Marijuana.com

Buzzby

Readers Dispute Column On Marijuana Addiction
Courier-Journal | 05/24/2006

A vice, not a crime

David Hawpe has become lazy. Lazy column ("Marijuana's not funny, just look at the statistics," May 21), lazy research, lazy conclusion.

First, whether marijuana is addictive is apparently debatable within Hawpe's own tiny framework. If "10 percent of those who try the stuff become hooked at some point," doesn't that mean 90 percent who try the stuff do not become "hooked"? People abuse marijuana just as people abuse alcohol, tobacco, gambling, red meat, TV, you name it.

Why not make subscribers think a little? How about this:

1. Vices are acts by which an individual hurts himself.

2. Crimes are acts by which an individual harms another person or person's property.

3. Vices are errors individuals make in search of their own happiness. There is no (criminal) intent to hurt others.

4. Therefore, deregulate and decriminalize vice-like behavior. Don't punish people for their vices. Let them seek help. Now there's a colunm.

I have to run my six miles now. (Addiction? Vice? Should we regulate? Criminalize?) Hawpe's column: It's bad stuff. No joke.

TIMOTHY F. MANN

Louisville 40243

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A 'liberator' the brain needs

David Hawpe's column cited a Wall Street Journal writer, Kevin Helliker, who … cited "addiction-treatment statistics that show 'dramatic growth in marijuana-related problems.' " Since there are apparently no replicative studies, Helliker's statistics are suspect.

Helliker alleged, "The percentage of addicts who cited pot as the main problem more than doubled." That claim is suspect, since the February 2006 Drug Early Warning System reported, "The use of the three substances most popular among Maryland 12th graders -- alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana -- has declined since 1984…." ( http://www.cesar.umd.edu/ ). That refutes the claim that "marijuana addiction" is difficult to break.

Damaged relationships are not due to marijuana, but to the $69-billion-a-year war on drugs…. Jailing nonviolent users damages relationships.

Helliker and Hawpe ignore the fact that marijuana is neither a drug nor addictive. It is a liberator from drugs such as heroin, cocaine, alcohol and tobacco.

Marijuana is a cannabinoid. The brain has marijuana receptors. If the brain doesn't need marijuana, why does it have so many marijuana receptors?

DAVID DUNN

Louisville 40220

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SnowMinion

"Helliker and Hawpe ignore the fact that marijuana is neither a drug nor addictive. It is a liberator from drugs such as heroin, cocaine, alcohol and tobacco.

Marijuana is a cannabinoid. The brain has marijuana receptors. If the brain doesn't need marijuana, why does it have so many marijuana receptors?"


I'm sorry to let you down....but Marijuana is in fact a drug, and it can be addictive, just like video games and gambling can be addictive.

Also, the brain doesn't specifically have "marijuana" receptors. It has receptors for endogenous cannabinoids, ones your brain naturally makes. All drugs act on these types of endogenous receptors.

I like debunking reefer madness, but please, let's do it the right way...
I hate seeing propoganda and uninformed people on either side of the drug war.

mars

agreed, but it's not nearly as addictive as harder drugs, the majority of the people who regularly use marijuana could probably stop if they needed/wanted to

Buzzby

I find it very annoying when people fail to distinguish between real (physical) addictions and so-called "psychological addictions". There's a world of difference.

A real addiction involves chemical changes in the body of the addict such that a certain level of the addictive substance must be in the body for the addict not to be physically ill. An addict on a maintenance dose, no matter how high it might be, feels "normal", not high. An attribute of this chemical change is that higher and higher levels of the addictive substance are required to achieve this "normal" state: physical tolerance.

A "psychological addiction" is simply a bad habit, something you've gotten yourself into and don't know how to or don't care to leave alone.

For a few people, marijuana is very mildly physically addictive, less so than the caffeine in coffee or colas. The withdrawal symptoms can be a little annoying for a few days - that's it.

For the most part, people who think they are addicted to marijuana simply enjoy it and use it habitually. If they run out they aren't happy about it but they don't spend days shivering in a corner, sweating, and throwing up, as happens to people who are physically addicted to hard drugs such as heroin, meth, or alcohol.

It is only in recent years that people have begun to refer to bad habits as "addictions". In my opinion this has created a false commonality between one thing which is a biochemical process and something else which is far less serious and much more easily remedied.

SnowMinion

Buzzby, you're right, but it is important to note that "psychological" addictions also carry with them some chemical changes, most notably with dopamine in your reward center.

 

killthepoor187

I think that it is important to note that "psychological" is often as addictive as "physical" addiction. Cocaine and meth are both pychological and not physical, whereas alcohol is physically addictive. However, these substances all act on the dopamine receptors, whereas marijuana does not.

This puts pot in a different class than classical psychological addiction and is anologous to a regular hobby that is used to relieve stress. Upon cessation to said hobby, one could be expected to feel anxiety, including all symptoms attributed to cannabis withdrawal. I have gone through "cannabis withdrawals," but I have had worse from addiction to certain videogames. (Zelda, anyone?)

dotandpothead

im on day six of no marijuana after smoking most of my life and all of my adult life. im 34. today i felt no headache. the whole time ive felt stress and anxiety. maybe this is just the stress and anxiety that al nonsmokers feel regurally. ive gotten real bitchy. for me and those around me, i would have to surmise, smoking pot is definately a GOOD habit.

cassiusclay

Lets not forget sugar and fried fat. There's an addiction not easy to kick, and it effects the youngest the hardest.

Cannabis is food for our bodies. If a person does not use cannabis, then they will seek, consciously or unconsciously, to relieve the ever increasing stress of daily life, some other way.

Fat burger and a bucket O' sugar anyone?

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