Who Says Pot is not Addictive?

[Littleboylost]

I too tried smoking pot and didn't like the effect it had on me at all. I drink wine and rarely drink more than a glass or two. Hard liquor gives me a terrible hang over. The challenge with youth and pot is the fabulous trend of doing Poppers. Tobacco mixed with a small amount of pot taken by a bong. It is easy to tell your kid is doing poppers. They get addicted really fast and it is hard to stop. They don't eat they hack and cough. It is the combination of nicotine and THC that is deadly addictive. It is the dirtiest way to smoke pot. It is an epedemic here in Ontario particularly. There will be a huge increase in lung disease in young people because of this dirty Trend. They cause hypoxia, get a huge head rush and then get the high from the pot. It allows them to use less pot to get high.

 

[Shelley]

About a month ago, two young women went missing from my city. One of them called her parents crying hysterically saying she was in another state and about to check into alcohol rehab. Because her parents heard a man in the background telling her what to say, they thought she had been kidnapped. She is an extremely pretty girl in her early twenties--like beauty queen pretty, so they panicked and thought she had been trafficked. The police get involved. They discovered her close friend and a guy who has a sketchy past are with her across the country. They bring out helicopters, cadaver dogs, etc. It's all over the news. A month later, the three email police a video where the two girls are seen saying they are in Colorado because marijuana is legal there, and to stop looking for them. Both girls said they were safe and we there of their own free will because they wanted to live a life that would allow them to smoke pot legally. They said it's what they believed in.

Those girls just disappeared for a month and didn't call their parents or anyone to say they were safe. Why couldn't they have just explained to their families that they were moving to Colorado? Also, to move 2,000 miles away and start a life in another state on the other side of the country, just because pot is legal there! The three of them live in a tent on a campground. They have to be addicted to marijuana if they are willing to go through all of that.

Young and stupid.

 

[Sam3]

I have a feeling I'm quickly approaching the stop where I get off the modern day train.

I can barely watch anything on TV fiction or nonfiction. So many young people are prideless, entitled punks and their parents underwrite their Peter Pan lives. Even people my age seem to have an inordinate interest in youth culture.

I want to live on a farm.

-- love, Archie Bunker

 

[ColleenB]

I rarely drink and don't enjoy the feeling of being "out of control" or high. I think it makes me feel unsafe.... so I have hard time understanding my sons addiction to an altered state.

I live in Canada and it's supposed to become legal here in the next year or two. I hear people saying they will try it once it is but I am not interested at all. It scares me to think more people could be driving high or doing other things that could be dangerous.

I am a guidance counsellor in an elementary school and I already see the effects of children whose parents have problems with addiction.... it scares me it could get worse.

 

[Sam3]

And I think that most backers of legalization cant be the parents of adolescents. Nobody had trouble finding illegal pot, if they wanted
to go the trouble. Even my friends in their 50s who smoke could always get it


Now, 18 year olds have medical marijuana cards and no jobs. They have friends and siblings in middle and high school. Talk about a gig economy.

Probably half the kids in my sons inpatient were just daily weed smokers, who went on strike from life.

Even in the pakalolo days of the 80s, I can't remember anyone doing productive things while smoking. Now it's OG Kush. They don't stand a chance.

Luckily the answer is still the same low tech one, for all substances of abuse. I would imagine it's that much harder to choose though.

 

[Littleboylost]

Now, 18 year olds have medical marijuana cards and no jobs. They have friends and siblings in middle and high school. Talk about a gig economy.

Ontario intends to retail recreational pot through its government run liquor stores; not looking forward to that. Why they don't retail it from the medicinal weed shops is beyond me. Oh wait it's because they don't have enough man power to enforce regulations on these establishment. Great. All the kids know which ones will sell you weed and not ID or card you.

The smell of weed triggers my distress over my sons addiction beginning with week. doctor now weed and other things.

Probably half the kids in my sons inpatient were just daily weed smokers, who went on strike from life.

That would be my son. He is waiting for in patient. Still says he will probably smoke week when he comes out of Rehab. His choice as disappointing as that is for me to hear I do hope he changes his mind once through a long term inpatient program.

As well I would not care if you Drank, smoked weed and didnwhy ever you felt like doing .....If he did it without it destroying his. LIFE!!

 

[Littleboylost]

Marijuana of itself isn't addictive or a gateway drug. That being said, if the person has an addictive nature then it can most definitely become a gateway drug.

