SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — For as long as most residents can remember, smoking marijuana has been a part of life here. The fact that California legalized the practice in January went practically unnoticed in this quiet town a half-hour’s drive north of San Francisco, where some claim the normalization of America’s marijuana culture got its start.
For Quintin Pohl and countless teenagers before him, smoking pot was a rite of passage. It was a diversion from the loneliness he felt at home when his parents were splitting up and a salve for middle-school angst. It was his entire social life in seventh and eighth grades, when social life is everything.
Even though nearly all his friends were using marijuana and seeming to enjoy it, Pohl said, at some point his marijuana use took a turn he never saw coming: He became addicted.
Many people are unaware of marijuana addiction. But in the public health and medical communities, it is a well-defined disorder that includes physical withdrawal symptoms, cravings and psychological dependence. Many say it is on the rise, perhaps because of the increasing potency of genetically engineered plants and the use of concentrated products, or because more marijuana users are partaking multiple times a day.
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Bullshit
ReplyDeleteIt is not chemically addictive.
ReplyDeleteBull. Don't believe it.
ReplyDeleteComplete bull shite.
ReplyDeleteAddiction is a word in the English Language with a definition. It isn’t whatever someone wants it to mean. Addiction is a PHYSIOLOGICAL dependence upon a substance
Period.
Marijuana is well know to cause no addiction.
Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol ,Sex,Gambling,Texting,ADHD,OCD, autism spectral disorders everyone want's to be diagnosed and be forgiven for weak impulsive behavior and not bucking up and toting the line. These malaise have always existed and people got on with life and coped or didn't. It's natural selection. You can pray until your knees bleed but you won't be saved from helpless self. Life is work.
ReplyDeleteLol. Epidemic rehab.
ReplyDeleteGet high all day and soon all you'll be able to do is get high all day.
ReplyDeleteIs this story about pot or being addicted to cigarettes...???
ReplyDeleteSounds almost the same...
2:08 THAT'S RIGHT DOWN WITH THE DEVIL'S LETTUCE
ReplyDeletegenetically engineered plants - thats the problem
ReplyDeleteI'll choose marijuana and cbd oil over any of the pharmaceuticals and ssri drugs the doctors push on everyone.
ReplyDeleteModeration in all things.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a lot of people on here trying to justify there habitual use of MJ. Before anyone jumps on me saying I don't know what I'm talking about I smoked MJ everyday for over 5 years and smoked over an ounce of columbian a week. I quit using over 40 years ago. Smoking pot was one of the most stupid things I ever did in my life of doing stupid things.
ReplyDeleteMJ is not physically addictive but it sure is psychologically addictive (same as sex and gambling) to a lot of people. I can imagine with the increase in potency of pot over the last 40 years that things have only gotten worse.
I support the right of people to do what they want just don't ask for my help when your life becomes screwed up.
It was your own dumb choices that lead you astray, not the MJ. I make over 100k a year and have smoked since I was 15. Enjoy it for what it is. But if YOU decide toking up is all you want to do for a while that is YOUR choice, not MJ. Folks claiming weed is addictive trululy need to visit a crack/heroin treatment center. Hell, just take a $20 bill up to Bmore and ride the streets while listening to what these "ladies" will do for you for that money. Thats the true face of addiction. Whats worse; the young kids who are now doing the same thing except their choice is to pop a pill.
DeleteYou cannot become addicted to marijuana!!! Plain and simple... It is just a habit that has to be broken like cigarettes or anything else... You can quit smoking but it is hard not becasue you are addicted, but becasue it is a habit!!!! Like speeding, it isn't an addiction it is a habit, just like cops shooting unarmed people in the back, it is not an addiction to shooting people in the back it is a habit, that if you really want to quit, you can...
ReplyDeleteNow if you take heroin for example, that could be considered an addition, becasue some people can die from the withdrawals, you can't die from withdrawals from smoking cigs or weed, or even shooting people in the back or speeding...
My brother -in -law has been addicted for 57 years . he is now 72 years old.
ReplyDeleteYou will never be able to reason with a pothead. Too many brain cells have been destroyed.
ReplyDeleteNot addictive.
ReplyDeleteMore negative press about a plant that people enjoy.
We used to be free
BS it is addictive and is an impairment. Told accidents would not increase BS. 10 / 20 times stronger than the Tijuana Gold back then. Had to set with friends going through withdrawals.
ReplyDelete3:43 It is a proven fact that cigarettes are addictive as well as a habit. I hope you were being sarcastic and not delusional.
ReplyDeleteWhen your dealer adds a little extra to the weed to make you addicted maybe. They do it all of the time to keep you coming back. Just know where your weed is coming from or grow it yourself.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete2:08 THAT'S RIGHT DOWN WITH THE DEVIL'S LETTUCE
June 8, 2018 at 2:37 PM
You sound like one of those ignorant hillbillies that live in Dorchester Co.
Devil's Lettuce? Really? lol
Pot makes you less intelligent that is a proven fact.
ReplyDeleteI have smoked Marijuana my entire life, except for when I couldn't. Pregnancy, breastfeeding or job hunting. I have no problem stopping on a dime for long periods of time. This is absolute malarkey.
ReplyDeletePot makes you less intelligent that is a proven fact.
ReplyDeleteJune 9, 2018 at 9:16 AM:
Your run-on sentence makes me think you know what you're talking about. How long have you been smoking?
Being "addicted" to Marijuana is like being "addicted" to biting your fingernails. Its just a habit that can be hard to break. Just because one regularly does something does not make one an addict. I eat every day. Does that make me a food addict? Routine behavior does not make one an addict. Marijuana does not, and can not, physically addict anyone to the point of physical withdrawal symptoms. It just doesn't happen.
ReplyDelete