Dr. Drew is (not) a fool

I have met Dr. Drew. It's true.....fall at my feet....:D....I began my recovery for alcoholism at his rehab (not the same one as the one in Celeb Rehab) and he headed the program there. To give you an idea of how long ago that was.....he is the father of triplets. I was in the hospital when they were born and remember it was the talk of the rehab unit.

I found their recovery program to be excellent....I got sober and it isn't an exxageration to say it saved my life. So like Birdgirl says.....it doesn't pay to dismiss something like addiction that you really don't know anything about.

And really, saying something can't be "equated with a heroin addict" isn't too valid an argument in my view......would you equate a cigerette addict with a heroin addiction? Or deny that one is as dangerous as another? If the symptoms are physically minor (as with nicotine) does that make it LESS of an addiction despite the mental cravings and obsession? You might ask some cigerette smokers what they they think about that view.

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Originally Posted by LIP

Anyone who says anything remotely like cannabis withdrawl [of which there is practically NIL, and for the VAST MAJORITY, there is NIL] is similar to that of heroin is no professional. Someone who'd say that is a fucking moron. Someone who says that kind of crap shouldnt be working in that profession and shouldnt be on TV.

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well said:thumbsup:

yea sorry bird gurl LIP is right... any one that thinks they can compare marijuana and heroin is an idiot......
lets just say it is addictive to those who have addictive
personalities... 3 days after you quit from using every day your
not rolling on the floor screaming its hurts and i just want a lil more....
so back to Cannabis-Sativa first statement dr. drew is a fool

My feeling is that some people get angry at any mention of addiction in connection with marijuana, because the substance has SO many positive attributes and helps SO many people, that it makes them afraid that such reports will mean that pot will be further misunderstood and forbidden. It seems to lend credence to the anti-pot crusade. Though of course some people can become addicted. I know about addiction, yikes-

I have been sober from alcohol, speed, downers, cocaine, tobacco, etc etc since 1985, and went for nearly 9 years completely free of weed as well. I had no substance stronger than an aspirin in my body for almost 10 years before I had a nervous breakdown and began taking anti-depressants. After another decade of those, the side-effects and lack of efficacy led me to try smoking pot again. It has enabled me to go off the psych meds and feel much better than when I relied on Prozac, or Lithium, or Desiprimine, or Klonipin or the other meds ---(sorry for poor spelling) which all my different MD Doctors offered- since 2000 I use pot daily as I do my thyroid meds- am I addicted to those?- perhaps
But as someone who picked her poorsadsorry ass off to an AA meeting in the 80's- I have since had no desire to drink or use any of those other harmful drugs from before, and much of what I know about addiction involves the effects it has- if something makes your life difficult, painful, out of control...then it is probably bad for you. If it makes your life comfortable and joyous- then I think it is okay. Simple.

There are positive addictions too, for those of us who are susceptible- chocolate, fine weed, running, kisses................"if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right"
sorry for such a long rant:stoned:

P.S. Dr. Drew is very sexy

Do we even have proof-positive evidence he said these words exactly? It really does surprise me, that a pro-medical mj and highly experienced addiction medicine specialist would say something so extreme. Maybe Youtube has a clip?

i love Dr. Drew from years of listening to Loveline....I have to admit though...his new show angers me....it seems a little bit exploitative.

edit: as for the girl who is in for using marijuana.....if she really felt she needed rehab, then more power too her...however it really was just the easiest way for her to try and get her name back out there....not many shows were looking for her....in fact i would say she hasn't been on anything in probably ten years.

the moral of the story: it's television.

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Originally Posted by Cannabis-Sativa

Well this show is full of alchys, and cock head, and people that just abuse anything that fucks you up.

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I don't know anything about Dr. Drew, but if he's trying to get this girl off cock, then he is a fool.

Y'all who are saying that I--or Drew Pinsky, for that matter--directly equated marijuana withdrawal to heroin withdrawal have misinterpreted something. Probably because your defenses are up a bit too high on this subject to be able to take in what's actually being said.

