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I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

nytimes.com

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Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#51

Post by Gatsky »

Addict is the wrong word. He quit cold turkey after a revelation form looking in a car mirror. This is something a heroin addict or even most smokers would never say. You could replace 'smoking pot' with any number of other bad habits and not otherwise change a word of this story. Although I'm oversimplifying, there are few revelations with true physiological addiction, which is a despairingly tenacious neurological disease.

Some people should just stay away from psychoactive substances. Whatever the benefits are, it isn't worth it for them. This is partly a function of what is going on in their lives, but also partly neurobiological. Unfortunately there is only one way to realise you fall into this category. Maybe one day we will be able to predict who is at risk of abusing alcohol or marijuana well enough that you can actually make an informed decision about usage patterns.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#52

Post by Gatsky »

twblalock wrote: post #3

One of the upsides of legalization is that a lot of the false claims made about marijuana are going to come under heavy scrutiny. Some of this will be good for marijuana enthusiasts, but some will be bad. I've lost count of the times I've been told by marijuana fans that marijuana is not addictive, and that smoking it is not bad for your lungs. I expect both of those myths to be refuted in the coming years. In partic…

Marijuana is not typically physiologically addictive in the sense that you would crawl through a cesspit and inject it into the corner of your eye just to avoid the state of not having any.

There are some withdrawal symptoms from (usually very) heavy marijuana use, but they do not drive people to seek out the drug like nicotine or heroin does, in fact often the user doesn't realise the symptom is related to marijuana. Alcohol is much worse in this regard, both in the harm that comes from heavy use and the severity of withdrawal symptoms.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#53

Post by blihp »

mrlatinos wrote: post #4

Is a lack of self-control the same thing as addiction?

No. Addiction is the inability to stop when you want to. Lack of self-control is generally a willpower / just not wanting to stop thing. But there are two kinds of addiction: physical and psychological.

Physical addiction can occur with things like heroin, alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine (the more and longer you use them the more likely you are to get addicted... generally speaking.) Your body literally craves/needs more and you can get sick or possibly even die if you stop too abruptly depending on the substance.

Then there's psychological addiction which most of the physically addictive drugs can be as well as things like pot (at least I don't recall hearing any scientific studies indicating it's physically addictive.) While your body isn't dependent on it, whatever it is, your brain effectively gets stuck in a feedback loop telling you that you need that other thing just like you need food or water.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#54

Post by Nursie »

Gatsky wrote: post #51

Addict is the wrong word. He quit cold turkey after a revelation form looking in a car mirror. This is something a heroin addict or even most smokers would never say. You could replace 'smoking pot' with any number of other bad habits and not otherwise change a word of this story. Although I'm oversimplifying, there are few revelations with true physiological addiction, which is a despairingly tenacious neurological…

He quit three weeks later. Lots of people will have similar stories about tobacco.

Whether it's physiologically addictive or 'merely' psychologically addictive is somewhat irrelevant - are you going to belittle gambling addiction as just a "bad habit"?

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#55

Post by Gatsky »

Nursie wrote: post #54
Gatsky wrote: post #51

Addict is the wrong word. He quit cold turkey after a revelation form looking in a car mirror. This is something a heroin addict or even most smokers would never say. You could replace 'smoking pot' with any number of other bad habits and not otherwise change a word of this story. Although I'm oversimplifying, there are few revelations with true physiological addiction, which is a despairingly tenacious neurological…

He quit three weeks later. Lots of people will have similar stories about tobacco. Whether it's physiologically addictive or 'merely' psychologically addictive is somewhat irrelevant - are you going to belittle gambling addiction as just a "bad habit"?

Yes it's hard to generalise of course. But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here.

I don't think it is irrelevant. The point is about how to help someone. Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#56

Post by vonseel »

sdrothrock wrote: post #37
anigbrowl wrote: post #8

Actually, you're an asshole who likes pot and uses it as an excuse to behave badly. My drug use history reads like War and Peace and I don't have any aggressive or obnoxious episodes that I feel terrible about because I always considered that no matter what strange thing I put in my body I was responsible for for my own behavior, inebriated or not. This person needs help, and the first thing they need to do is take r…

> My drug use history reads like War and Peace I'm curious about unpacking this since I actually read and enjoyed the book when I was in high school. Which of the following are you saying? These choices are obviously not exclusive, but I'm curious about your original intent. :) Your drug use history is: 1. Long (I think this is the most popular way to use War and Peace) 2. Boring (Probably the second most popular) 3.…

Probably 1,3, and 4.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#57

Post by vonseel »

anigbrowl wrote: post #8

Actually, you're an asshole who likes pot and uses it as an excuse to behave badly. My drug use history reads like War and Peace and I don't have any aggressive or obnoxious episodes that I feel terrible about because I always considered that no matter what strange thing I put in my body I was responsible for for my own behavior, inebriated or not. This person needs help, and the first thing they need to do is take r…

Agreed the behavior mentioned at the beginning of the article sound like stuff someone would do on Alcohol, not MJ.

Getting in fights and acting obnoxious are not typical behaviors.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#58

Post by therein »

x0 wrote: post #2

One of my coworkers just quit cannabis after having an addiction for several years. Her and her (unemployed) husband were spending upwards of $300 a week on it, more than 40% of her pay. Had never been able to save for a house or anything, they had to buy in $50/$100 lots as they had so much trouble with money. Forced herself clean on a holiday (that her parents paid for) and she's doing so well, it's great to see.

I wonder how much they would have saved had they switched to vaping long ago. You can get the same effects and avoid part of the lung damage while saving some money by vaping instead.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#59

Post by Nursie »

Gatsky wrote: post #55
Nursie wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He quit three weeks later. Lots of people will have similar stories about tobacco. Whether it's physiologically addictive or 'merely' psychologically addictive is somewhat irrelevant - are you going to belittle gambling addiction as just a "bad habit"?

Yes it's hard to generalise of course. But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here. I don't think it is irrelevant. The point is about how to help someone. Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg.

> But the (lack of) success of quit smoking interventions should tell you that it is different to what is described here.

It might tell you that it is quantitively different, but not necessarily that it's qualitatively different.

> Trying to get someone with a physiological addiction to realise the error of their ways is futile, like telling someone to unbreak their leg.

I think your understanding of addiction is probably lacking here. Many people can and do overcome physiological addictions due to some or other realisation. Conversely many people cannot overcome addictions without a physiological component, like gambling, regardless of how much they realise the error of their ways.

Re: I'm Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot

#60

Post by AstralStorm »

vonseel wrote: post #57
anigbrowl wrote: post #8

Actually, you're an asshole who likes pot and uses it as an excuse to behave badly. My drug use history reads like War and Peace and I don't have any aggressive or obnoxious episodes that I feel terrible about because I always considered that no matter what strange thing I put in my body I was responsible for for my own behavior, inebriated or not. This person needs help, and the first thing they need to do is take r…

Agreed the behavior mentioned at the beginning of the article sound like stuff someone would do on Alcohol, not MJ. Getting in fights and acting obnoxious are not typical behaviors.

He seems to have some underlying personality disorder that is not helped by pot. For some, marijuana causes alcohol-like disinhibition. Typically manifests as laughter or risk taking, it is kind of rare.

(In as much as that can be diagnosed from a bit of text.)

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