Is Cannabis Addictive?

[Huntster]

.......Anyway, during the aforementioned 45-minute drive, he smokes dope. Trouble is that he has two children, one about 4, and one about 1 or 2, and they travel with him.

......I think that anyone who smokes anything in an enclosed space with children deserves to be worked over with a cattle prod, but then only if a neon sign transformer is not available.

1) He's driving.

2) He's setting the worse kind of example for his kids.

3) You've been completely worked over by the "2nd Hand Smoke" propaganda. That's the least of the worries here.

 

[asthmatic camel]

And people occasionally die from their first dose of assorted medications. Human biochemistry is exceedingly complicated, and there are very few predictions about responses to drugs that can be made with absolute certainty. Are the rare reactions like your ex's sufficient reason for marijuana to be a banned substance?

And even if they are, I submit that banning substances is an ineffective method. Prohibition proved that making a substance illegal succeeds only in doing two things: making the available supplies of that substance more dangerous due to lack of quality controls, and allowing criminal organisations to profit from distributing the substance.

Where did I say that cannabis should be a banned substance? I entirely agree with your stance re. banning substances, it's counterproductive and can prevent people who need it from seeking help.

I do think it's important that the facts about the risks of drug use are made clear; cannabis can and does screw a minority of users up badly. The scaremongering tactics which have been used in the past simply don't work, as Joe Public soon realises that he's being told a pack of lies, and then takes none of the real issues seriously.

 

[politas]

Are you suggesting that alcoholism isn't a physical addiction?

Yes, but as has been pointed out to me, and I have accepted, addiction isn't limited to substance-based physiological responses. You can be addicted to gambling, for instance.

 

[politas]

Where did I say that cannabis should be a banned substance? I entirely agree with your stance re. banning substances, it's counterproductive and can prevent people who need it from seeking help.

I do think it's important that the facts about the risks of drug use are made clear; cannabis can and does screw a minority of users up badly. The scaremongering tactics which have been used in the past simply don't work, as Joe Public soon realises that he's being told a pack of lies, and then takes none of the real issues seriously.

I completely agree with you.

 

[Dancing David]

Another excellent point.

Is this the difference between physical and mental addiction?

Addiction is a set of behaviors, there need not be a physical withdrawl component, it is the behaviors which are problematic. Obviously cocaine has a very high potential for creating addicted behaviors, yet because people found that 'cocaine has no physical withdrawl cocaine is psychologicaly addictive', it doesn't matter, psychology is based in the physical brain.

If you die from a heart attack induced by cocaine use, it doesn't matter, you are dead. It is the behaviors that got you there, I say there is no such thing as physical or mental addiction, there is a addiction.

That is just my opinion and my opinion and seventy five cents will buy you a pop.

 

[asthmatic camel]

Yes, but as has been pointed out to me, and I have accepted, addiction isn't limited to substance-based physiological responses. You can be addicted to gambling, for instance.

I tend to think that anything people find enjoyable is potentially addictive. As Dancing David rightly points out above, it doesn't matter whether the addiction is physical or psychological; if the addiction in question causes somebody harm then it's a problem that needs addressing. In my experience, it's people who are prone to obsessive behaviour who become addicts; I'm one of them and am very, very far from being alone.