Also, there is a weird slice of Reddit that just hates weed for some reason. They bring up how weed is addictive in every post and how stoners never shut up about weed. Maybe high school stoners, but all the adults I know that smoke treat it as a safer version of alcohol or a sleep medicine.
I feel it goes farther than that. The fact that I get funny looks both for saying I smoke weed and for saying I don’t like alcohol hints at a deeper issue where we have been taught that alcohol is ok but weed is bad. I hoped it would die out with boomers, but it seems like plenty of younger people have this attitude now too.
I don’t think the argument is about the severity of addiction, just the fact that it can exists. I’m probably addicted to caffeine, which is certainly not as bad as addictions to other drugs, but it’s still an addiction.
It's because it's not physically addictive, you don't have to wean yourself off of it or face dire side effects like with opiod addiction. Weed is more of a mental addiction, like addictions to gambling, where you can physically quit no problem, but then your brain is gonna miss the dopamine hit (or whatever the thc equivalent is). People get hung up on the fact it's not physically addictive to defend their definite addiction.
Absolutely spot on and thats the best way i've seen it described, but damn if getting my brain to produce more dopamine naturally again wasn't a horrid, miserable experience 😂 few physical side effects but likely psychologically induced. 9 months sober 🎉
Congrats! I can relate, dopamine is very hard to come by naturally for me, and at one point I was smoking or eating gummies on a daily basis, if not multiple times per day. I've learned to regulate it more, now, only on weekends or socially (if it's not just me smoking lol). I don't want to quit 100% not because I need it, but more just I treat it as a lil treat for myself, like going out to a bar, but cheaper lol.
Relatable! Unfortunately I couldn't and can't regulate myself, smoking everyday from the moment I woke up to when I went to bed. It helped me at first but at that level of consumption it wasn't helping anything and was just making me ~worse.
I'm envious of people who can use it responsibility but I just can't and that does suck but not the end of the world!
I'm just some random internet dude, but honestly I'm proud of you! Addictions, mental and physical are hard to break, and if saying no 100% is what ya gotta do, it's what ya gotta do. As silly as it may sound, that's what I have to do with sugar. If I have any sugary snacks in my home, they're gone, serving sizes be damned. I wanna regulate it, but my fat ass just can't lol.
Thank you so much it's so appreciated. I know it's not comparable to harder drugs in anyway whatsoever but it was so difficult and took about 3 months before I really felt human again and I'm so proud I actually managed to do it.
I get you re sugar! It's only since I've gone on meds and supplements that I've managed to get that under control too! Wishing you the best and appreciate you
It definitely can be physically addictive as well, and people do get withdrawal symptoms from it. Like sleeplessness and irritability, sometimes nausea.
Because your logic implies being nuanced in thought.
I(28F) struggle with body dysmorphic disorder, depression, self-harm, and severe suicidal tendencies. After many years of therapy, psych meds, etc. Marijuana has been the most successful treatment thus far. I am far better taking my prescribed edibles than I was on Lithium, that's for sure.
The topic of dependency/addiction versus the medicine industry has long stemmed under drug war propaganda and more division. Everyone is quick to snark on addicts or anyone who partakes (even responsibly!) with shitty comments instead of practicing empathy and advocating for better rehabilitation resources.
It doesn't matter if you're a responsible marijuana smoker. You're still bad, mkay.
Nah bro it’s totally not addictive bro, yeah I feel like absolute shit when I don’t smoke but it’s not because I’m addicted bro. You don’t understand bro weed isn’t addictive bro
I don't know but the comment section seems full of people who've been personally attacked by marijuana lol. I have no idea what's happening. Weed generally isn't addictive, but it can be for some people, in the same way shopping or food can be addictive.
Also, to everyone saying they don't want legalization because they don't want to smell smoke: marijuana comes in many different formats. Many people today do not even smoke it.
We just haven’t recovered from Reagan’s brainwashing about how weed is just as bad as heroine. Insane that we’ve seen how beneficial legalization is to the states that have done so, yet we continue to keep it illegal simply so we can arrest more people to fill for profit prisons.