For people who have severe addiction trouble to a drug like heroin or other types of opiates, you could expect them to have really disastrous physical withdrawal sickness because that's what happens when people detox from those drugs. For people who might be considered the sickest cannabis addicts, I have no doubt that the physical withdrawal is milder except in, perhaps, the most extreme cases. By those I mean people with a genetically addiction-prone brain whose receptors of all types are responding to cannabis, people who've been using cannabis super heavily and frequently for a long, long period of time. They have real physical withdrawal that includes nausea and sometimes vomiting--because of how the long-term cannabis use has affected CB1 and 2 receptors in areas of the brain and stomach that affect nausea. Neurological shakes--again, changes in those neuro-cannabinoids receptors after their accustomed chemical is withdrawn. Know how sometimes some average stoners twitch after they've smoked or as they're coming down? In a severe withdrawal where those chemicals that have been constantly, heavily bathing the brain have been stopped, it'd be like that times 100.

They have lack of appetite, depression, terrible headaches, and various other things. So when Dr. Drew likens it to heroin withdrawal, that's what he means. Super heavy users who've got the brains with the propensity to form this type of addiction can--and DO--have some of those symptoms, particularly the stomach and neuro symptoms. All you have to do is consider for a moment--with an undefensive mind--the sorts of symptoms you've seen regular everyday stoners talk about here repeatedly, then magnify those effects in an extreme direction and you have an example of what can happen to people whose brains are dealing with the cessation of a chemical their receptors--all three types of receptors: nicotine, opiate and cannabinoid--have begun to respond to systemically.

That's what I was saying. That's what Drew Pinsky was saying. And you probably are going to want to trust that this isn't bullshit. It may not be true for you personally, but for some people it is.

That patient on Drew's rehab show--the cannabis addict--had mostly depression, some twitching, some nausea, and some apathy with her withdrawal, if what I read was correct. She'd been a 20-times-a-day daily, heavy smoker for a decade or so and her dependence was growing stronger to the point that she was willing to prostitute herself and lie, cheat or steal stuff to maintain her intake. It's true, the story did make for dramatic TV and was hard to believe for everyone who's been raised to believe that just because they don't have a brain that's become addicted doesn't mean someone else can. But for that patient, it was very real.

(I think Dr. Drew is the hottest thing, too. Nothing like a professional man who cares about his patients and looks good in a suit!!! I'd like to send a special shout-out here to my husband Dr. Dave, too, while I'm at it. You're hot too, honey.)

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Originally Posted by birdgirl73

Drew Pinsky is certainly no fool. He's better qualified than anyone in the country, practically, to recognize diseases of addiction. He's a well respected, widely published board-certified addictionologist and if you've ever listened to him on "Loveline," you know he's no fool.

I didn't always believe this before I began medical school myself, but I am now firmly convinced that people can be addicted to cannabis. There's a post inside there of mine that cites the reasons in more detail. It's not necessarily because of how cannabis works in people's brains alone. It's because of how it works on similar types of drug receptors in the brain which then begin responding to cannabis. For people with that particular susceptibility, it is a very real addiction..

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Couldn't have said it any better, for a couple years when I got out of highschool I was truly addicted to weed. I have what's been dubbed an "addictive personality" and addiction has run in my family. My grandma is a battling alcoholic, and my uncle is a recovering cocaine addict. I was smoking large amounts of weed daily, and I had to have it to feel normal. I didn't feel right without it, and would have true withdrawl symptoms. It became not just a matter of wanting to get high but a compulsive need. I'd buy it many times whn i couldn't really afford it for fear of being without it. I've since taken control of my addiction and can take it or leave it, and I am now taking an extended break to regain focus and concentrate on academics, I'll still smoke on occasion when offered, but I'm not currently buying it. But it was hard, even getting myself to cut back initially. Fuck what anyone says about marijuana cant be addictive. That's bullshit, for some it can, and it was an addiction. I'd compare it to alcohol dependency or something simillar.

If it's not addictive for you that's fine, fucking power to you, just dont be ignorant and say it can't be addictive at all.