Am I a Marijuana Addict? Weed, Addiction & Legalization

Weed is addictive
Regardless of the marijuana industry propaganda, weed is addictive and it does lead you to other drugs.

Is marijuana addictive? Yes. Period.

And the marijuana industry, like the tobacco industry, is counting on it.

Organizations like Marijuana Anonymous are founded for a reason.

They are founded to address a need.  The need is coping with and recovering from marijuana addiction, also referred to as marijuana dependence syndrome.

Fueled by an aggressive profit motive backed by billionaires, and with the goal of creating and profiting from the next big addiction-based industry, marijuana addiction as a substance use disorder is rapidly growing.

It may have started out as a nostalgic crusade, but the consequences of marijuana legalization will be far from a benign.  Today’s genetically modified weed is 300-800 percent more potent than that of the ’60’s, ’70’s and ’80’s” and its effects on health far more serious.

Like its sister vice industries — alcohol and tobacco — tax revenue from marijuana will never cover the social, medical and mental health costs it will create, while 80% of its revenue will be derived from the 20% of its users who succumb to addiction.

Around 1 in 10 users will become addicted.

There are 314 million people in the US.  An estimated 7% of the population used marijuana when it was illegal nationally. That’s just about 22 million users which yields around 2.2 million addictions.

What happens if use rates climb to 42% — the levels of cigarette smokers in 1965?

Well, 42% of 314 million = 131.88 million marijuana users.  That’s 13.19 million addicted.

And that’s a heavy toll on people’s lives, families, and society. The marijuana industry is a business we can do without.

Here are some excerpts from marijuana-anonymous.org. They might help you either get help for yourself or for someone you love, or get real about your support for marijuana legalization.

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Who is a marijuana addict?

We who are marijuana addicts know the answer to this question. Marijuana controls our lives! We lose interest in all else; our dreams go up in smoke. Ours is a progressive illness often leading us to addictions to other drugs, including alcohol. Our lives, our thinking, and our desires center around marijuana – scoring it, dealing it, and finding ways to stay high.”

The following questions may help you determine whether marijuana is a problem in your life.

  1. Has smoking pot stopped being fun?
  2. Do you ever get high alone?
  3. Is it hard for you to imagine a life without marijuana?
  4. Do you find that your friends are determined by your marijuana use?
  5. Do you smoke marijuana to avoid dealing with your problems?
  6. Do you smoke pot to cope with your feelings?
  7. Does your marijuana use let you live in a privately defined world?
  8. Have you ever failed to keep promises you made about cutting down or controlling your dope smoking?
  9. Has your use of marijuana caused problems with memory, concentration, or motivation?
  10. When your stash is nearly empty, do you feel anxious or worried about how to get more?
  11. Do you plan your life around your marijuana use?
  12. Have friends or relatives ever complained that your pot smoking is damaging your relationship with them?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may have a problem with marijuana.” — marijuana-anonymous.org.

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