If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?

The New York Times ^ | July 20, 2009 | The Editors

[cryptical]

A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether more and more potent types of cannabis affect the levels of addiction to the drug. This particular issue has become part of the larger debate over whether marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized.

Antidrug activists say that if the drug is legalized, more people will use it and addiction levels, made worse by the increased potency, will rise too. Legalization advocates note that pot addiction is not nearly as destructive as, say, abuse of alcohol. What would be the effect of legalization or decriminalization on marijuana abuse and addiction?

[TSgt]

IMO, nobody should be fired from their jobs in late August for testing positive simply 'cuz they smoked a lil weed during a July 4th celebration.

Employers should be able to fire you for any reason other than race, religion, age and sometimes disability.

[The Louiswu]

You really love the word retard don’t you?

[Larry381]

Alcohol is a much stronger gateway drug than the ganja. I have a friend that is a law officer and he said he would much rather pull over a car load of potheads than drunks becuase drunks can get very violent and potheads are mellow. I have friends that smoke and they are very reasonable people and only do pot and drink a little. I guess I am a Libertarian on the issue.

If you want mellow try someone who is high on heroin. It has a soothing, sedative effect on the user that makes them love the world. The problems and the crimes come when they're no longer high on the drug and will do almost anything to get money to feed their addiction. I used heroin for many years and almost everyone I knew who abused it used pot first. Strangely, I was one of the few who didn't. Sure, not every pot user turns to hard drugs but enough do to make it a substantial problem.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I prefer whiskey

[Star Traveler]

I have seen a lot of pot-smoking retards walking around. LOL...

Pot smokers deserve the name, being dumber than dirt.

[stuartcr]

Me too, but there’s no way I could make a good single malt or fine old rum, even if it was legal. I have had some excellent homebrews though.

[EEDUDE]

Mike, you seem like an intelligent sort... FYI employers in civilian life drug test all the time prior to hiring. People who fail drug tests don’t get hired.

I don’t know what your point is.

[The Louiswu]

Where do you see these people? Do the have joints hanging out of their mouths, or are they holding bongs?

How about the people you don't see who have college degrees, have good paying jobs and enjoy a quite life and just want to be left alone to their own devices and keep the government at bay...are they retards as well?

[Nevski]

This place is called “Free Republic”, is it not? I would conclude from this that it stands for both liberty and small “r” republicanism, and accordingly touts the wisdom of America’s Founding Fathers. Well, here is a section from a Wiki article relating to the history of hemp in America from the 1600s to the 1800s. There is no evidence that either Washington or Jefferson smoked the cannabis weed, but they could’t have been ignorant about its intoxicating quality. Yet the two free republicans seemed to be quite interested in seeing the plant flourish:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States#Pre-criminalization_.281600s.E2.80.931800s.29

It’s too bad that so many people who call themselves “conservatives” have thrown over the views of the Founders for nanny statism.

[Star Traveler]

I don’t want to get the retards in trouble, at my own hand... so I won’t be identifying them. Those retards are idiotic enough, themselves, so that I don’t have to identify them... :-)

In any case, they are dumber than dirt, retards and are idiotic. All pot smokers are idiots...

[poobear]

I guess basket case was a little strong. He was very irritable though kind of like me before coffee. Two or three puffs of dope, he was fine.

[The Louiswu]

Thanks for the replies...have a nice day : )

[Larry381]

Even heroin and morphine are easy to kick by comparison, and don’t do near the damage to the body that speed does (or heavy alcohol use, for that matter).

You're right about heroin-it takes about a week to throughly kick it-but I wouldn't recommend trying it to anyone. It probably does do less damage to the body than speed, coke or alcohol although I can name at least 10 of my former friend who died from it, mostly by overdoses.

[stuartcr]

So, is that bad? Are you bad for feeling better after some caffeine?

[ChrisInAR]

I never said that the federal government should step in & prevent employers from doing so. I just think it’s wrong for them to do. After all, I can quit for any reason I want to, therefore employers should be free to fire me for any reason as well. As far as I’m concerned, the Constitution doesn’t give the feds the authority to be involved in the workplace.

[Jonny foreigner]

I prefer whiskey

---

me too! (and some European white ice wine so you can call me a euro snob ;-) i´m already having one or two... glases of it because we have 21:00 pm here :-)
But to be serious. i prefer alcohol too but i do know so many people who smoke pot which don´t have the least problem because of doing this. so it should be legal everywhere.
greetings

[The Louiswu]

"I say test them every day if they want to."

I love the use of the word THEM in your post...as if you are not one of those that would be tested...just "them" as is everyone else in the room, just not me.

If your boss tests one...then everyone should be tested...enjoy that needle, I bet in a few days you could be mistaken for a herion addict with all the needle tracks...

[-YYZ-]

“But you made the claim, so the burden of proof is yours, not mine: what scholarly source indicates that marijuana is physically addictive?”

I’m just relating my personal experience, that of some people I know, and apparently a whole bunch of other people out there who have reported similar symptoms after quitting smoking pot. But just for argument’s sake, here’s a research article on the subject, which concludes that there are some withdrawl symptoms:

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/54701?pageNumber=1

[CodeToad]

I’ve never known anyone “addicted” to pot.

[ChrisInAR]

I’m not afraid of needles...I would gladly have blood drawn from me every work day if I could be confident that my smoking weed on the weekends wouldn’t affect me being able to keep my job.