Addiction

Being the educated stoners we are, I'm sure everyone is aware that marijuana is not physically addictive, but like any substance or TV or shopping can be psychologically habit-forming. yadda yadda yadda.

To make a long story short, I'm going to be starting drug counceling soon, after being charged with possession. I'm just curious as to people's thoughts on the validity of the concept. I personally don't know what to think since I was always told it's not addictive. And that's what I want to think.

I'm curious to hear everyone's opinions on marijuana addiction. Are they ever anything serious? Or are they just overblown examples feeding the reefer madness? Anyone here consider themseves an addict? What about the "withdrawal" some people get?

 

I love smoking weed, and do so quite frequently.

I started doing it regularly last school year.

When I went home, my dad said he didn't want me doing it there. So I just stopped. It was as simple as that. No withdrawals. No troubles. I didn't smoke the whole 3 months I was home, and it was easy. I was even around other people who smoked in front of me and I turned it down.

I just decided in my mind that I was going to stop for the summer, and that was that.

By the end of the summer, I actually almost couldn't remember what it felt like to be high anymore. Of course I started again once I got back to school and was done with my break, but it helped to show me that I could keep it under control.

Also, there's lots of people who smoke for years, and then for no real reason, just stop. I'd say that shows a lack of addiction right there.

 

it is addictive... like you said, not so much physically, but psychologically.

i don't think my boyfriend can fall asleep without smoking a little before bed.

craving it and not being able to stop it at any time could be considered an addiction.

using it as a crutch, to self-medicate yourself every day because you can't handle life sober would be considered a psychological addiction.

taking extreme risks because you feel you need it would also...

hmmm... i'll stop there, but i think you kinda get the point. if you rely on the drug excessively and it's unhealthy, then yeah... you may need counseling to get off of it. smoke isn't any good for your lungs, and being stoned all the time isn't any way to live your life.. (at least in my opinion, but i'm very determined to do this on my own.. this thing called life) but some ppl readily take prescription drugs to help them, so who knows, maybe the side effects are worth it.

 

I'm not addicted since i took a couple of breaks but I used to be mildly. Just like I felt like getting stoned all too often. I did notice towards the end of one of my breaks i forgot what it was like to be stoned. Actually I almost quit cuz i was like, if i cant remember what its like maybe i shouldnt start again. but i did anyway and its great now and more under control.

 

I quit for an entire year. Moderation on and off, it's always been that way. Never habit-forming for me. I supposes someone should keep track of the TRUTH about cannabis "addiction." Fucking Fed. neocon bullshit scientists!

 

i always thought it was not addictive and then this past year, i've been getting more and more into it........it's just psycologically addictive though.....like if you're out of pot you aren't going to have withdrawls bit it's all you're going to think about until you get some

i can't go more than a week without smoking, i miss the feeling too much

 

its addictive in the same way chocolate is, and if you take a month or 2 off every once and a while you should be fine.

 

I take a break 2 months per year. When you start again, you remember why you smoke it in the first place.

 

I'm psycho-addicted.. just like I am with Mountain Dew.. its POSSIBLE to go without it, but no.. I don't even want to think about it.. I've went periods without it, though.

 

you know, caffiene is an addictive stimulant liek crack cocaine. of course we all know you cant compare the two, for one can turn people instantly into an addict, and the other takes a habit first in order to get someone hooked.
but theyre still both 'phsycal addictions'.

why are people so naive to then assume jsut because marijuana is 'spychologically addictive' means that its teh same as addiction to chocolate?

it doesnt matter that lots of people, when faced with some reason to stop, can just stop smoking. but the fact is that a lot of people have weak willpower, and its just part of who they are. and so they smoke it all the fuckin time and it ruins their life. some people can do without it. you know some people also are very successful and are addicted to cocaine but that doesnt make cocaine addiction less of a problem. the fact is that MOST people get fucked up from drug addictions, and it doesnt matter that you can stop weed without any withdrawal. what matters is that people with a psychological addiction, do not WANT to stop smoking weed. you need to want to quit, in order to quit. if a person says they want to quit but doesnt quit then in reality, they dont want to quit, and its normal that that is the case because cannabis is great and habitual for many.

if you try to stop marijuana, its simple. but the problem is that it makes most potheads NOT WANT to quit and tehrefor not try to quit, unless theyre forced to because of some environmental change or legal reasons.

all these people comin and talkin about how they dont get addicted. well thats great. good for you. obviously youve not seen real dope fiends who smoke 24/7 and turn violent and willing to do crime just to make sure theyve always got weed. it fuckin happens and it doesnt MATTER whether they phsyically are able to quit. all that matters is whether they do quit or they dont quit and the fact is that with marijuana, as with most drugs, the user does not chose to quit.

