ANSWER to Is marijuana physically addictive? (2157 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.5 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by HZRD (View user info) at 2005-02-13 23:45:38 EST
This is in response to this post: http://www.ubersite.com/m/59478, but mostly to this review - http://www.ubersite.com/m/59478#1140086
This is from a liberal pothead of 11 years who reads the New York Times.
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A study done by Harvard Medical School declared that 20% of their test group (of thirty people from all races and many age groups) WERE physically addicted to marijuana. These subjects were made to quit, and the withdrawal was "similar to quitting cigarettes". So yes, mentally and physically addictive: the dopamine inhibitors in your brain that THC stimulates eventually block these same receptors, creating a "burn out" like those assholes at Widespread Panic shows - THEY ARE PHYSICALLY ADDICTED. In the test subjects who were addicted, these receptors were all blocked and it had become a daily routine to smoke pot... like a morning coffee and a cigarette... or that lunchtime "shot of courage". ha. Similar tests were done with the prescription drug Merinol (liquid THC) and the same results were produced in a similar test group.
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to this: http://www.ubersite.com/m/59478#1140405 :
Pot MIGHT have more tar than cigarettes, but there has never been a quantity adopted to a joint. As far as we know, this "joint" amount could be the size of the zeppelin joint in Cheech and Chong's first movie... the point I'm trying to get accross is that a cigarette could have more or less tar than a joint of weed, but WE DON'T KNOW. Plus, think of all the different kinds and qualities of pot - from the schwilliest of schwag to the most beautiful, dense, damp dank buds ever. Has that ever been averaged together for a total tar count? NO.
Also, consider all the shitty additives that are in cigarettes that poison the fuck out of you - from embalming fluid to gunpowder to whatever in the factory fell in your cig, rat shit or whatever. Also take into consideration the weed you got from Jareek on the corner of HolyShitI'mScared St., SE and I'vePeedMyselfInTheMiddleOfTheCityWasThatAGunshot? Ave. - it could be laced with windex, raid, crack, coke, PCP...
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Look, we all knew one of those assholes in college or high school who couldn't even walk next door without getting high first, you may have been one of them or are still one of them. Think about it, they were addicted. My friend Tanner (and oh God if you know this kid, tell me because it's been a while since we hung out) would visibly shake when he didn't smoke all day and couldn't sleep at night. Hell, when I first quit for work (I smoke again now) I was such a heavy user (3x a day every day for 2 years with little or no variation) that I DID start experiencing headaches and sleep loss. Also, some things just weren't as funny... like... well... shit i can't remember, i'm high right now. sunday nights watching horror movies and smoking blunts are the shit.
-2 DIE this all you want, you can be like "aw shit this kid was so stupid to smoke 3x a day for 2 years, what a hippie." Let me state this for the record - I would kill and eat hippies if they showered first (EWWWW, patchouli oil). You might also be saying "well he was just weak for being physically addicted". Whatever, it was just a coulple of headaches. People in my family do have addictive personalites: 3 of my relatives and my father are recovering alcoholics. I'd like to think I'm not like that - it's been 4 weeks without a cigarette and counting, even through drinking socially and smoking the occasional joint.
Lastly, i'd like to say "fuck it - it's just weed." Go spark one up and hit up Taco Bell and then put on some fucking wu-tang...I'll be over with a blunt in two shakes of a lamb's ass!
User Reviews
Submitted by TheSpook (user info) at 2005-02-14 12:23:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I had no trouble quitting for my last job. It was tougher than quitting smoking.
Submitted by Vomit (user info) at 2005-02-14 10:01:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I still don't think that there is anything in pot that makes your body physically crave it. That is exactly why it is a mental addiction. You are addicted to the feeling of being high. Cigarettes do absolutely nothing for me, yet I have a physical craving in my chest to have one if I go a long time without.
Submitted by HZRD (user info) at 2005-02-14 09:41:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
fieldsr:
I'm still looking for the New York Times article... something tells me it's still at my parent's house with about 25% of my shit. Convenient, I know.
But I think you have to admit - when Dopamine receptors are permanently (in some cases) or temporarily affected, it leads to a physical addiction for a certain time. Weening yourself off pot is a 99% easier than most drugs (except for Psychedelics which have been proven to have no addiction rate), i.e. coke, heroin, etc. and I'd say the physical addiction is something no one really has to worry about, it was like quitting coffee for a while - groggy, sleepless, headachey and stupid (maybe that's just my M.O.). This was just a counterpoint to what everyone has been saying. I could be right, I could be wrong - the thing is that there's not been enough testing, at least not widely published test results to disprove my point. And yes, I checked out that website... I'm stubborn.
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Chinaski, you were right! I'm a NARC! Put down your dick and your mouse and surrender all your weeds because you're all arrested!
Man I'm glad you didn't bring Timothy Leary into this convo along with the great advocates and authors you mentioned because he's a gaping twat.
Submitted by Jungle_Jimanee (user info) at 2005-02-14 08:10:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I have smoked for years; pot, weed and tobbaco, I have quit nicoteen but am still battling with the Ganja. I have a degree in Biology and alot more experience than any of these "studies" (look at who funds them and why).
It does not matter wether Ganja is physically addictive or not; it is addictive full stop.
Smoking it damages your lungs, immune system, success with the opposite sex and wits.
It does seem to me that everybody needs a substance to seperate work time from playtime (about 6pm for most).
A good trick is to give up two things at the same time eg. ganja and chocolate. Then when you need to cheat you can guiltily have some sweets.
Submitted by funk_boy (user info) at 2005-02-14 05:32:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
worthy of at least a +1
Submitted by Degreeless_Capibara (user info) at 2005-02-14 01:07:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Thomas Huxley.
Submitted by Chinaski (user info) at 2005-02-14 00:58:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
who cares what science says, science can say anything. look to studs turkel for the truth and men like him. edward abbey. aldous huxley. theodore sturgeon. i am the sturgeon of pot and I say, fuck yeah, it's addictive. look at the billions of addicted potheads. I also say, fuck you, narc.
Submitted by hungovermondays (user info) at 2005-02-14 00:50:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think the addiction line is a difficult one to define. Body addiction is severe, just try being 26 and drink for days on end like you were 18. Oh..OH, I won't do that again. But mental addiction isn't the same. How long before taking your something(weed,booze,crack) does it take before your brain stops making "happy chemicals" because you are always ingesting them outside the body? when you stop...no more happy chems, it takes the old bod some time to recover.
Submitted by okokididitbutiwasdrunk (user info) at 2005-02-14 00:17:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I really liked this post. I think a lot of people who really like weed go through that two year period of constanly getting high. At least it seems that way, I did anyways.
I think it's hard to distinguish phyical from mental addiction anyway. Isn't the brain a part of the body? If it's completely psychological but you have physical effects from that, what really is the difference? Whatever. No matter what kind of addiction, it isn't an intense one.
Now nicotine, shit. Physical, mental, spirtiual, etc. I have been quit for 10 weeks, but I'll still get that late night urge to run out and get just one pack. But I have to admit, once you are away from it for a while, your resolve increases to fight it.
So now I just drink constantly. Ha!
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-02-14 00:10:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i agree.
Submitted by fieldsr (user info) at 2005-02-13 23:53:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Its been proven, there is nothing in marijuana that causes it to be physically addictive. I want some sources. But since it's so widely debated, I'll still give you +2, even though I think you're wrong.
try medicalmarijuanaprocon.com
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-02-13 23:53:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Interesting.