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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


Registered: 12/19/07
Posts: 8,298
Loc: Tacos
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504016 - 05/24/11 11:53 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said: Like I always say in these threads: Physical withdrawal is only ONE characteristic of a medical diagnosis of "substance dependence".
You can have dependence without physical withdrawal, and vice versa. "Physical addiction" isn't a clinically used term, and not used by professionals in the field. Technically, its not even a real definition.
I remember you saying this, and trying to explain this to people i know but... they're all like huh
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Shroomism]
#14504017 - 05/24/11 11:53 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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By the same logic, you can have horrible withdrawals from SSRI's, beta blockers, and thousands of other medications. Yet they don't make people "addicted".
Physical withdrawal is one component of addiction.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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AgingHippy
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Registered: 04/19/07
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Loc: Necropolis
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: owls]
#14504019 - 05/24/11 11:54 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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i can smoke weed every day without ever having to buy ridiculous amounts to get high, worrying about overdosing/toxicity, and i wont end up homeless doing depraved things for a joint.
that's enough evidence for me to want to live stress-free
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Beanhead
IS IRONIC PARADOX


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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504023 - 05/24/11 11:54 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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badchad said: There are documented physical changes that occur from withdrawal of THC and marijuana. Changes in sleep activity, cannabinoid receptor density etc.
Yeah smoking too much weed fucks with GABA (ye olde body can't produce enough itself anymore) thus causing paranoia/anxiety.
Also sleep cycles and eating habits can get pretty fucked and that isn't minor IMO
but meh this is an ongoing discussion to nowhere so i'm just going to leave this thread be.
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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


Registered: 12/19/07
Posts: 8,298
Loc: Tacos
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504034 - 05/24/11 11:56 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Shroomism said: Yes technically we could pussy foot around with semantics and say a mental addiction is similar to a physical one, but it's not. Yes they are connected but try withdrawing from heroin or tobacco and then tell me that weed has a physical dependency, it doesn't. If you get irritated because you don't get high, that's your own damn problem not the lack of weed.
Cigarettes were infinitely easier to put down than weed. And thats a pack to pack and a half habit.
Quote:
badchad said: There are documented physical changes that occur from withdrawal of THC and marijuana. Changes in sleep activity, cannabinoid receptor density etc.
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AgingHippy
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#14504044 - 05/24/11 11:57 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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did you start smoking when you were young mush 4 brains?
I ask because if you've always used weed as a coping mechanism, then of course it's going to be hard to put down.
that's like people that eat whenever they feel bad. It's really hard for them to stop eating.
Edited by AgingHippy (05/24/11 11:58 AM)
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504046 - 05/24/11 11:57 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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What are the severity of these changes? Can you link to these documentation/studies? Physical withdrawal is but one step yes, I am saying out of almost all the drugs I know of, and I know a lot of drugs... pot is one of the least harmful/less addictive by FAR.. in terms of physical addiction that is even possible. Yeah you can have terrible fucking withdrawals from SSRIs. Not from pot.
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owls
just let go!


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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Beanhead]
#14504047 - 05/24/11 11:58 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Beanhead said:
Quote:
badchad said: There are documented physical changes that occur from withdrawal of THC and marijuana. Changes in sleep activity, cannabinoid receptor density etc.
Yeah smoking too much weed fucks with GABA (ye olde body can't produce enough itself anymore) thus causing paranoia/anxiety.
Also sleep cycles and eating habits can get pretty fucked and that isn't minor IMO
but meh this is an ongoing discussion to nowhere so i'm just going to leave this thread be.
weed affects gaba? if i was ever aware of that, i forgot. u sure? that's interesting
-------------------- i love you ♥ you are beautiful! COME TOGETHER, JOIN THE PARTY!! "what beith a man if he doth not enjoy cannabis?"
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Maverick
Lover of Earwigs!




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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504050 - 05/24/11 11:58 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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badchad said: By the same logic, you can have horrible withdrawals from SSRI's, beta blockers, and thousands of other medications. Yet they don't make people "addicted".
Physical withdrawal is one component of addiction.
Depends on how habit forming it is.
There ARE different types of addiction. I know people who are addicted to SSRIs and benzos. They're Addicted for sure. My ex used to be all about zoloft and xanax, I didn't know she was so bad because she hid that shit from me until she started puking everyday (hardcore heaving), started getting ulcers bleeding, and then when she quit we broke up, she went psycho and tried to kill herself and her kids and all that shit, and yeah I ditched out of town like "fuck this shit, ain't my drama".
Badchad, there are minor physical changes, however, the extent of them isn't like that of an alcohol or meth addiction.
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Salomon
ಠ︵ಠ balance ಠ_ಠ weaver ಠ‿ಠ

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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: mellowparty]
#14504056 - 05/24/11 11:59 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
mellowparty said:
But if I happen to see a picture of a rolled joint
 
pretty sure i can see tobacco in that, tis a spliff
-------------------- EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY BECOMES A DESERT
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owls
just let go!


