I didn't think I could get addicted to weed. I was wrong – and I'm not alone
23 points by n1b0m 5 hours ago | 25 comments
  • stringfood 4 hours ago |
    people think you can't get addicted to weed? What do they think potheads were
    • cineticdaffodil 4 hours ago |
      Just aggressively enthusiastic one-herb-cures-all medicinal enthusiasts?
    • jazz9k 4 hours ago |
      As My co-worker once said: "I've been smoking weed every day for 20 years, and I'm still not addicted to it!!"
    • IshKebab 3 hours ago |
      I have wine pretty much every week and I wouldn't say I'm addicted to it. Addiction doesn't just mean you do it a lot.
  • AndrewKemendo 4 hours ago |
    This is so tired of an argument

    Anyone can get behaviorally addicted to anything. Refined Sugar is currently the #1 drug in the world and people are dying and sick from it but nobody cares because people equivocate “sugar” from fresh mango and a nerds rope as the same

    Addiction to cocaine alcohol or opiates are both behavioral and induce biological/chemical dependency

    This is exactly the equivocation you see in practice:

    “ Those withdrawing from heavy usage will experience a sharp decrease in dopamine release, which might encourage continued use. Studies have shown the risk of developing CUD is greater for those who start using before the age of 25, as Amy did, and for those who use heavily or have pre-existing mental health issues or genetic predispositions to developing addiction.”

    • butlike 3 hours ago |
      > and for those who use heavily or have pre-existing mental health issues or genetic predispositions to developing addiction

      Who would of thunk that those needing the medicine might overdo it?

    • 1shooner 3 hours ago |
      But you are also equivocating:

      >Anyone can get behaviorally addicted to anything.

      This disregards the broad range of observed likelihood of a behavioral addiction to a given substance, and the magnitude of negative effects of such an addiction.

      Likewise, saying 'nobody cares' about the amount of refined sugar in diet isn't even equivocating, it's just not true.

  • sysreq_ 4 hours ago |
    Ironically legalization has done more to reduce weeds popularity than any ad campaign. The old-school California medical system was honestly much better than what we see now though. Rather than moving marijuana to an alcohol type model, I wish they had moved alcohol to a medical marijuana one instead. Quick doctors appointment every 6-12 months on an opt in basis - just a check up to make sure you are partaking responsibly. America loves to make things a binary; all or nothing.
    • butlike 3 hours ago |
      Devil's advocate: I don't need you to police my behaviors or protect me from myself. I know what I need better than you do.
      • altairprime 2 hours ago |
        This turns out to be false for addiction-class things like cigarettes, alcohol, and opium where a chemical dependency is statistically likely to form across an entire population. Oxycontin (for example) trivially overwhelms “I know my needs” and virtually the entire population is vulnerable, barring those very few of us with the anti-addiction adaptations (who then also tend to lack a working feeling of completion-success, which is a curse in its own right!). Most societies choose not to apply a Darwinian filter along those lines, as evidenced by the absence of addiction testing and culling at birth, so it doesn’t make much sense to consider that with adults, either — and as one of those few without the proper brain wiring for the rewards-addiction circuit, I have zero interest in a world populated exclusively by people with brains like mine. There are solidly good reasons we have these neurotransmitter systems and it’s a bad plan to winnow out those who don’t by applying an Randian ethos to drug policies.
    • stringfood 3 hours ago |
      but some people want to enjoy the recreational aspect who have no disability or strict medical need for the drug?
    • pavel_lishin 2 hours ago |
      > Quick doctors appointment every 6-12 months on an opt in basis - just a check up to make sure you are partaking responsibly.

      What would irresponsible partaking look like, and would doctors be able to actually detect it?

      Nearly every prescription I've ever received has been pretty lax, with the only exception being one psychiatrist who prescribed me ADD medication - but only after I had both an EKG and an ECG done. Everyone else just asked me a few questions, and filled out the prescription.

    • thot_experiment 2 hours ago |
      What are you talking about. A. those systems don't make sure you partake responsibly, you even admit it yourself with the claim that legalization reduced popularity. and B. it's like so so so much better than alcohol or tobacco. Are you seriously suggesting that's where the bar should be for government regulation?

      All drugs should be legal and we should have good programs to take care of you if you fuck up their use, it would be vastly cheaper and better for society than criminalization, especially if your claims about legalization reducing use are true.

    • ratelimitsteve an hour ago |
      >Quick doctors appointment every 6-12 months on an opt in basis - just a check up to make sure you are partaking responsibly.

      I'm in a medical state that does this and it's just hilariously corrupt. That checkup to ensure responsibility is nothing more than a drug fee. There is nothing to it beyond a phone call where they ask you if you still want to be certified and you say "yes".

      • FireBeyond an hour ago |
        Even within the last ten years, in California, we were visiting. Went to a store. "Oh, we only sell medical", "Oh, sorry to bother you". They hand us a business card. "Just go outside the store, call this number, and they'll get your info, give them your card number (I want to say it was like $20?) then you can come back inside and will show up in our database.

        "Do you have anxiety or trouble sleeping and do you think marijuana would help you with this?" "Yes I do." "Sounds good to me."

  • moomin 3 hours ago |
    There’s a guy from my parent’s generation who smoked. A lot. Extremely decent guy, one of the reasons I made it through my own childhood in one piece. He’s been clean for ten years. He tells me he can barely remember a 20 year stretch of his life.

    Great guy, but not an advert for cannabis use.

    • dh2022 2 hours ago |
      I like South Park's take on this. If you smoke marihuana nothing will happen to you. 15 years later you will still be watching TV on your parents' living room couch :).
      • ratelimitsteve an hour ago |
        funny, because I started smoking marijuana and it actually got me out of my parents' house. I got my degree, got a career, got clean from everything else, got married and bought a house. i now work every day with other well-paid and well-regarded professionals and the preponderance of us that smoke weed every day just like Dr Dre ordered would be shocking to your sensibilities. maybe stereotypes aren't a good place from which to draw your worldview, because i think the primary driver there is less the truthfulness of the belief and more your comfort with it.
  • amanaplanacanal 3 hours ago |
    Smoked a lot when I was younger, eventually decided that sitting around stoned was pretty boring, so I quit.
  • summarybot 3 hours ago |
    if either of your parents suffer from any sort of mental condition you should not use cannabis at all, and stop if you are using, as it can induce psych*sis .
  • comprev 2 hours ago |
    It's a psychological addition of being stoned and slightly detached from reality - no different to people munching pills every weekend at a rave or drinking enough to be tipsy (or wasted, if that's your thing)

    It's escapism, pure and simple.

    • sqircles 2 hours ago |
      > Psychological addition [...] no different to people munching pills every weekend at a rave or drinking enough to be tipsy (or wasted, if that's your thing)

      I can assure you pills and alcohol are much more than a psychological addiction.

  • dweinus an hour ago |
    "As with other drugs, some people can be casual dabblers; other people, well, can’t." I think this is true. Unfortunately people (this article included) tend to talk about it as purely benign or unmitigated poison. I think the reality is that the dose, the frequency, and the role it plays in someone's life make it a positive or a negative. I wish we could get out of the hyperbole to be honest about the pros and cons.
    • hahn-kev an hour ago |
      Dose, frequency and role. Exactly like alcohol.
  • kittikitti an hour ago |
    I hate this narrative and hope people who push it have to be sober 24/7 for the rest of their lives. People will take this and use it to harass others with real world consequences. I used to respect The Guardian until it became a platform for Reddit journalism. Its now the favorite for conservative liberals.