Is Marijuana Addictive Like Narcotics?
As medical marijuana becomes legal in more states to qualified patients, a question often asked “Is medical marijuana addictive?” With narcotics having addictive qualities if abused along with overdose and withdrawal risks it is important to either confirm marijuana’s addictive qualities or refute the assertion. The concise answer is that medical marijuana may have a psychological dependence but not a true narcotic like physiologic dependence, so not a true addiction.
Marijuana research shows that the vast majority of of users do not turn into long term users. In the 1990’s, research showed despite the fact that 31% of Americans 12 years and over had tried marijuana, less than 1 percent of Americans smoked marijuana on a daily or near daily basis.
Chronic heavy marijuana smokers at times enroll in drug treatment programs for marijuana dependence. Not a lot, but some do. There is a significant distinction, though, between a true addiction and marijuana dependence. One can see some symptoms of withdrawal when a heavy user stops marijuana – people report slight nervousness and sleep disturbance 15% of the time. However, one does not see the sweating, nausea, vomiting, or hallucinations that are commonly seen with narcotic withdrawal.
Animal research evaluating high dose marijuana administration has shown that notwithstanding how much of the drug is given, animals will not self administer marijuana after the drug is ceased. Opiates are a different story.
The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a 1991 congressional report which stated “Given the large population of marijuana users and the infrequent reports of medical problems from stopping use, tolerance and dependence are not major issues at present.”
The essential point is that medical marijuana may in fact cause psychologic dependence, but neither physical or physiologic dependence. Narcotics may result in both. Despite individuals being able to get past the attachment psychologically to the drug, the harsh side effects may prevent the person from stopping at all.
Thankfully marijuana does not act in that fashion. Even after long term heavy use, there is minimal if any physiologic reaction upon cessation. Marijuana acts on the brain in a different pathway than opiate medications. This may allow medicinal marijuana being utilized to effectively decrease the amount of opiates patients need for pain control, and in some cases entirely replace them.
In addition, medicinal marijuana maintains a psychoactive effect of reducing anxiety and elevating mood. This is different than opiates, where people may see a reduction in pain but also depression resulting. This helps explain why so many chronic pain individuals necessitate taking anti-depressants along with the opiates.
Want to find out more about AZ Medical Marijuana, then visit Arizona MMC’s site on how to choose the best AZ medical marijuana doctor for your evaluation.