Registered: 02/22/09
Posts: 6,485
Loc: dancing
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Maverick]
#14504058 - 05/24/11 11:59 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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i personally believe regular cannabis use has positive effects on the mind. kinda like mushrooms
that's if you don't abuse yourself by abusing it i guess
-------------------- i love you ♥ you are beautiful! COME TOGETHER, JOIN THE PARTY!! "what beith a man if he doth not enjoy cannabis?"
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saxcidjazz



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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#14504078 - 05/24/11 12:03 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Shroomism said: That's total bullshit. I've smoked dank ass pot multiple times a day every day for years and "quit" 'cold turkey' with no problem.
Yeah you have a psychological addiction, so your mind tricks your body into thinking you need it, but you don't.
We aren't talking about a heroin or nicotine or caffeine addiction here, where there are actual physical withdrawal symptoms that suck ass. We are talking about minor fucking inconveniences that are all in your head to begin with.
You can get mentally addicted to fucking anything. I have seen it. Weed is no exception, neither are video games. Marijuana is not physically dependent or physically habit forming. At all. It's all in your head.
I posted essentially this earlier, but I'll just agree anyway. The only thing I notice when I stop is I have more trouble sleeping but I've been an insomniac for years, that's nothing new. If the mind gets used to anything it will want it.
Quote:
The Todd said: I don't get it. I have physiological symptoms everytime I try to quit. Can't sleep, appetite sucks, cranky...bored lol. I may not be itchin or out robbing people for a fix, but I'm definitely a weed addict.
Don't compare it to being addicted to the internet please. I'm on there every day and can easily step away for a week and not give a shit. That won't happen with sweet jane.
This is probably because you're covering up things by smoking weed and when you cease use of it then it comes up. If you only eat while you're stoned, your brain associates eating with being high. If you only sleep after you smoke, your brain associates sleep with that. This is true with any habit you do, you can't blame weed. I'm not trying to say its a perfect drug and its for everyone but I'm not convinced there are any real physiological symptoms, especially after going through multiple heavy pothead phases in my life and then just stopping like nothing happened. Some people get "addicted" to watching TV before they sleep. If they stop having the white noise in the background, they don't sleep as well for a while. Is TV addictive?
Quote:
Mush 4 Brains said: Cigarettes were infinitely easier to put down than weed. And thats a pack to pack and a half habit.
Cigarettes are easy to justify quitting. After you smoke a few you don't get any buzz anymore, you're just killing yourself. Weed is fun and there's very few side effects.
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Beanhead
IS IRONIC PARADOX


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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: owls]
#14504084 - 05/24/11 12:04 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
owls said:
Quote:
Beanhead said:
Quote:
badchad said: There are documented physical changes that occur from withdrawal of THC and marijuana. Changes in sleep activity, cannabinoid receptor density etc.
Yeah smoking too much weed fucks with GABA (ye olde body can't produce enough itself anymore) thus causing paranoia/anxiety.
Also sleep cycles and eating habits can get pretty fucked and that isn't minor IMO
but meh this is an ongoing discussion to nowhere so i'm just going to leave this thread be.
weed affects gaba? if i was ever aware of that, i forgot. u sure? that's interesting
**Nora Laaris et. al., "Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol is a full agonist at CB1 receptors on GABA neuron axon terminals in the hippocampus." Neuropharmacology, Vol. 59, No. 1-2, 121-127. 2010.[
**A. Hoffman, "Mechanisms of Cannabinoid Inhibition of GABA-A Synaptic Transmission in the Hippocampus." J. Neurosci., 20(7):2470-2479. 2000.
Marijuana causes a physiological reaction that causes anxiety.
Depression of growth hormone and cortisol response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia after prolonged oral delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol administration in man.
Six hospitalized volunteer male subjects were given insulin, 0.15 U/kg, before and after 14 days of administration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at a dose of 210 mg/day. A diminished maximal serum human growth hormone (GH) increase followed the prolonged THC ingestion. The mean maximal GH response was: 52.6 ng/ml +/- 8.7 (+/-SE) before THC and 18.8 ng/ml +/- 6.7 (+/-SE) during THC, P less than 0.01; corresponding cortisol responses were 20.1 mug/dl +/- 3.0 before THC and 10.0 mug/dl +/- 1.1 during THC, P less than 0.05. The data suggest suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis after prolonged high dose THC use. This is consistent with other reported endocrine effects of marijuana in man.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid B receptor 1 mediates behavior-impairing actions of alcohol in Drosophila: adult RNA interference and pharmacological evidence.
Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Institute, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
In addition to their physiological function, metabotropic receptors for neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the GABA(B) receptors, may play a role in the behavioral actions of addictive compounds. Recently, GABA(B) receptors were cloned in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), indicating that the advantages of this experimental model could be applied to GABA(B) receptor research. RNA interference (RNAi) is an endogenous process triggered by double-stranded RNA and is being used as a tool for functional gene silencing and functional genomics. Here we show how cell-nonautonomous RNAi can be induced in adult fruit flies to silence a subtype of GABA(B) receptors, GABA(B)R1, and how RNAi combined with pharmacobehavioral techniques (including intraabdominal injections of active compounds and a computer-assisted quantification of behavior) can be used to functionally characterize these receptors. We observed that injection of double-stranded RNA complementary to GABA(B)R1 into adult Drosophila selectively destroys GABA(B)R1 mRNA and attenuates the behavioral actions of the GABA(B) agonist, 3-aminopropyl-(methyl)phosphinic acid. Moreover, both GABA(B)R1 RNAi and the GABA(B) antagonist CGP 54626 reduced the behavior-impairing effects of ethanol, suggesting a putative role for the Drosophila GABA(B) receptors in alcohol's mechanism of action. The Drosophila model we have developed can be used for further in vivo functional characterization of GABA(B) receptor subunits and their involvement in the molecular and systemic actions of addictive substances.
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Maverick
Lover of Earwigs!




