and tasty too...
Posted on 01/03/2014 8:11:53 AM PST by gooblah
and tasty too...
Marijuana is not physiologically addictive. Look that up. Marijuana “addiction” is wholly psychological and affects those who are more susceptible to psychological or codependent addictive traits than those who are affected by physiological markers such as alcohol or opioids.
I don't need to look it up. I was an addict.
I eventually recovered to the point of not returning to it but it was a beotch. It took several years and a completely split with many of my friends.
As I have said, it doesn't matter how or why or in what ways it is addictive. It can be very addictive for certain people (though certainly not perhaps everyone).
BTW, there was a time in the 1980's when it was said that coke was not physiologically addictive. But I have seen men and women spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their addictions and destroy their families and their lives. It doesn't matter what the basis for such addiction was...it was real!
All this said, should pot be legal...sure. Should parents and physicians and friends warn us all of the potential risks involved.
I'll let you answer that for yourself.
If you have ever been an addict, you will understand just how wonderful sobriety is.
It may be a joke to college kids and immature adults...but it is not a joke to addicts.
I was psychologically addicted to it for 5 years, so I get what you are saying. You do not, however, have physical withdrawal symptoms from marijuana cessation. Alcoholics have the “DTs,” opioids dependents have pain receptor hypersensitivity. Pot is 100% psychological. There’s nothing physical going on in your body or brain except the purging of cannabinoids from your adipose tissues.
Alcohol abuse and opioid dependence have very specific, characteristically identifiable brain scan signatures that indicate the body is physically craving them. There’s literally no such thing for marijuana. It just doesn’t exist.
And I agree, while I would never use marijuana again after what it did to me and to my family, I have no problem with it’s legalization, ESPECIALLY for pharmaceutical and academic research.
But THC is stored in fat in the body and released into the brain. My brain is part of my body...if not the most important part.
In fact, it might be argued that everything our bodies know about life is recorded in the brain and the body is reminded by corresponding chemical signals sent to the body by the brain.
A psychological addiction is not the same thing as a chemical addiction in the brain (I suggest for your consideration). A chemical addiction in the brain is a physical addiction.
I would admit, as a student of human behavior, I am not exactly sure what a psychological addiction would be since such might be/would be mirrored by a chemical reaction in the brain.
All this aside. It is a pleasure (almost chemically addictive) to have such a discussion.
I look forward to more later.
BTW, I had anxiety attacks galore and much insomnia. Was even put on meds for bipolar disorder but they were later deemed inappropriate because the symptoms of bi-polar (resulting from marijuana withdrawal) were only temporary.
Six months lost there.
Our families, our culture, and (at least in the past) our family physicians were more than capable of helping us deal with such temptations.
We don't need the government's help...here or elsewhere!;-)
But, as Sun Tzu has taught us..."know thy enemy."
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