If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?
roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com
roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com
the only way the "product" will become more addictive is if, as it was suggested, big companies dive into it and insert more addictive things beyond simply the original substance.
Essentially the difference is physical withdrawal symptoms versus mental ones (cravings, irritability, sleep issues, etc..). The line can definitely be fuzzy, and many addictions span both categories.
In the case of pot versus physically addictive substances, such as alcohol or heroin, a heavy pot user forced into cold turkey withdrawal would not get the shakes, diarrhea, sweating, nausea, seizures, or death, that can happen with withdrawal of physically addictive substances.
Mental/emotional dependence results in withdrawal symptoms like depression and anxiety.
One could argue that mental/emotional withdrawal is just as physical (as it results from imbalances in neurotransmitters) as physical withdrawal.
One could also argue that the only serious withdrawal symptoms out there are from alcohol - arguably one of the only drugs whose withdrawal symptoms you can die from.
Citation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens
"Withdrawal from sedative-hypnotics other than alcohol, such as benzodiazepines or barbiturates can also result in seizures, delirium tremens and death if not properly managed. Withdrawal from other drugs which are not sedative-hypnotics such as opiods, marijuana, cocaine etc do not have major medical complications and withdrawal is therefore not life threatening."
Galanter, Marc; Kleber, Herbert D. (1 July 2008). The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Substance Abuse Treatment (4th ed.). United States of America: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. p. 58. ISBN 978-1585622764. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6wdJgejlQzYC.
But alcohol is not the only drug whose withdrawal syndrome can kill you. Another exception is the benzodiazepines, which are prescribed for anxiety or as sleep aids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndr...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction#Varied_forms_of_addic...
Edit: OK; downmod as much as you please. Psycological addition will still be bullshit. Instead of looking at Wikipedia, that sometimes has no other choice to reflect some idiotic homeopatetic or obviously biased opinions, check what others are saying right here.
Interesting that the word "addiction" isn't used with alcohol, which is physically addictive, but is used with pot, which isn't physically addictive. Seems like a better writer would've gone with the simple and straightforward "... as destructive as alcoholism." Adding the "say," in there, and using the more detached "abuse of alcohol", seems like an intentional weighting of the comparison.
Contrary to what they show in the movies, alcoholics and smack heads do not writhe around and wail when locked up away from their fix.
(siezures, delerium tremens, and excito-neurotoxicity)
http://www.economist.com/search/search.cfm?google_rv=2&c...
There are many articles to wade through covering everything from addiction to crime to the economics of legalization. In all they are pro legalization, as am I. So what if addiction needles up? On balance, the pros outweighs the cons imho. We already have an issue in this country with addiction to controlled substances, why not add marijuana to the list and deal with it within the same framework as we do other addictions?
I've met a lot of messed up people, the vast majority were primarily addicted to alcohol. All of them smoked pot on occasion. None of them had anything resembling a 'pot addiction.'
So aside from the medicinal, economic and social factors, the industrial sector could be benefitted greatly by increased hemp availability.
After he graduated, three years later, he started smoking again. He says he only smokes once or twice a month and even then only on weekends. I honestly believe him when he says he just enjoys it and feels no real addiction. It seems no different than how I am with alcohol: mmmm beer.
That's just one anecdote. I don't know if that is common at all.
"What if marijuana is legalized? No one can say for certain. Using one country’s reform example to estimate what would happen in another is very risky. How countries differ (cultural, social, political, economic) makes a big difference."
"However, the Dutch “coffee shops” example might give us a little insight. The de facto legalization policy in the Netherlands did not, in itself, affect rates of marijuana use among adults or young people. But rates of use among young people increased when the number of coffee shops increased and the age of legal access was 16. Then these rates declined when the numbers of coffee shops was reduced and the age of legal access became 18."
Interesting that no mention of addiction stats are given, just usage.