time they were teens til their 30's, they would just sit and smoke pot all day until they were out of it....

When they ran out, it was very important for them to find more as quickly as possible. Either they would buy more, or as in the case of my friend Rob, who was a bit of a "Moocher", they would just ride around and find someone to get them high.

I can only remember one time where they went without pot for any length of time. It was back in like '86 or so, and there was a bad pot dry spell across the tri-state area for like 2-3 months. They were ALWAYS jones-ing for something to smoke during this dry spell. They had repeatedly scraped the resin out of all their bowls and bongs and smoked it! It was always the first thing on their minds at this time to find some pot. Then, my friend Mike finally got hold of some commercial bud, and he was ecstatic! He hid it from everyone except me, because he knew I wouldnt smoke more than a hit or 2 anyway!

Then there was Steve, who also smoked pot from dusk til dawn. He worked steadily from like 18 on, and he would get high on his construction job every day. He got married in '94, and the next year, his wife finally got tired of him being high all the time, so she gave him an ultimatum......Quit pot or she'd divorce him! Well, he didnt quit pot, he just tried to hide it, even finding a hidden smoking spot above his garage in the attic where the wife would never go. But of course she found out, and she left him! Then he had to sell the house for a loss, and move on!

Then, there were 2 guys who I worked with for 6.5 years(Tim and Andy), and they both smoked lots of pot as well. Andy was the type who always looked stoned, even when he wasnt, but he really looked stoned when he was! Yet the bosses didnt seem to notice(or care maybe). They both had to deal with customers on a daily basis too while stoned.

I havn't even mentioned Mark and Bart, who had pot smoking 'parties' in their parents home every day! They had all the best bongs you could buy! Then there was Dave, who smoked tons of pot, and even sold a pound of pot per week while we shared an apartment! He then ripped off the bikers who fronted him the weed, and he owed them for 2 Lbs, and just blew all the $$! He also got like 3 DUI's in a couple months, which would've violated his parole(for vehicular homicide), but he skipped the state and headed to Cape Hatteras......

Anyway, I rarely see any of these people anymore.... Mike committed suicide in '05, Rob lives in Co, "mooching' off his sister, and I hear he hasnt changed a bit! Still has hair halfway down his back and smokes pot all the time! Steve still smokes pot, Dave, from what Steve tells me, still smokes pot, among other drugs, and now looks like an aids patient, and looks like he weighs 100lbs, and has had a very rough life over the last 15 years since I saw him last. He was a healthy, good looking guy 15 years ago, now I hear he looks like he's 65, even though he's only 45! Tim and Andy still smoke lots of pot from what I hear too.

So, it seems to me that some people CAN become addicted to pot, and I am now hearing from some 'experts' that you can become addicted to pot. I never smoked it on a regular basis, and when I quit smoking it 12 years ago, I didnt have any problems with quitting.

But I dont know if it is just psychologically addicting, or if it is actually physically addictive in some way?

wow, that is an elaborate effort. kudos for having some initiative.

 

[Swift Serenity]

im addicted to it

 

[Swift Serenity]

i personally think its addicting .

And i AM addicted .

I think over the years ive used it to cope with stress and constant depression .
And now body kinda relys on it now to cope with this .
It hasnt developed its own way to cope


And this isnt good haha .

same. nothing to laugh about. it sucks, i want to stop

 

[BlissCartel14]

I think you're just hating, you can't be physically addicted to pot
anyone who says you can't stop, or they can't stop doesn't have a good enough reason too

try smoking meth in the early morning through out the day until they were out of it everyday of the week
and then ask them to stop and see what an addiction really is

 

[Coolio]

I think you're just hating, you can't be physically addicted to pot
anyone who says you can't stop, or they can't stop doesn't have a good enough reason too

Do you know what CB1 receptor downregulation, and epigenetic downregulation of the production of anandamide and other endocannabinoids, would be considered in layman's terms? Physical addiction.

When you use exogenous CB1/CB2 agonists, your body comes to rely on them for homeostasis. Remove the exogenous cannabinoids and your body is not ready to produce enough and/or the right ratio of endocannabinoids immediately. This is considered 'withdrawal' as you suffer many symptoms when you don't have enough of the cannabinoids in your bloodstream.

 

[BlissCartel14]

I have smoked weed everyday since i was 15, and i'm 20 now.
stopped 3 months ago to get a job at a hospital
haven't had any type of withdrawls, or lost any kind of sleep over it
the only thing was boredom

so like i said. no physical addiction
if someone "can't" stop smoking weed it is literally because they don't want to or dont have a good enough reason to stop

for the guy who was given the ultimatum by his wife to stop or divorce
i guess he really didn't love her all that much now did he?

