I didn't think I could get addicted to weed. I was wrong – and I'm not alone(www.theguardian.com)
18 pointsby n1b0m3 hours ago7 comments
  • sysreq_2 hours ago
    Ironically legalization has done more to reduce weeds popularity than any ad campaign. The old-school California medical system was honestly much better than what we see now though. Rather than moving marijuana to an alcohol type model, I wish they had moved alcohol to a medical marijuana one instead. Quick doctors appointment every 6-12 months on an opt in basis - just a check up to make sure you are partaking responsibly. America loves to make things a binary; all or nothing.
    • butlike2 hours ago
      Devil's advocate: I don't need you to police my behaviors or protect me from myself. I know what I need better than you do.
      • altairprime16 minutes ago
        This turns out to be false for addiction-class things like cigarettes, alcohol, and opium where a chemical dependency is statistically likely to form across an entire population. Oxycontin (for example) trivially overwhelms “I know my needs” and virtually the entire population is vulnerable, barring those very few of us with the anti-addiction adaptations (who then also tend to lack a working feeling of completion-success, which is a curse in its own right!). Most societies choose not to apply a Darwinian filter along those lines, as evidenced by the absence of addiction testing and culling at birth, so it doesn’t make much sense to consider that with adults, either — and as one of those few without the proper brain wiring for the rewards-addiction circuit, I have zero interest in a world populated exclusively by people with brains like mine. There are solidly good reasons we have these neurotransmitter systems and it’s a bad plan to winnow out those who don’t by applying an Randian ethos to drug policies.
    • pavel_lishinan hour ago
      > Quick doctors appointment every 6-12 months on an opt in basis - just a check up to make sure you are partaking responsibly.

      What would irresponsible partaking look like, and would doctors be able to actually detect it?

      Nearly every prescription I've ever received has been pretty lax, with the only exception being one psychiatrist who prescribed me ADD medication - but only after I had both an EKG and an ECG done. Everyone else just asked me a few questions, and filled out the prescription.

    • thot_experimentan hour ago
      What are you talking about. A. those systems don't make sure you partake responsibly, you even admit it yourself with the claim that legalization reduced popularity. and B. it's like so so so much better than alcohol or tobacco. Are you seriously suggesting that's where the bar should be for government regulation?

      All drugs should be legal and we should have good programs to take care of you if you fuck up their use, it would be vastly cheaper and better for society than criminalization, especially if your claims about legalization reducing use are true.

    • stringfoodan hour ago
      but some people want to enjoy the recreational aspect who have no disability or strict medical need for the drug?
  • moomin2 hours ago
    There’s a guy from my parent’s generation who smoked. A lot. Extremely decent guy, one of the reasons I made it through my own childhood in one piece. He’s been clean for ten years. He tells me he can barely remember a 20 year stretch of his life.

    Great guy, but not an advert for cannabis use.

    • dh202241 minutes ago
      I like South Park's take on this. If you smoke marihuana nothing will happen to you. 15 years later you will still be watching TV on your parents' living room couch :).
  • comprevan hour ago
    It's a psychological addition of being stoned and slightly detached from reality - no different to people munching pills every weekend at a rave or drinking enough to be tipsy (or wasted, if that's your thing)

    It's escapism, pure and simple.

    • sqircles3 minutes ago
      > Psychological addition [...] no different to people munching pills every weekend at a rave or drinking enough to be tipsy (or wasted, if that's your thing)

      I can assure you pills and alcohol are much more than a psychological addiction.

  • amanaplanacanal2 hours ago
    Smoked a lot when I was younger, eventually decided that sitting around stoned was pretty boring, so I quit.
  • summarybotan hour ago
    if either of your parents suffer from any sort of mental condition you should not use cannabis at all, and stop if you are using, as it can induce psych*sis .
  • AndrewKemendo2 hours ago
    This is so tired of an argument

    Anyone can get behaviorally addicted to anything. Refined Sugar is currently the #1 drug in the world and people are dying and sick from it but nobody cares because people equivocate “sugar” from fresh mango and a nerds rope as the same

    Addiction to cocaine alcohol or opiates are both behavioral and induce biological/chemical dependency

    This is exactly the equivocation you see in practice:

    “ Those withdrawing from heavy usage will experience a sharp decrease in dopamine release, which might encourage continued use. Studies have shown the risk of developing CUD is greater for those who start using before the age of 25, as Amy did, and for those who use heavily or have pre-existing mental health issues or genetic predispositions to developing addiction.”

    • butlike2 hours ago
      > and for those who use heavily or have pre-existing mental health issues or genetic predispositions to developing addiction

      Who would of thunk that those needing the medicine might overdo it?

    • 1shooneran hour ago
      But you are also equivocating:

      >Anyone can get behaviorally addicted to anything.

      This disregards the broad range of observed likelihood of a behavioral addiction to a given substance, and the magnitude of negative effects of such an addiction.

      Likewise, saying 'nobody cares' about the amount of refined sugar in diet isn't even equivocating, it's just not true.

  • stringfood3 hours ago
    people think you can't get addicted to weed? What do they think potheads were
    • jazz9k2 hours ago
      As My co-worker once said: "I've been smoking weed every day for 20 years, and I'm still not addicted to it!!"
    • IshKebaban hour ago
      I have wine pretty much every week and I wouldn't say I'm addicted to it. Addiction doesn't just mean you do it a lot.
    • cineticdaffodil3 hours ago
      Just aggressively enthusiastic one-herb-cures-all medicinal enthusiasts?