Is Marijuana Addictive?



Desire, Compulsion and Addiction

Whether marijuana use falls into the category of desire, compulsion or addiction depends on the level of a person’s involvement with it.

Do some people get involved with marijuana to a level where their relationship with it has changed their lives to the point where it is impossible on nearly any practical level to distinguish between it and any other form of addiction? Absolutely yes.

Making You Into an Addict

Addictive means to make somebody an addict, or able or likely to do so. To make somebody do something means to force it to occur whether the person wants it to happen or not.

People who are involved with addiction work mostly agree that addicts don’t get that way by force. It happens through a repetitive set of choices that the person makes.

Addiction or Devotion?

An addict is also somebody who is devoted to something. Are there people involved with marijuana who can be described by this definition? Yes there are. Plenty.

Attaining a State of Being

Can people become completely dependent on marijuana to achieve a particular state of being that they want to have? Yes. Do they take larger and larger doses of marijuana in an effort to achieve that state? Yes. Do they go through a hellish withdrawal period if their marijuana gets taken away? Usually not.

Physical Addiction to Marijuana

Can marijuana become addictive on a physiological level by getting bound into a person’s body in the same way that happens with other ‘heavier’ drugs? Most sources say not. I disagree with this view and contend that physiological addiction occurs with marijuana use via the mechanism of downregulation of endogenous cannabinoid receptors. There also may be addictive pathways that occur via the COMT gene’s relationship with the breakdown of dopamine.

Dimensions of Addiction

Can marijuana be addictive? It depends on how many dimensions of addiction you want to include in your definition.




This article was some of the original material that went on to become

Marijuana Syndromes
How to Balance and Optimize
the Effects of Cannabis
With Traditional Chinese Medicine


Marijuana and Addiction Index

Home


More Resources

Using cannabis to treat pain, anxiety and depression fails to improve these symptoms and doubles the symptoms of cannabis use disorder. Oops...

Contrary to some claims, people in the U.S may not be substituting cannabis for opioids...

More than 90% of the legal marijuana products offered in medical dispensaries are much stronger than what clinical studies have shown that doctors recommend for chronic pain relief...

Cannabis-based medication helps tackle dependency on... cannabis?

12 percent of frequent marijuana smokers experience Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome (CWS) if they try to quit...

People who have an addiction to and/or problem with marijuana tend to develop it and resolve it earlier in life than those involved with other drugs...


The American Psychological Association’s take on marijuana and addiction in the US.

This study shows that gabapentin therapy can be a significant aid for people who want to quit using cannabis.

Russell Eisenman, Ph.D. presents his views on marijuana use and abuse.

Methods of Assessing the Reinforcing Properties of Abused Drugs

The more dependent a person is on marijuana, the stronger the withdrawal symptoms s/he will probably experience when s/he stops taking it, but there are even specific symptoms that point to stronger levels of dependency...

Genetic factors for cannabis addiction can include a SNP in the NRG1 gene, which may predispose a person to both cannabis addiction and schizophrenia...

Recent evidence suggests that non-selective cannabinoid receptor agonists may regulate serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor neurotransmission in the brain...

Criteria for cannabis dependence include increased tolerance and use of cannabis, unsuccessful efforts to reduce or stop using, and persistent use in spite of medical and psychological problems made worse by cannabis...

And on the macro scale, marijuana use more than doubled between 2001 and 2013...

Marijuana is physically addictive.
Recent research has finally proven the connections between marijuana use and dopamine receptors that the book Marijuana Syndromes spoke of many years ago. At last I can say, I rest my case...

Increasing numbers of adults in the US are using marijuana as perception of its dangers decreases...

and further connections between habitual cannabis use and FAAH...

"medical marijuana, by itself, will not be the solution to the nation's opioid crisis today..."



For extensive details on how to balance and optimize the effects of cannabis using Traditional Chinese Medicine, please refer to

Marijuana Syndromes
How to Balance and Optimize
the Effects of Cannabis
With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Home