 

[Coolio]

Personal anecdotes supersede scientific research every time.

 

[Artificial Emotion]

^ well that's not surprising, since people perceive the world in terms of their own life experiences. And most people are not scientists and don't think like one.

 

[CharlesTheHammer]

i'm the first one to admit i am addicted.

Now hear me out. I have also been addicted to opiates, and i know the two don't compare by any length.
However, i find the cannabis to be ultimately more addicting. You can virtually use cannabis all your life without ever feeling any apparent ill effects from it. Therefore, it never even occurs to you that you should maybe stop, and then there comes the point when all your friends are smoking weed, and you don't even know any non-smokers anymore. It happened to me, i would look forward to smoking weed every day. It was on my mind 24/7 and i didn't even seem to care. it's just weed right? What should have been on my mind is personal advancement, social skills, and pursuing a good school education. but no, as long as i had a job that would pay my bills and i had enough weed to smoke i was a-ok. it didn't even occur to me that i could have done so much better if weed wasn't on my mind all the time.

At times, i ran out of weed, and i would literally skip work to go find weed. When i ran out it was THE MOST STRESS in my life. Nothing could stress me as much as not having any weed. Here, i started to notice that something odd is going on. Sure, i quit cold turkey after going a year all day every day, and i experienced nothing comparable to an opiate WD, but i still wasn't quite the same.

Either way, you are lured into a sense of false safety. The moment a substance is on your mind all the time you start having a problem. When i realized i was doing dope every day, i saw the ill effects it had on me (health wise, withdrawals, financial situation etc.). With weed, i never perceived anything wrong. And if something seemed odd, it was ignored until it became a problem or went away on it's own. So i missed many many chances in my life being caught up with cannabis. It seemed like everybody was smoking it. That was because i only surrounded myself with weed smokers, i didn't even know any normal people anymore.

It came to me one day, when i walked into the house i sometimes smoke at. everybody there was already stoned, and just staring at the TV while one person was playing COD. I was sober at the time, and i realized that these people do nothing all day except smoke weed, sit on their ass, and are caught up in a world of distractions while they should really try to improve their own situation. but no, as long as there was a place to sleep and weed to smoke, everything was A-OK.

Ever sine that day, i greatly slowed down with weed. I still smoke every day. But i changed my usage patterns drastically. Back then, i would sit around and get high, and then, i'd get more high. Today, i save the weed until my day is over, i accomplished something, and i don't have to deal with anything major. And then, i smoke a joint or two, enjoy the high while relaxing, and go to sleep. It's not a sport anymore to get as high as possible. These days are over for me. Nowadays, it's the less weed i smoke, the better.

I try to derive something positive from it. It needs to do something good for me, otherwise it's wasted money. When i smoked every day all day, it did nothing good for me, except slow me down a lot. Now, i get relaxation after a stressful day from it, and i believe this is the way this stuff is meant to be enjoyed. If i smoke too much, the cons start to outweigh the pros, but smoking weed, you don't see this. That is why i make it my priority to spend most of my day sober. My sobriety is something i cherish, because only when you know what sober feels like you can truly appreciate the drugs effects.

Well, it seems that maybe it is physically addictive to some people, but apparently the withdraw is less than other drugs, and obviously some people can just slow down their usage and control it.

I bet your tolerance went down quite a bit after you stopped smoking it all the time....

 

[squidhead]

Pot addiction is a joke, i've smoked daily for a good 4 + years now, and in that period i've had numerous breaks ranging from a week to 3 months.
What i'm saying is as mild as it is, your only gonna quit if you wanna quit, People with willpower arre few and far between.

Totally agree!! I feel that people toss the word "addiction" around too often. Granted, I was addicted to cigs for 40 yrs before quitting 3+ yrs ago, but I didn't feel any withdrawal symptoms when I quit...I just felt a helluva lot better.
I was a heavy boozer for 25+ yrs before quitting that 9 yrs ago. No withdrawal feelings in the least...I just felt a helluva lot better & still do!!
Now with weed, I've been tokin' for 41 yrs now & VERY RARELY toke before 7-8 p.m. I don't consider myself 'addicted' to weed, even though I smoke daily. 1 time in the 80s, I went without for about a month. I was dying to get high, but since it was drier than Hillary Clinton's twat, I couldn't find ANY smoke. It was a drag, but I didn't feel physically shitty...just mentally bummed-out about the situation.
Weed addictive? About the same as food being addictive...or water/fluids being addictive. Isn't doobage 1 of the major food-groups? I thought 'greens' pack a lotta vitamins...vitamins B & D [Bongs, Dope]. 8)