Jabber an Lil;
Pot is indeed scientifically proven to be addictive, it also alters the brain function and can lease to psychosis all on its own. There is scientific evidence of canabis induced schizophrenia and psychosis.

As RN says like all other substances, some people can do them recreationally while others can not. My son is severely addicted to multiple substances but for 3 years he was hard core into pot only and had indeed had psychosis from pot.

Is marijuana addictive?

The Effect of Cannabis on the Brain: Can it cause brain anomalies that lead to increased risk for Schizophrenia?

Long-Term Effects of Cannabis on Brain Structure

I so wish it wasn't the case but it is. Kids now smoke tobacco hits with pot and it is destroying their brains and their lungs.

 

[Sam3]

LBL

Exactly

Lots of kids say they'll still smoke pot when they come out of rehab. I would ignore that particular hot potato.

Giving them a pause from their substance filled lives is still very valuable, I think. Being sober makes the possibilities that open up with sobriety seem more real. I think it helps them to envision something different at least. Plus they get a lot of tools for analyzing their own patterns so they can separate out a core from a cluster of coping mechanisms. If nothing else, they aren't adding to their shame pile for some length of time.

And for you, you can know he got that respite and education. My sons stint in inpatient and outpatient gives me the confidence that he knows more help is out there when he decides to seek it. It takes the burden off me to "sell" help.

 

[Littleboylost]

LBL


And for you, you can know he got that respite and education. My sons stint in inpatient and outpatient gives me the confidence that he knows more help is out there when he decides to seek it. It takes the burden off me to "sell" help.

This is right where we are at Sam.

 

[strangeworld]

My daughter used to say that pot opened up her mind and made mer MORE motivated...really? Is this why you dropped out of high school and can't seem to find anything that interests you? I have been reading about pot. I know from personal experience that it is not just a"feel good", "relaxing", drug. It sent me into a bad trip a couple times way back in the day. One of those bad trips I thought my friend was going to murder me...and kidnap my daughter (she was 2 at the time and I don't know why I took a puff...so stupid...it was offered to me and I didn't say no). Have not smoked it since and I have NO desire. They are saying that for some people, it acts differently, inducing psychosis etc. The number one "medical" use for it (at least from what one police officer told me a couple years ago when my daughter was busted using it with some friends) is anxiety disorders. But it is pretty well known that it makes anxiety and depression worse over time. I know I am one of those people that can't tolerate it at all and I HATE the effects of it. I think one day in the future science will have a lot more answers about our brains (hopefully). Right now it just seems like it's a hit and miss style of approach with antidepressants (some say they don't work at all better than a placebo) and other psychotropic medications.

 

[Sam3]

And I'm just going to rant a little more because that's where I'm at.

Yes, we do not walk in the shoes of DCs. But they choose to wear them. If they feel social media driven anxiety when comparing their lives to others, or get cyber-bullied, they can walk away from the screen. If they feel entitled because their herd is privileged, they can find anther herd.

It's addict thinking and even if it takes on modern elements, the themes are no different from generation to generation. They are victims of life and not their life choices. They might as well quit.

All recovery programs center around them getting honest with themselves, and taking some agency And frankly, it's what most parents try to do in their endless efforts. Maybe they've just regarded us as perpetrators for too long.

 

[Bangi]

I think you can get hooked on mj. I know of 2 people who moved to co so they can use too. Its just an excuse to use

Lots of people move to legal states to use pot as medicine for many disorders ,illness and mental health issues

 

[Littleboylost]

Lots of people move to legal states to use pot as medicine for many disorders ,illness and mental health issues

Bangi
Medicinal MJ is a different issue than recreational use. CBD is the major chemical component of medicinal MJ. It is consumed in a medicinal fashion with a prescription.

I am not against medicinal or recreational MJ being legalized in a proper fashion.

This does not impact on the fact that MJ is addictive and abused. Just the same as sedative and pain medications are beneficial as medicine and are addictive and abused.

 

[It'sbeentoolong]

I live in Ca and hate that it has become legal. There are too many dysfunctional parents who think nothing of smoking it around their kids now. They don't give a thought to their child getting the second-hand high/smoke. I know for my son, pot exacerbates his symptoms. My daughter tried it once and she said she heard whispers. She never smoked it again because of her brother. I do believe that for some people, it can be the environmental factor that pushes them into psychosis. I wish there were a DNA test that would determine who would be an alcoholic and who cannot smoke pot. Hopefully, someday there will be.