Is marijuana addictive?

fergus51 · Dec 12, 2002

Originally posted by Susy K
Ok, I have a question.
For all of you in favor of legalizing pot by chanting "but it's not physically addictive", would you change your position if it WAS found to physically addictive?

No. I probably wouldn't for the same reason I am not in favour of criminalizing cigarettes or alcohol: It wastes a lot of money, it doesn't stop people from getting it and it really isn't any more harmful to your health than MacDonald's or Jim Bean or Players light. I just think it's very arbitrary to say alcohol is ok but pot isn't and not really have a reason for that. I mean, I've had about a dozen patients going through the DTs, but I've never had one with pot induced psychoses.

I personally think tobacco is the devil incarnate :devil: . Both my parents have been trying to quit smoking since before I was born. Mom has had a few different types of cancer (needed a hyst in her 20s, has had several bladder tumors and one in the lung treated with surgery last year). If there ever was an addict, it's my mom and it's perfectly legal for her to go on killing herself for a smoke. I would love to stop anyone from smoking. That said, I know that criminalizing something doesn't get rid of it. Pot is illegal, but you can get it whenever you want. And adults can make an informed decision whether or not they choose to use it, just like they can decide whether or not to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.

Hidi74 · Dec 12, 2002

Lemme see here, Legalize pot.....eat more Macdonalds......gain more weight....EEK Im still tryin to lose my high school, pot smokin, big mac eatin pounds. :-))

mario_ragucci · Dec 12, 2002

The only way is through oxygen, aerobically. Fat won't burn in you; It needs to be metabolised, single adipose cell at a time. Anyone who takes a drug is knowing to be understanding what PO, or inhaling...al drugs. Can you imagine a time before humans got the idea to "take" something? I often wonder what there was...the first drug...mother of all drugs for humans. Ponderous.

semstr · Dec 12, 2002

so first of all, Ziggy,Drugs are a problem in every big city. But in Amsterdam, the using of hard drugs is not such a big problem (now in 2002, don't know wehn you visited there) as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

Federal law allows smoking and selling of pot in certain shops only, the so called "coffeeshops" in Amsterdam. They are heavily controlled by police and the Dutch DEA.

You may only buy what you can smoke yourself, you don't get mor, they need to see a passport or something too, to see you are over 18.

Anybody who gets picked up, with pot outside these shops, has to pay a lot of money. (you won't go to jail for just of few grams)

Now on the other hand, dealing with hard drugs (who are coming in more and more from the former "eastblockcountries", we have a "Russianmafia" here) is of course punished with jail.

The methadonprograms in Amsterdam are very wide spread and very good organized, and so is the distribution of syringes. (you only get a fresh one, for your dirty one), there are at the moment 5 busses driving through the city (Amsterdam is not big) with supplies. All the users who come to the bus, are being registred so the nurses can keep track on them.

Of course this no perfect soulution, but when you know one, please tell me.

BTW, heroin was "tradionitionally" smoked in Holland, one of the reasons, there are not too much HIV-positive users.

I know all this, cause my BIL ist the drugcoordinator for the province of North-Holland.

Plus I lived in Amsterdam for a few months in the eighties, it was not so bad then either, but you simply didn't go to certain areas.

Now, criminality has gone back (the drugscriminality) enourmasly!

sbic56, BSN, RN · Dec 12, 2002

I like the common sense approach to marijuana that Holland has adopted. It is not promoted, but neither is it illegal for those who want to smoke responsibly. It seems it is regulated quite well, too.

The US is handling the whole thing so poorly. There is no damned war here! It is an illusion created by the government. The propoganda against marijuana is not believable. I watch these anti marijuana ads and wonder who the hell they think they are impressing/fooling? Let me see...there is the one where the kid shoots his friend with his Dad's gun he finds in the den while they are smoking a bowl. Yeah, right...as some have noted...one would be too paranoid to even pick up the gun while stoned. Save that one for an anti drinking ad maybe. Oh...and the one where the kids run over the little girl as they are coming out of the drive thru...again...not likely when smoking...you would be apt to be more cautious, not less. (Not that smoking and driving should ever be accepted!) Oh, yes...the one with the girl with the joint that came from the dealer that came from the drug lord...and they flash to a little girl who got caught in the crossfire of the dealers and killed. Ummm...if pot were legal, this wouldn't happen. And besides...it is as likely that the marijuana was grown right inside the borders of the good ol' USA in the first place and came from a local grower, not a columbian drug lord. Young people see right through that type of propoganda and are probably laughing, smoking a joint as they watch these commercials.

All I am saying is that to vilify marijuana does not work as it is not evil. I know Bush loves to tack the evil label on everything he can, but that merely shows a lack of imagination and does not help anyone make a choice based on information and common sense. There is nothing wrong with promoting better choices. I am alll for that. Why not focus on the effect exessive pot use has in sapping motivation? Or, the negative effects on the lungs? These are truths. Not even the most pro marijuana people will deny that. Education is the key. Inducing irrational fears and promoting senseless guilt, is not. This refer madness tactic didn't work in the '30's and it isn't working now.

LasVegasRN · Dec 12, 2002

Good post, sbic.

RoadRunner · Dec 12, 2002

Originally posted by fergus51
Asked about social security or guns and they say that the American people are intelligent enough to plan for their retirement and handle assault weapons, but pot? No way! They are too stupid.

Well said!

Incredible how money (read lobbying) rules over what's wrong and what's not for people....

:rolleyes:

tiger · Dec 13, 2002

i know this has nothing to do with marijuana being addictive or not , but thought it was kinda interesting.

Q. · Dec 13, 2002

That was very interesting, Tiger.

debyan · Dec 13, 2002

Legalize pot.....eat more Macdonalds......gain more weight....EEK Im still tryin to lose my high school, pot smokin, big mac eatin pounds

Ha Ha :chuckle

Back in the day, well Being a child of the 70's had its perks.

My opinion, be that as it may, is I can't see us winning the war against marijuana.Legalize it, try to monitor its use better.

I have friends parents who used it before their death for nausea d/t chemo, one friend who believes it lessens her seizure activity. I quit that stuff when I started needing shoes for my kids, priorities, you know.

I hate to see the young people just experimenting with it get into so much trouble.

Me I like a wine cooler once in a while,maybe beer

I am so mellow without drugs it's pitiful. deb

sbic56, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2002

tiger

I can clearly see the effects on those spiders: The caffeine caused the spider to feel bit overstimulated with a desire to get the job done too quickly; the benzidrine caused hyperactivity and clear disassociation. The stoned spider looks like he just lost motivation to finish the job.

tiger · Dec 13, 2002

Originally posted by sbic56
tiger

The stoned spider looks like he just lost motivation to finish the job.

:roll :chuckle :chuckle

:roll