Is Marijuana More Addictive Than Alcohol?

originally posted by: OptimusCrime
a reply to: Krazysh0t

It's just as addictive, if not more addictive than alcohol. I've seen it first hand how potheads NEED pot to do anything. They would smoke it until they passed out if they could. TBH, I can't stand hanging with pot heads, they're boring.

But, I think it's just as, if not, more addictive than alcohol from personal experience being around both.

Do you have any actual peer-reviewed evidence to back up your opinion, or? Didn't think so.

Sounds like you just have a completely negative view on the entire subject, regardless of what SCIENCE and MEDICINE has proven to be completely false. Cannabis IS NOT PHYSICALLY ADDICTIVE. People who use it DO NOT GO INTO WITHDRAWAL WHEN THEY STOP USING IT. Unlike alcohol, opiates and benzodiazepines which ALL require an inpatient hospital type environment to be SAFELY detoxed from.

Can it be psychologically addicting? Sure, but so can porn, food, driving fast, wearing the color red, brushing your hair 100 times. People don't rob their grandma or sell their mom's good jewelry to buy Marijuana, btw...

Ridiculous.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I can assure you it is not.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

These types of articles are always a bit of a waste of time. It asks what is a pretty pointless question (level of addiction certainly doesn't influence policy eg. nicotine, alcohol, 'crack coc aine' gambling machines) and concludes that no-one knows the answer anyway...

Sometimes I wonder why I didn't do a journalism degree.

I just had a thought. In 10 years we are going to look back on this and laugh. Or short term memory will kill us and we won't. One of the 2.

The science is already out there. MJ ISN'T addictive. Habit forming yes. As anything can be.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

No. It's not.

I know first hand. I am a recovering Alcoholic. I started with Marijuana and didnt start drinking until years later. Alcohol is actually worse than heroin/opiates in my opinion and experiences. It's the one thing that I have never really be able to accept and set down completely until I had outside help.

I do agree though that most people will do ANYTHING to shut a plant down before the actual manufacturing of plants (hey guess what, its EXACTLY THE SAME THING) into ethanol and selling it. Alcohol is what heroin is to the poppy seed as marijuana is to... well.. Marijuana. MJ is just a plant. Alcohol is synthesized from plants into ethanol, and is thus manufactured and is no different than Opium.

originally posted by: bitsforbytes... Can I make a chocolate bar that contains nicotine? No.

...

Actually, it's done quite easily using things found at the local grocery store. Just do as the Aztecs did and toss in a few hot 'peppers', or maybe not so palatable- toss in some tomato, eggplant or potato; they all have nicotine within. And you do realize "hot chocolate" came from combining cacao with hot peppers, right? So even then, by definition, hot chocolate has nicotine within.

Yeah, who'd have though that nicotine would come from a far more diverse group of plants than TCH, with sources ranging across every continent other than Antarctica?

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Is there a word for "biggest no ever"?

If we are talking about PHYSICAL addiction, that would be a resounding no. Even physical heroin addiction is easier on the body than withdrawal from alcohol. Alcohol is one of the very few drugs whose withdrawal from can kill an otherwise healthy person. Seizures, heart attacks, the DTs. You 100% DO NOT get that from marijuana. In SOME people, cessation of smoking marijuana may cause chest pains as they cough up tar, insomnia, lack of appetite, and nausea, but it is no worse than coffee.

Both are pretty uncomfortable but not one person in the world has quit smoking weed and suffered the shakes, had so much nausea that they couldn't even "get a fix" because of vomiting, had that progress to extremely high blood pressure and heart rate with uncontrollable seizures, progressing further to full blown delirium and then a heart attack or stroke.

With alcohol, and barbiturates, there is also a phenomenon called KINDLING. Repeated withdrawals can in some people lead to a situation where less of the drugs is needed needed for a full blown withdrawal. You might quit cold turkey after drinking 20 beers a day for years and withdraw horribly, but in some people, if they start up again, will withdraw harder from 15 the next, and before you know it, you get the DTs from not having even 4 beers a days.

originally posted by: Aperture
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Is there a word for "biggest no ever"?

If we are talking about PHYSICAL addiction, that would be a resounding no. Even physical heroin addiction is easier on the body than withdrawal from alcohol. Alcohol is one of the very few drugs whose withdrawal from can kill an otherwise healthy person. Seizures, heart attacks, the DTs. You 100% DO NOT get that from marijuana. In SOME people, cessation of smoking marijuana may cause chest pains as they cough up tar, insomnia, lack of appetite, and nausea, but it is no worse than coffee.