 

It's addictive the same way powder cocaine is (not crack.) You don't go through many physical withdrawls, but you can be preocupied with finding more and feeling intense boredom until you do.
The craving is nowhere near as powerful as coke though.

 

I'm too tired to explain it all to you. just do some research on Anandamide and you will see what I mean.

 

You can get addicted to anything...its like obsessions..

The way I see it... if you wont suck dick for it, then ure not addicted

 

Half Baked with Bob Saget.lol

 

I've actually had physical symptoms of withdrawal from cannabis. I had to quit smoking for almost two months after smoking avery day for a couple of years. Consequently, I began to have chest pain every day, which I assumed to be a result of a lack of weed. This turned out to be the case, because as soon as I started smoking again the chest pain subsided.

 

tell me what i dont know about it?

too see whether something has potential for habituation that ruins someones life, why would you even care about the neurochemistry? you look at all teh people who really have problems and are dope fiends. knowlege that its psychologically addictive only means that we know of medical implications of cannabis habit and confirm that there is no withdrawal and yadi ya. but all of that is irrelevant if there actually are people (yes, people with less will power.. but theyre still human beings just like you or i) who have problametic habits to cannabis which they will not stop. you cannot deny that people get problematic habits to cannabis which they dont stop. whats the difference then in the effect of that habit on the person compared to whether they wanted to stop but where physically adicted to it???

 

Ok, you said that there is no correlation between marijuana and chocolate addictions but one of the key THC receptors in the brain is called anandamide which is a pleasure receptor. Now in dark chocolate, there are 3 chemicals that strongly resemble anandamide. This in no way gets you high but rather increases the number of pleasure receptors functioning in your brain which in turn induces pleasurable effects. THC as I said is capable of binding to these receptors causing a euphoric effect. They are two entirely diffrent reactions but you should be able to see the connection by now, a "marijuana addict" who mentally has to get his fix is seeking the high where to a lesser degree a "chocolate addict" is seeking the pleasurable effects associated with chocolate. You can't just ignore the proven facts because marijuana addiction is more likely than chocolate addiction.

 

i didnt say tehres no correlation, i said you cant compare their magnitude as being the same thing, just like coffee and crack.

 

Okay, addiction to pot, as with ANYTHING concerning pot, is drasticly different from person to person. For most of summer I smoked more or less every day, well, even before summer started. Anyway, now most of my stoner friends have gone off to college (and I'm still at home, but thats a different story, or so I think =P). Point is, I'm not smoking nearly as much as I was, maybe once a week now. Frankly, I dont really care that much. If I go a day without pot, I'm just as happy if not happier than if I was stoned.

My friend, however, has a very addictive personality. He drinks (almost exclusively) Diet Coke, smokes ciggs, and smokes pot. When there was the drought, he would get pretty upset when we couldn't find any pot. Part of the reason is he has had problems with depression in the past and uses pot to self medicate, and another part of the reason is that his will was so bent on getting pot that when he couldn't have it, it pissed him off.

A few of things that play a part in being addictive to pot such as (obviously) an addictive personality and purpose for using. Now, if its an addictive personality, its just something you need to learn to deal with, I guess... I dont really have one, so I can't speak much about it. Purpose of use can add to how addicted you are as well. Like aforementioned, smoking to get to sleep. Its great to help you fall asleep when you're ready to crash, but what happens when you dont have any? I rarely smoke to lift my mood and never to get to sleep or anything like that. Personaly, I object to using any drugs to treat any problem because your body will eventually form a dependancy on the drug. I rarely take even Aspirin for headaches, because I have a friend who used them so much that lower doses dont work for her anymore and she needs the extra strength ones. Even when I had a blood infection I had to take antibiotics, but if I took too much the infection would have changed to deal with the antibiotics and the drugs would be useless.

So, pot could be as easy to drop as a bad pennie, or hard as hell. It really all depends on the person. For the average, though, I dont think its too hard to quit.

 

I simply stated the connection between the two, I never said chocolate was nearly as addictive as marijuana.