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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: saxcidjazz]
#14504088 - 05/24/11 12:05 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Cigarettes were easy to quit, because when you OD on them you feel sick as shit. Go huff an entire pack of cigs in a few hours, I guarantee you'll have the spins and feel ill for a few hours, that nasty nicotine buzz.
That's what got me to quit, after 2.5 years of heavy smoking. Was on a roadtrip, smoked like 3 packs in a day, when I got home I almost puked. It's really really hard to do that with weed. I've sat around ripping hash-oil, bongrips, more hash, eating hash food, highest I'd ever been, couldn't hold my eyes open (a true welcoming to humboldt/mendo), and still never felt 'sick'. It helps to form a habit when something doesn't cause you to feel sick when you either do it or quit it.
Beanhead: Depression and anxiety are a far-cry from ulcers, puking and physical muscle spasms from withdrawal. Anxiety and depression are psychological.
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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


Registered: 12/19/07
Posts: 8,298
Loc: Tacos
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: AgingHippy]
#14504103 - 05/24/11 12:07 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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teefizzle said: did you start smoking when you were young mush 4 brains?
I ask because if you've always used weed as a coping mechanism, then of course it's going to be hard to put down.
that's like people that eat whenever they feel bad. It's really hard for them to stop eating.
Cigarettes in 7th grade which is like what, 12 years old? Pot regularly from 14 on. There is truth in what your saying... It was really hard for me to put down till one day something wasnt working, i didnt enjoy it after doing every day for 10 plus years. I love how people here say you're a foolish dumbass, week-minded, etc if you get in the habit of smoking weed. Yet if you get in the habit of doing heroin daily, your a poor old soul, plagued by a disease and its not your fault. I will say it one more time Cocaine does not have physical withdrawal, yet no one calls recovering coke addicts pussies.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: saxcidjazz]
#14504131 - 05/24/11 12:12 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Maverick said: Badchad, there are minor physical changes, however, the extent of them isn't like that of an alcohol or meth addiction.
Not necessarily true. People can experience severe vomiting and nauses from withdrawal of antipsychotics. and debilitating headaches from SSRI withdrawal.
There have been marijuana withdrawal studies where oral THC prevents withdrawal symptoms, and it's given under double blind conditions which strongly suggests it's not secondray to stress or "all in your head". Again though, physical withdrawal is just one component.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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AgingHippy
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#14504142 - 05/24/11 12:13 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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people at the shroomery insulted you for smoking weed?
 just tell them to fuck off and be glad that people arent feeling sorry for you?
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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


Registered: 12/19/07
Posts: 8,298
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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#14504144 - 05/24/11 12:13 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Cigarettes are easy to justify quitting. After you smoke a few you don't get any buzz anymore, you're just killing yourself. Weed is fun and there's very few side effects.
Weed gave me just as bad of a cough/ shortness of breath as cigs. I wouldn't call cigarettes a buzz, but quite enjoyable and soothing to me. There are side effects from marijuana, and i'd argue anyone (who is a daily smoker) who says there are none, is delusional. If you want to compare it to meth or something way out there, than of course there are negligible adverse effects in comparison.
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Maverick
Lover of Earwigs!