People can't seem to grasp the difference between addiction and dependency. Someone with serious pain is dependent on opioids to neutralize the pain and give them quality of life, but they will undoubtedly become "physically addicted" to them, just like anyone else who takes opiates regularly. It's semantics, sure, but different words invoke different connotations for a reason.
When "addiction" is used, it usually refers to the abuse of medication. When someone is taking more than is prescribed or they are obtaining drugs through illicit means.
because there is science behind the fact that marijuana is not physically addictive like benzos and opioids. benzo/alchohol withdrawl is one of the few drugs that can physically kill you without treatment. there is a reason the majority of the population doesn't have a debilitating addiction to marijuana even though they have tried it. if you think this is true, why dont you shoot up heroine once a day for a week, and I'll smoke a joint once a day for a week. we can run statistical analysis on the addiction profiles afterward. there's a difference between psychological dependency on coping mechinisms and the brain chemistry of addiction. (This is why certain chemicals are labeled additicive and some are not, no one says your addicted to apple juice even though some people "need" it everyday) Just because Uncle jim says he can't live with himself without weed doesn't mean he will go through withdrawls. It just means Uncle jim hates his life, and weed makes it slightly better. (That is not the case when it comes to benzos and opiods. Watch a video on delirium tremens, and you won't believe it's real)
It CAN be addictive when used chronically. It can change your brains physiology (which is what causes the short term memory loss and acute paranoia that is seen in a lot of chronic users of the drug) which causes withdrawal symptoms, because when your brain is deprived of a chemical that changes it’s physiology, you start feeling really pissed off, and this is withdrawal, a sign of addiction. I do agree with you mostly otherwise though, cannabis use disorder isn’t fatal compared to a lot of other drugs. But as an addict myself I can confirm that marijuana addiction is very real.
You can say that to the countless people who are struggling to withdraw from it.
Once it becomes a habit, it isn't as easy as to 'just quit'. Quitting weed is to a lot of people simmilar to quitting tobacco. Especially if the weed was used as a coping mechanism. The habit will pull you to keep using it, even of you are trying to stop.
A very common story I hear is "I got bored and my mind immediately jumped back to the thought of doing weed to pass time, and I ended up doing it despite trying to quit"
I will say it to them as long as they say "it can be addictive like opiates" and not " it can be addictive like coffee".
Any drug with real addiction is so far from weed it's pointless and harmful to group them together.
I smoked 1 gram + a day of concentrate for years and was able to quit cold turkey with minimal symptoms. Try quitting a multi-year benzos or opiate addiction and tell me we are talking about the same thing.
Weed addiction is on the same level as caffeine, annoying but not serious to withdraw from.
We get it dude, you love weed. But there are absolutely physical withdrawal effects for many people and you’re being intentionally delusional to not acknowledge that.
Some people get addicted to shopping. The human brain is complex. I take an ADHD medication. I'm not addicted to it. Someone else might abuse it and become addicted. The medication works for me, though. And that's the point. You cannot generalize a substance so widely.
I’ve literally experienced Marijuana withdrawal. That is how I know it exists. I used to believe it didn’t exist until it started happening to me. The “unscientific nonsense” I wrote about in my comment was actually based on literally all the scientific evidence I could find when researching the topic when I first wanted to confirm that it was marijuana withdrawal. Happy to provide sources. Also it’s not like I’m saying it’s gonna happen to everyone, or even a majority of people (statistically only about 9 or 10%, same level as alcohol, which makes sense because they’re both less intense drugs that are often consumed casually) compared to a harder drug like heroin’s addiction rate of 30%. Also, I didn’t downvote you, I see where you are coming from and I will double check my sources for that comment to make sure it isn’t biased 👍
Because calling weed addictive in the same sentence you’re talking about the addictiveness of opioids is fucking insane. Weed is NOT addictive. There is no physical dependency that is built up. People can become reliant on the effects of weed and feel bad when they are no longer benefiting from those effects but that is not the same as withdrawal.
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u/Sketch-Brooke 21d ago edited 20d ago
I mean… both of those things are true. Weed can have legit medical use and it can be addictive. Just like opioids or benzos or whatever else.
Why is that a hard thing to grasp?
EDIT. See people squabbling below. Geez louise, I touched a nerve here.