But, but guns

[TooTall]

I have used alcohol in moderation and was addicted to nicotine for years. The day I retired I threw away my half pack of cigarettes and haven't had one since. Then I found out I was a diabetic and that was the end of drinking any alcohol.

Are you suggesting that MJ is not addictive?

Absolutely. And a preponderance of medical testimony agrees.

Addiction is a condition in which an ingested substance imparts a biological effect on the organism over time, causing it to require repetitive ingestion to function normally (dependence). All of the recreational substances in current use produce this biological effect -- except for cannabis. (See, Marijuana, The Forbidden Medicine, by Dr. Lester Grinspoon, MD, Ph.D, Professor of Psychiatric Medicine, Harvard University (available from Amazon).

This is not to say marijuana is not habit-forming, which is a mental condition, not a biological effect. But there are people who find such things as coffee, tea, cola, sugar, and on and on to be habit forming and there is a tendency to refer to such habits as "addictions."

Both my late wife (a clinical psychologist) and I enjoyed the effects marijuana on a fairly regular basis throughout the sixties and seventies when it was decriminalized in New York City. When Ronald Reagan escalated Nixon's oppressive War On Drugs in 1982 we decided to discontinue using it for two reasons, fear of criminal prosecution and lack of convenient, inexpensive availability. While we certainly missed the effects of the euphoric tranquilizer we never experienced what might be called a craving or any form of distraction.

If marijuana were readily available to me today I would use it in edible form (I'm too old to be smoking anything) or I would get a vaporizer. With regard to the mention of smoking, I should say I smoked cigarettes for 35 years and quit in 1985. It was difficult to break that addiction but, as in your example, being able to do it proves I am not an addictive personality.

The addictive personality is manifest in any individual who believes he/she is "addicted" to marijuana and demonstrates the compulsive behavior of one who is actually addicted to some substance.

We, as many Doctors do, will have to continue to agree to disagree.

"Today there still seems to be some debate about whether you can become addicted to cannabis, or not. However, make no mistake about it; marijuana is addictive. For too long, popular culture has cast it as a near harmless source of "mind-altering entertainment". Simply put, that is untrue. Pot is the most widely used and abused illicit drug in the world. Clinical studies, diagnostic and laboratory research, as well as anecdotal evidence, has shown that marijuana use can and does lead to dependence, abuse and addiction."

 

[MikeK]

We, as many Doctors do, will have to continue to agree to disagree.

"Today there still seems to be some debate about whether you can become addicted to cannabis, or not. However, make no mistake about it; marijuana is addictive. For too long, popular culture has cast it as a near harmless source of "mind-altering entertainment". Simply put, that is untrue. Pot is the most widely used and abused illicit drug in the world. Clinical studies, diagnostic and laboratory research, as well as anecdotal evidence, has shown that marijuana use can and does lead to dependence, abuse and addiction."

If you happen to be an addictive personality, which means you can develop an imagined dependence on anything from Pepsi Cola to M&Ms, then you will manifest certain behavioral effects of actual addiction -- even though none of the biological symptoms of substance addiction will be present in your physical organism.

While there are some MDs with no specialized knowledge of the condition who will insist that marijuana is "addictive," I've provided you with a source of information put forth by an eminent authority on the subject, a professor of Psychiatric Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

I've also described my personal experience as a marijuana user. I am by no means an unusual example. In fact so many very ordinary Americans use cannabis that if it were addictive more than half the people you know and will meet would be manifesting symptoms of substance addiction.

Do you know what those symptoms are? Moreover, I will ask you to describe what you believe the symptoms of drug abuse are. Because it could be you might have no idea.