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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: badchad]
#14504147 - 05/24/11 12:14 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
badchad said:
Quote:
Maverick said: Badchad, there are minor physical changes, however, the extent of them isn't like that of an alcohol or meth addiction.
Not necessarily true. People can experience severe vomiting and nauses from withdrawal of antipsychotics. and debilitating headaches from SSRI withdrawal.
There have been marijuana withdrawal studies where oral THC prevents withdrawal symptoms, and it's given under double blind conditions which strongly suggests it's not secondray to stress or "all in your head". Again though, physical withdrawal is just one component.
Thank god marijuana isn't an antipsychotic (typical or atypical). (Also before bringing up pure THC, remember cannabinoids react with THC and change how it affects the body, a THC high is different from smoking marijuana).
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



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Re: Why do so many people claim that weed is non-addictive? [Re: Beanhead]
#14504148 - 05/24/11 12:14 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
http://www.cannabismd.net/addiction/
Addiction is generally defined as a physical or psychological dependence on a substance, especially alcohol or other drugs, with use of increasing amounts.[1] For the sake of clarification, physical addiction is covered separately from psychological dependence on this website. (See also the section titled Dependence.) Scientific research on cannabinoid compounds has not demonstrated a strong association with biochemical addiction. In their exhaustive quest for evidence of addiction, federally funded researchers have resorted to relying on questionable data, such as the withdrawal symptoms reported by children who were referred to social service and criminal justice agencies. These researchers may argue that the court-ordered testimony of troubled youths “proves” that marijuana is addictive;[2] however, such questionable data is not scientific evidence of chemical addiction. In another case, an addictions researcher reported on his experiment in which rats displayed withdrawal symptoms upon a sudden discontinuation of THC. Critics point out that the reported withdrawal effects were created with very high doses of THC, and by the introduction of a second drug, a THC-blocking agent used to trigger the withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms are not found in rats without using a THC-blocking agent,[3] and even among troubled youths, withdrawal symptoms are relatively mild and of short duration. [4], [5]
Dopamine, a neurochemical produced in the central cortex of the brain, is thought to provide the brain’s “reward system.” Interference with dopamine production is considered a major symptom of biochemical addiction. While two studies alleged a minor link between THC and dopamine production in the brains of rats,[6] these were refuted by several subsequent studies showing that cannabis does not radically affect dopamine levels.[7], [8], [9] In assessing the importance of a possible link between cannabis use and dopamine levels, it should be noted that dopamine activity has also been detected in the brains of video game players who were paid money every time they reached a new level of the game.[10] Clearly, minor evidence of dopamine activity is not the sloe indicator of addiction. If it were, than all pleasurable activities would be defined as addictive. Moreover, the scientific evidence that cannabis use produces any amount of increased dopamine activity remains entirely inconclusive. Assessing the scientific literature on marijuana’s addictive potential for the Criminal Justice Commission of Australia, Peter Nelson reported, “… involvement with the ventromedial striatum suggests connections to dopamine circuits. However, the expected reinforcing properties usually associated with these dopamine pathways are difficult to demonstrate in the case of THC.”[11]
Cannabinoids bond to anandamide nerve receptors that are primarily concentrated in the frontal lobes of the brain,[12], [13] rather than in the central cortex where dopamine is produced. THC is mild, with effects resembling those of caffeine or chocolate rather than classic addictive drugs such as alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, and nicotine. In fact, a 1996 report from Daniele Piomelli of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego indicated that chocolate contains three compounds that are chemically similar to cannabinoids. Studies involving rats showed that cannabinoid chemicals found in chocolate amplify the effect of natural cannabinoids found in the brain. The article published in Nature concluded that these compounds may, “participate in the subjective feelings of eating chocolate.”[14] In the April 1999 issue of Nature Neuroscience, Piomelli and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine reported that anandamide acts as an inhibitor of dopamine neurons.[15] Far from triggering chemical addiction in the brain, THC, the natural anandamide analogue, may actually help to balance erratic dopamine levels.
The common scientific criteria for determining the addictive quality of a drug are examples of animal studies in which subjects self-administer an addictive substance. When given the choice between food and narcotics, for example, animals commonly self-administer the drug to the exclusion of all other activity, often starving themselves to death. Unlike heroin, cocaine, and other substances of abuse, there are no clinical studies showing animals self-administering cannabinoid compounds. In 1993, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment reached this conclusion:
