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For all of you that are fans of the movie half baked you will have watched a scene were the main character goes to rehab, he stands up and announced he is there because he is addicted to marijuana, a member of the group stands up mocking him
“you in here for some marijuana… MARIJUANA?! Damn this is some bullshit!!”. Another man stands up and says “Marijuana is not a drug… I used to suck dick for coke” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUPHlAbAf2I)
Now this got me thinking, when was the last time you heard of a pot head sucking someone’s dick to get their next bag? Now I don’t know where you live but that doesn’t happen around here. Heroin and crystal meth ruin lives and they are the kinds of drugs, with clear evidence, cause people give up every ounce of dignity. So I’m pretty sure weed is so addictive where you have people all over this planet, in desperate need, therefore they have sold their possessions and even their body to get high… fair enough if you owe someone money etc.. in the marijuana black market, but an average middle age smoker… I don’t really think so, or am I just being extremely naïve.
A few months back I was lucky enough to travel to Amsterdam and saw first hand what their society is like, how weed is a daily part of their lives. Weed is treated so casually over there, I remember sitting in Barneys coffee shop, me and three friends did not realise it was the only place to buy it yet you could smoke in any of their establishments round the city. It was very small in there four high stools around tables down the wall, dark spots with red lights and some funky songs playing in the background… yet there was a constant flow of customers in and out the door. All sorts of people from young looking college girls to businessmen, all walks of life passed through the door and that was just how it was, acceptable and casual. Not once did it seem like anyone was desperate to get another bag or couldn’t go without it, I know because it is so easily available it wouldn’t seem like people would be needy. But it seems that people just bought it and carried on with their day to day life, not addiction – more like a habit – like smoking cigarettes but a lot less damaging. A study completed between 1997-1999 shows that despite a decriminalised society that sells marijuana there has been no dramatic increase in consumption, there is no immediate addiction factor unlike heroin or crystal meth.
“(1997-1999) “The figures for cannabis use among the general population reveal the same pictures. TheNetherlandsdoes not differ greatly from other European countries. In contrast, a comparison with theUSshows a striking difference in this area: 32.9% of Americans aged 12 and above have experience with cannabis and 5.1% have used in the past month. These figures are twice as high as those in theNetherlands.”
Source: Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Drug Policy in the Netherlands: Progress Report September 1997-September 1999, (The Hague: Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, November 1999), pp. 7-8.
https://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/67
And it is a similar story in Portugal, the government decided to decriminalise drugs back in 2001. Now there are no criminal penalties for possession and you are referred to as a patient not a criminal, yet there has been no major increase in consumption, the facts are all over the internet.
By the book, the definition most commonly accepted by addiction experts is:
-Addiction is the compulsive use of a substance despite ongoing negative consequences, which may lead to tolerance or withdrawal symptoms when the substance is stopped.