Both are pretty uncomfortable but not one person in the world has quit smoking weed and suffered the shakes, had so much nausea that they couldn't even "get a fix" because of vomiting, had that progress to extremely high blood pressure and heart rate with uncontrollable seizures, progressing further to full blown delirium and then a heart attack or stroke.

With alcohol, and barbiturates, there is also a phenomenon called KINDLING. Repeated withdrawals can in some people lead to a situation where less of the drugs is needed needed for a full blown withdrawal. You might quit cold turkey after drinking 20 beers a day for years and withdraw horribly, but in some people, if they start up again, will withdraw harder from 15 the next, and before you know it, you get the DTs from not having even 4 beers a days.

Can I give this post unlimited stars?

Sound reasoning with zero bias. Such mentality inevitably is progreen

Marijuana is not physically addictive but there is a psychological dependence on it in quite a few people. Disinformation about it is problematic because it makes any actual legitimate bad effects of it and sometimes overly hypoed positive effects ignored by people because of propaganda against it so you wind up with a ton of stoners thinking its the first wonder of the world. Also it leaves those against it to ignore the possible benefits of the substance.

I've known several people over the past 40 years who swear that finding marijuana kept them from becoming out-of-control alcoholics. A daily alcohol habit turned into a nightly toke or two. It meant waking up feeling good rather than waking up feeling like crap.
I've never known any of those folks to do more than whine a bit from time to time when the supply dried up. I've seen what alcoholics do when they don't get their fix. They lie and steal to obtain more.
I've heard a lot of folks blame pot for a lot of things---but I've never seen any real evidence that pot was to blame for their problems. I have seen ample evidence that a lot of my creative friends and acquaintances use it to their advantage.
I'm not unbiased. I've been an activist for full legalization for a lot of years. I've met enough patients and heard their stories to be convinced that it is a sin against Nature for this plant to be illegal.

a reply to: GoShredAK

I wish you could. It might help getting me to the point where I can make a real forum post about this. Sometimes I tell people this stuff and they look at me crazier than if I was talking about God or Evolution.

Most, if not all licensed doctors today, will tell you NOT to stop drinking cold turkey if you are drinking "enough". NO doctor will EVER tell a patient that they shouldn't quit smoking marijuana cold turkey, even if withdrawal from it becomes recognized as a mental disorder like caffeine withdrawal recently has become.

a reply to: Aural

Can you not see your own disinformation in that post? There are a number of claims made (legitimacy of bad effects - positive effects being over-hyped, labelling of people as 'stoners') that are made without backing it up with evidence.

a reply to: twfau

Until there is a massive study on the pros and cons of marijuana consumption like in the 1950s with cigarettes, I can't agree or disagree with either of you. Want to, but won't. For now, it seems like technology can greatly reduce of many of the ill health effects, and any withdrawal or benefit is left up to the user to decide, and for possibly accurate but not very well received studies due to funding, the social standing of marijuana, and bias, to give us information until a near universal study comes. Even still, people will do as they wish and I for one wish they would, so long as they hurt only themselves.

originally posted by: intrepid
I just had a thought. In 10 years we are going to look back on this and laugh. Or short term memory will kill us and we won't. One of the 2.

The science is already out there. MJ ISN'T addictive. Habit forming yes. As anything can be.

short term memory loss will not kill you although you may just forget we ever had this conversation....

as for the OP ...MJ is not as addictive as alcohol...as others and yourself have said it is habit forming...but there can be some physical side effects from giving up after long term everyday use...like loss of appetite and trouble sleeping,sweating,but these things do not last long and everyone is affected differently...the biggest battle is in ones head

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
short term memory loss will not kill you ...

Was that a stop sign I just saw?

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed...it is habit forming...but there can be some physical side effects from giving up after long term everyday use...like loss of appetite and trouble sleeping,sweating,but these things do not last long and everyone is affected differently...the biggest battle is in ones head

What's the difference between habitual use of product and addiction?
If I may ask...

Another strange though that just occurred to me....

If THC affects short term memory, can a user remember a commitment to not use it any more?

a reply to: twfau

Uhmmm stoner is a personality type. Someone who just smokes weed is not a stoner.

I'm not going to write a damn research paper for a thread so vast subject wise. There is no disinformation or whatever going on with anything I said. If you want to think marijuana is a magical cure all have fun in lala land. If you wanna think weed is severely dangerous worse than alcohol and as bad as heroin like the law treats it have fun losing your hair worrying over nothing.

a reply to: abecedarian

Marijuana negatively affects short term but positively affects long term memory. Alcohol also improves memory if drank after you had tried to memorize what you wanted to but hinders memory for what you try to remember after being intoxicated.