Live data from Hacker News

Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

denverpost.com

81–90 of 177 posts

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#81
post #59
post #53

It's hard for me to relate to this. I smoke daily, and probably what most would consider a lot. I however also travel for work and or other reasons and often go days or a week without smoking. It has no noticeable effect on me. It could be because I'm extremely active and fit. I workout basically 7 days a week, mostly because I do a lot of intense stuff 'for fun' (aka, play hockey 3-4 days a week, etc). I'm not sayin…

How long have you been smoking daily? From the article: > Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user’s life. The case is similar with alcohol dependence: it can take quite a long time.

I've been smoking daily, with the exception of travel breaks, since my early 20's and I'm about to turn 51.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#82
You can spot propaganda piece by the language they use. "Marijuana", "addiction"... 9% is nothing new and generally accepted value. Comparing to alcohol dependency, cannabis dependency has dramatically lower health risks and sometimes is actually beneficial (self medication)

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#83
You I know my last comment got flagged away but honestly. I've smoked weed for over 14 years just about every day. I go through an eighth a day some days. I've gone many times for extended periods of without weed. Any time i've been to america, when I was travelling around a lot for work. As I mentioned before I smoke cigarettes, I drink a shit ton of coffee, I also drink alcohol just about every night. My mood decreases far worse when stopping any of the the last three habits far more than stopping weed and I tend to get physical effects also. About the only negative effects I get from stopping weed is a night or two of really vivid dreams.

Sure weed is habit forming, but to call it an addiction is ridiculous. I've met plenty of people addicted to opiates or cocaine, meth too. There is a massive difference between what happens when those people stop taking their drugs as opposed to myself or anyone i've ever met stopping weed.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#84
post #6

Throwaway because obviously the stigma. But yes, it's very real. I am addicted to marijuana. I smoke nearly 3 grams a day; what has become a $1000+/month habit. I've always loved weed but the high salary has allowed me to lose control. I can't sleep or eat without it. Within 24 hours without weed I become an intolerable asshole who cannot eat or sleep. When I do sleep without it, it's full of nightmares and I wake up…

That you experience significant physical withdrawal symptoms from marijuana certainty calls into question the street wisdom that pot isn’t (physically) addicting.

It is not, "only" psychological addictive. But since our mind controls our body, the symptoms can be indeed severe, if the use, or abuse, like in this case, is extreme. Smoking 3g a day is the rough equivavlent of constantly drinking wodka instead of water.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#85
post #77
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"24 hours without antipsychotics and I become schizophrenic". "I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest the underlying problem might not be the antipsychotics". See the problem with your phrasing? Lots of people deal with anxiety, anger management, and other relatively mild psychological malfunctions by self-medicating (or prescription medicating) with THC. That's why it gets prescribed as medication for these…

Being an asshole isn't a medical condition.

Being an asshole can be a symptom of a medical condition.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#86
post #6

Throwaway because obviously the stigma. But yes, it's very real. I am addicted to marijuana. I smoke nearly 3 grams a day; what has become a $1000+/month habit. I've always loved weed but the high salary has allowed me to lose control. I can't sleep or eat without it. Within 24 hours without weed I become an intolerable asshole who cannot eat or sleep. When I do sleep without it, it's full of nightmares and I wake up…

Cannabis is non toxic, so what are you going to detox?

Do you roll with tobacco? People often say they are "addicted" to cannabis, but that is in fact tobacco they use.

You clearly have a problem nevertheless. It looks like your body is not compatible with what you smoke. Have you tried CBT therapy, to find out why do you need this?

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t the reality for all. Not everyone remains productive like Seth Rogen when perpetually stoned. Many people waste away their lives stoned and the problem seems to be getting worse while the quality of pot skyrockets to all time highs.

Many people waste their lives away with a wide variety of things, that doesn't make them physically addictive. Mentally addictive yes, but that's a separate thing. The country is going through a mental health problem, there are numerous signs of this. Marijuana is one of the poor ways that people deal with this, but it's not the cause of the issue.

I bet with further research done properly (which will take decades starting now) we will find that pot use from an early age is not only correlated to diminished quality of life for some, but is a contributing underlying factor enough to tip scales for some.

Michael Phelps can down McDonald’s but some are better off limiting their fast food intake. Everyone reacts differently to different arrangements of chemicals in different quantities.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#88
post #6

Throwaway because obviously the stigma. But yes, it's very real. I am addicted to marijuana. I smoke nearly 3 grams a day; what has become a $1000+/month habit. I've always loved weed but the high salary has allowed me to lose control. I can't sleep or eat without it. Within 24 hours without weed I become an intolerable asshole who cannot eat or sleep. When I do sleep without it, it's full of nightmares and I wake up…

I had basically the same experience, though I think I was closer to a gram or so a day, and I never had trouble eating. But yeah, to the people saying it’s not real, try a few days of insomnia. The feeling of being high is nice, but not terribly addictive or unquittable in itself. But going through the crappy parts of withdrawal, feeling irritable, etc., and on top of that, not being able to sleep? It’s torture. In t…

People have insomnia and are irritable without ever smoking. Maybe cannabis just masking your problem and what you feel as "withdrawals" is not caused by cannabis. People often attribute causal relationship if it fits their limited knowledge.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#89
post #59
post #53

It's hard for me to relate to this. I smoke daily, and probably what most would consider a lot. I however also travel for work and or other reasons and often go days or a week without smoking. It has no noticeable effect on me. It could be because I'm extremely active and fit. I workout basically 7 days a week, mostly because I do a lot of intense stuff 'for fun' (aka, play hockey 3-4 days a week, etc). I'm not sayin…

How long have you been smoking daily? From the article: > Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user’s life. The case is similar with alcohol dependence: it can take quite a long time.

It's also worth noting that this "Addiction" that takes so long to develop goes away in about 1-2 weeks.

Re: Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

#90
post #61

> “She told me to come back home. So I did,” Pohl said. “At the time, I wasn’t sure why she did that. I was still in that whole miserable phase, smoking at least an ounce of weed a week — two ounces on a good week.” Yikes. You can do just fine on one gram a month at today’s potency. Two ounces a week is 8 grams a day .

[deleted]
Post reply on HN