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There is one important difference: withdrawal from something like alcohol can actually kill you. Withdrawal from marijuana makes you an irritable asshole for a
by Baeocystin 8y ago
There is one important difference: withdrawal from something like alcohol can actually kill you. Withdrawal from marijuana makes you an irritable asshole for a week or two.
The hardest part is understanding and coping with the issue that drives the user to use marijuana so heavily in the first place. If it can be understood what need the marijuana use is providing for, changing use patterns becomes possible.
- hsienmaneja 8y agoPot destroys lives in part by being so apparently benign.
- Baeocystin 8y agoWhatever problems drive a person to use pot as a crutch are the source issue. Pot abuse itself (or any maladaptive behavior) is best thought of as a symptom, not a cause.
- hsienmaneja 8y agoIf someone is self medicating with pot, and pot is making their lives worse (which is the case for some users), the pot is a problem in and of itself. Drug culture itself is riddled with such booby traps. Fallaious street wisdom backed by egos and peer pressure are powerful tools to indoctrinate a child into an unexpected lifetime of addiction to substances such as pot.
- Baeocystin 8y ago>Fallaious street wisdom backed by egos and peer pressure That's what I am trying to get at- problems stem from earlier sources. Whether someone eventually gets hooked on something is a consequence of earlier failure. Whatever drug/habit is ultimately picked up in the aftermath is a genuine negative, which will have its own particulars. But it is not the initial causative agent. This is an important distinction to make, because otherwise we're just rearranging deck chairs instead of managing the fundamental issue. To expand context, when considering appropriate drug policy at a governmental level I think Portugal's experience is important to study: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radic...
- hsienmaneja 8y agoNo, drug use isn’t consistently picked up in the aftermath of disaster. It’s often near the beginning, and lubricates destructive behavior, even pot. Pot absolutely catalyzes issues in people’s lives. Many would be far better off not using it at all.
- Baeocystin 8y ago>It’s often near the beginning, and lubricates destructive behavior, even pot I think we are talking past each other. I fully agree that many would be better off never using anything at all. My point is that by the time someone gets to the point where drugs/gambling/addiction can act as a destructive catalyst, they're already well on their way to a negative future due to earlier causes.
- hsienmaneja 8y agoA child with an undeveloped mind gets stoned and is profoundly impacted by it. The act of getting into pot in the first place is the divergent event that led to the deteriorated life path in some cases. The pot use itself is a root cause for the child, and they would have been better off never having got into it at all. As for destructive catalysts, no, not all people are well on their way to a negative future when they take up such habits. The drugs/gambling etc are the destructive behaviors that should be avoided altogether or stopped as a priority. Considering the well documented effects of high grade pot, it’s fairly easy to see that a normal child can be profoundly impacted by pot. Their entire lives get off track after getting into weed. So, no, not all people that mess up their lives on pot were well on their way to a negative future.
- DanBC 8y ago> My point is that by the time someone gets to the point where drugs/gambling/addiction can act as a destructive catalyst, they're already well on their way to a negative future due to earlier causes. Do you have anything at all to support this?
- 8y ago
- DanBC 8y agoThis just isn't true. Please stop denying that cannabis itself cannot ever be a cause of severe harm. I strongly support legalisation, but for that to happen we must accept that some cannabis users are going to be caused harm.
- Baeocystin 8y agoI did not claim that cannabis doesn't have the ability to cause harm, nor would I. My point is only that drug abuse should be taken as a symptom of a deeper cause.
- lightbyte 8y ago>withdrawal from opiates ... can actually kill you Opioid withdrawal is actually not fatal at all barring potential dehydration from excessive diarrhea/vomiting.
- Baeocystin 8y agoI edited that out. Apparently most opiate related deaths during withdrawal are due to a person wanting 'one last hit', but choosing a dose that they no longer have the tolerance for.
- bonesss 8y agoA potent argument for legalization of opiates, IMO. Something as simple as concentration percentages on packaging, as we have with booze, and smart usage pamphlets could save a lot of lives.
- Baeocystin 8y agoI don't disagree. I think Portugal's experiment has proven that decriminalization is the best path forward pretty conclusively.
- mimimihaha 8y agoThis is a genuine question but legalization but still making kind of difficult to get or just all out legalization and selling it wherever?
- Baeocystin 8y agoLegalization along the lines of what we're currently doing with alcohol and tobacco.
- zyxwvu 8y agoMarijuana abused to self medicate is frankly cheaper than paying for mental health medication and therapy. It's also fast acting and has only minor negative side effects as opposed to taking several weeks to take effect and for any negative side effects (these can be rather bothersome or bad) to go away. Not to mention that's if that particular medication works for you. Going through several types, change in doses, etc can go on for a year or more easily. In my experience however, withdrawal only takes a few days, I don't recall being any more irritable than before except that marijuana makes me less prone to irritations to begin with, and the thing that's the worst is the boredom. It's what do you do with your time? Work can keep you occupied and busy, but at home the activities you are likely going to do you did with marijuana. Video games and television/movies are harder to 'feel' interested in. Eating high is just really enjoyable. And trying to sleep is difficult especially when you know you could just smoke some pot and drift off instead of being too bored and restless to sleep.
- RickS 8y ago>Marijuana abused to self medicate is frankly cheaper than paying for mental health medication and therapy. This implies that self medication has an outcome comparable to paying for mental health medication and therapy. I would assert that it does not.
- kimbojimbo33 8y agoWhat do you think of Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome?
- trentlott 8y agoThat's why we differentiate between addiction and dependence. Alcohol dependence prevents cold turkey for some people.