While marijuana produces a feeling of euphoria in humans, in general, animals will not self-administer THC in controlled studies. Also, cannabinoids generally do not lower the threshold needed to get animals to self-stimulate the brain reward system as do other drugs of abuse.[16]
Clinical studies indicate a very low potential for addiction to cannabinoid drugs. In addition, there is no real-world evidence suggesting that THC is chemically addictive.[17] Epidemiological studies show that the large majority of people who try marijuana do not continue to use it on a regular basis. Moreover, the majority of people who ever use cannabis stop using it entirely before the age of thirty. Of an estimated 65 million “experimenters,”[18] only about 0.8% of Americans use cannabis on a daily basis.[19] The fact that millions of Americans have stopped using marijuana voluntarily and without difficulty is strong epidemiological evidence that cannabis is not chemically addictive.
Despite federally funded sociological and scientific findings that marijuana produces only mild dependence in some heavy users,[20], [21] the federal government has officially classified cannabis as a Schedule I substance that has “a high potential for abuse.” Recent research determining that cannabinoids are not chemically addictive and do not have a high potential for abuse forms the basis of a petition filed with the Drug Enforcement Administration. That petition prompted the federal drug agency to enter into a legally binding review of the existing evidence by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 1997.[22] Two years later, investigative authors of the 1999 Institute of Medicine report determined that, “… marijuana was not particularly addictive.”[23] Yet cannabis is still classified as having, “no medical value and a high potential for abuse.” In 1999, Dr. Podrebarac wrote to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy: “The recently released Institute of Medicine (IOM) study on the medical use of marijuana clearly supports rescheduling it for medical use.” The US Drug Czar’s office refused to comment on the rescheduling issue.
Cannabis authority Tod Mikuriya wrote extensively on the value of cannabis in treating addiction. Consider the following excerpt:
“In 1839, William B. O’Shaughnessy visited cannabis buyers’ centers in India and mingled with the “dissolute and depraved” to learn about the preparations of this social drug for clinical medical trials and found it to be useful in the treatment of tetanus and seizures.
In 1843, Clendinning utilized cannabis substitution for the treatment of alcoholism and opium addiction. Potter recommended full-dose Squibb cannabis extract for withdrawal from opium addiction.
In 1894, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report recognized the comparative safety of cannabis in its unsurpassed ethnographic studies within different cultures with a concern that if prohibited it would cause the use of more dangerous drugs.
McMeens, citing Fronmueller in 1860, found that the use of cannabis in place of, or combined with, opiates reduced harm from increased dose, tolerance, dependence, and side effects of opiates. In 1897, cannabis was confirmed as useful in the treatment of delirium tremens and as an alternative to opium for analgesia. Dutt independently described the comparative safety of cannabis in Materia medica of the Hindus. Yeo and colleagues warned about addiction to morphine in the treatment of neuralgia and suggested cannabis as an alternative.”
The connection between dependency on drugs and mood disorders may be caused by unsuccessful attempts to self-medicate uncomfortable feelings with the “cure,” causing more harm and aggravation of the underlying condition. Moreau described cannabis as being useful in the treatment of depression in 1845. Throughout both the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the drug was listed in medical texts and pharmaceutical catalogues for treatment of melancholia or mania.
Notwithstanding some polysubstance abusers who maladaptively combine cannabis with other psychoactives, there appears to be a significant number of persons who have learned that cannabis can totally substitute for other psychoactive drugs.
Following the therapeutic paths of Clendinning, throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, cannabis was found useful in the treatment of opiate and sedative abuse. Brunton described the use of cannabis for the treatment of opiate dependence or as a substitute when opiates were not tolerated. Shoemaker found cannabis to be used for the cure of opium or chloral habits. Birch advocated for the use of Indian hemp in the treatment of chronic chloral and opium poisoning. Mattison, an early addcition specialist, recommended cannabis as a substitute for morphine and cautioned his fellow physicians about hypodermic use of the opiate.
Alcohol abuse, stimulant, sedative, and opioid abuse and dependence are conditions potentially treatable with cannabis substitution. All of these conditions involve management of mood and emotional reactivity. Although there have been numerous synthetic homologues developed, short-acting psychotropic drugs continue to have high potential for dependency and abuse. The quality of immediacy for mood management would appear to be inseparable from abuse potential but cannabis appears to be the exception because of lesser or milder withdrawal symptoms.
California cannabis center members and patients in my private practice independently rediscovered and confirmed that cannabis is a safer substitute for many prescribed and most nonmedical psychoactive drugs in the control of depression, anger, and anxiety. Cannabis substitution may be a gateway drug back to sobriety and dealing with the underlying psychopathalogic etiologies.[24]
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