Mariwanna, not marihavetah?

[Drfail]

Puns aside, hello :) this is my first (of hopefully many posts!)

I am greatly interested in the politics surrounding this (magical?) plant, and the fact that as humans we can actually place a ban upon a living species has always confused me.

But anyway, in this post i want to ask is marijuana really addictive? I will tell you of my own and a friends experience and then look forward to your own stories or feelings :)

When you first think of a drug, lets be honest. You don't immediately think of a medicine, something which combats disease or provides relief. You think of something which is addictive, scary and alien to you.

As a child you are told how bad drugs are and how they can affect you, unfortunately things become blurry and i found myself believing that all drugs were addictive to the point of no return. Once you puff, inject, snort or swallow there is no turning back.

Not surprisingly adults can be quick to confirm that this is indeed the case with all drugs. However with marijuana i am a strong believer that this is not the truth. Infact i have the opinion that marijuana is no more addictive than exercise can be to some people!

I don't want to be stating the obvious or appear ignorant, as i know that most websites and books confirm that there is no physical dependency associated with the drug. However websites like FRANK give a horror story of what can happen:

"You may find you have difficulty stopping regular use and you may experience psychological and physical withdrawals when you do stop. The withdrawals can include cravings for cannabis irritability, mood changes; appetite disturbance, weight loss, difficulty sleeping and even sweating, shaking and diarrhoea in some people."

Let me talk about myself :)

I am 18 now, however I first tried cannabis at the age of 16 on my friends roof. Now my friend never rolled particularly strong spliffs and i just took it as a pretty social thing to do, never getting off my face but just feeling mellow and enjoying the hanging with my friends. After a summer of this i then didn't have any for a year.

I happened to bump into it again when 17 and smoked some stronger stuff, loving it and not feeling any of the guilt which had been drilled into me as a child. What was wrong with this i thought?

Then it crossed my mind, will i become addicted? I didnt. and i went on for months at a time not even caring if i had any or not. Infact just saying that seems silly because it just wasnt something i ever thought about.

2 months ago i had a very bad chest infection, coughing up blood and throwing up from pain etc. I found that cannabis helped so much that i am already eternally greatful to the plant and i plan to grow some (for personal use) in the future.

The other side of the coin

No debate would be fair without hearing both sides

cough YouTube - Obama's #1 Request; Legalize Marijuana, on Change.org. Colmes Bong Hit? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t13IE9jiTi4&NR=1) cough

so here is the story of a friend (not a close one, but i knew what happened)

Lets call him bob,

Bob had always been a bit of a rebellious type (as rebellious as you can get for middle class england) and he liked to smoke doobies. The previous summer i happened to be going to a festival, as did Bob.

What i noticed was him smoking, alot of doobies. I mean alot of doobies.

Infact apparently that summer he had been picking up twice a day, spending obscene amounts of money on the plant and smoking it all up. When we went back to school he was different, pale skinned and a bit strange.

Bob went to 'rehab', well some form of treatment centre as a result. He returned to school but then left shortly after and i havn't heard much about him since.

(sorry about his story being so brief but i'm telling you all i know!)

I am personally of the opinion that some people just have it in them to become addicted to ANYTHING. Whether its computer games, exercise or chocolate.

So i leave it to debate, does anyone have links to any interesting research into the topic?

What do you guys think? Any personal experiences you want to share?

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Really appreciate it
- Peace and Love :)

[Storm Crow]

There are two sides to an addiction- physical and psychological.

Physically, cannabis is not very addictive.

Psychologically, it can be quite addictive.

Here's a bit of reading from my list-

Excerpt from the Merck Manual
Excerpt from the Merck Manual (http://www.ukcia.org/research/merck.htm)

Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances
Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances (http://www.ukcia.org/research/addictiv.htm)

Women's Guide to the UofC
Women's Guide to the UofC (http://wguide.uchicago.edu/9substance.html)

Cannabis Basics
Erowid Cannabis Vault: Basics (http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_basics.shtml)

10 Things Every Parent, Teenager & Teacher Should Know About Marijuana (4th Q)
Erowid Psychoactive Vaults (http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_flyer1.shtml)

Marijuana Myths, Claim No. 9
Erowid Cannabis Vault : Exposing Marijuana Myths (http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_myth9.shtml)

Moderate cannabis use has a positive effect on treatment for cocaine dependence in patients with comorbid ADHD and cocaine dependence
BBSNews - Moderate Marijuana Use Helpful in ADHD Cocaine Addicts (http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20061210235129584)

Pot, Tobacco Withdrawal Equally Rough (saw a rather harsh critique of this)
Pot, Tobacco Withdrawal Equally Rough (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20080130/pot-tobacco-withdrawal-equally-rough)

A Within-Subject Comparison of Withdrawal Symptoms During Abstinence From Cannabis, Tobacco, and Both Substances
A Within-Subject Comparison of Withdrawal Symptoms During Abstinence From Cannabis, Tobacco, and Both Substances (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2214670&tool=pmcentrez)


I have a cousin who "jonesed" when he ran out of Pepsi (it HAD to be Pepsi!). He always had several cases stacked in the kitchen where he could see them. :wtf:


I hope you liked those studies. Do you want a REAL education on medical cannabis? Click the link in my sig and start reading! :thumbsup:


Granny :hippy:

[Drfail]

Wow awesome thank you :)

Really interesting stuff there given me lots to read :p

and pepsi, well i gotta say i do love my dr pepper a little too much ;)

[JaggedEdge]

Storm Crow covered everything I think. I hate all the propaganda surrounding cannabis. I started hanging out with pot smokers when I was a sophomore in HS. I didn't smoke but hung out with them several times when they did. They were always asking me to smoke with them and I was terrified I was going to die. They laughed at me told me to do some research, I did, and eventually decided to give it a try.

To your post. I always develop a mild psychological addiction to it, but after a few days of being dry it stops bothering me. I have an addictive personality though. Typically when I can't find any, I simply continuously think about it. That lasts for a few days and than I just accept I will get some more when I get some more. :jointsmile:

[luciddreamer]

Well the addiction side of Ganja is covered for you. I just thought I'd add that the all other drugs aren't as addictive as you thought either. Just in case you haven't found that out already. For example you can be high on Heroin for 2 days straight and then stop without any withdrawal symptoms. Crystal Meth even takes a fair while to get addicted, but once you are, it is very ahrd to stop.

Not that I'm suggesting you try any of those things but just for information purposes. As for withdrawals from weed, who cares if you do get them? The simple cure for that is to never stop! :jointsmile:
It's not harmful so the addiction doesn't matter lol

[JaggedEdge]

Well the addiction side of Ganja is covered for you. I just thought I'd add that the all other drugs aren't as addictive as you thought either. Just in case you haven't found that out already. For example you can be high on Heroin for 2 days straight and then stop without any withdrawal symptoms. Crystal Meth even takes a fair while to get addicted, but once you are, it is very ahrd to stop.


I'll agree they may not be as addictive as claimed, although, their are certainly more health risks than with cannabis. Not to mention, with heroin, from what I hear, it is a completely euphoric feeling. Weed is euphoric, but not to the extent I've heard described by heroin addicts. Therefor, I would conclude that although physical addiction my take longer, a psychological addiction would be far stronger than with weed and more likely to lead to a physical addiction.

Granted, I've never tried either of those drugs and do not have first hand knowledge.

By the way, saying you can do a drug for 2 whole days without becoming addicted is not a strong argument. Two days isn't exactly a long time...

[psychocat]

It is a question of personality and physiology IMO.
I do not have any addictions and I believe it to be a combination of my personality and physical state that I am less prone to addiction.