Signs of Marijuana Addiction July 5, 2009

According to the folks at Marijuana Addiction Help, there are a number of signs you can see developing in the addict who is addicted to marijuana. They are pretty much classic signs of addiction, similar to the experience of alcohol detox and other addictive drugs.

Signs include the compulsive desire to smoke, in contrast with the decision to quit, which then ends up with the user giving in to his or her desire to smoke again. That is a pretty good definition of addiction right there.

Other signs include social withdrawal, interference with school, work, and home life, and the presence of smoking tools such as bowls, bongs, pips, and screens.

Marijuana Should Be Legal? July 2, 2009

Somehow, conversations about marijuana and the possibility that it’s addictive can get turned on its head to a debate on whether it should be legal. Um, that wasn’t really the question! I think it happens this way because people who feel it should be legal – and might I add, there are many great arguments in favor of its decriminilization if not flat out legality – feel threatened by the idea that some people actually do get addicted to it.

How Many People Deal with Marijuana Addiction? June 30, 2009

Do we have any idea of how many people might be dealing with an addiction to marijuana?

The real answer is – no, not really.

Eestimates from drug counselors and psychologists and whatnot who deal with this thing behind the scenes have estimated that something like 10% of all chronic marijuana users are addicted to the substance.

And that’s what makes marijuana so different than say, cocaine. Because chronic users of cocaine are going to end up addicted in a LARGE majority of cases, whereas with weed, the speculation here is that it’s just about 10%. This is because marijuana addiction works differently the addictions to other drugs.

Addicted to Marijuana? (Yea, right.) June 27, 2009

That’s what most people think of when they imagine drug addiction and marijuana. Sure, someone might be a “pothead” but a drug addict, for marijauna. Yea right!

The movie Dazed and Confused sums up the publics feeling nicely when Bob Saget says:

“Marijuana! That’s not a drug. You ever suck dick for marijuana?”

Funny as it was, it helps create a misconception that to be addicted to something you have to be some homeless sleazebag, trying to sell hamburgers you found in the trash to buy crack. The truth is, addiction can blend right in between thelines of every day life, and that also includes marijuana.

Marijuana Addiction – The Grey Area of Drug Addiction June 20, 2009

Marijuana is one of the most uncontroversial controversial drugs.

What do I mean by this?

Well, what’s the most accepted drug around?

Answer: marijuana.

What’s the most controversial drug around to say is addictive?

Answer: marijuana.

So it gets to this weird grey area of where, while it’s illegal in the USA (with a few odd state law exceptions in California and other places for medicinal use), most people don’t really think it’s bad anyway. In fact, most Americans admit to having tried it before anyway. But then some people suffer from addictive tendencies when it comes to marijuana. But does anyone believe them when they say they are addicted?

That is the million dollar question.