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Home Health Medicines and Remedies Is Medical Marijuana Addictive?
Is Medical Marijuana Addictive? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Lawrence Greene, MD   
As more and more states legalize marijuana for medicinal use to qualified patients, one of the questions asked "Is medical marijuana addictive?" With opiate medications being highly addictive if abused with significant risks of overdose and withdrawal, it is important to either confirm marijuana having addictive qualities or to refute the notion. The answer is that medical marijuana may have a psychologic dependence but it does not produce a physiologic dependence so therefore not a true addiction.
by LawrenceGreene,MD


As more and more states legalize marijuana for medicinal use to qualified patients, one of the questions asked "Is medical marijuana addictive?" With opiate medications being highly addictive if abused with significant risks of overdose and withdrawal, it is important to either confirm marijuana having addictive qualities or to refute the notion. The answer is that medical marijuana may have a psychologic dependence but it does not produce a physiologic dependence so therefore not a true addiction.

Marijuana studies show the majority of users do not convert to long term usage. Research showed that in the 1990's despite 31% of the US age 12 and over having tried marijuana at some point, only 0.8% of Americans smoked marijuana on a daily (or near daily) basis.

Heavy chronic marijuana smokers sometimes enroll in drug treatment programs and occasionally the reason is for marijuana dependence. There is a large distinction, however, between a marijuana dependence and a true addiction. Do withdrawal symptoms occur when a heavy marijuana user stop smoking? Possibly there are. Some people report some sleep disturbances and/or nervousness - about 15% of the time. The typical narcotic withdrawal side effects of sweating, hallucinations, vomiting, and nausea are not seen in this setting.

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.

In 1991, a congressional report from the US Dept of Health and Human Services 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.

Marijuana thankfully doesn't act that way. Despite heavy chronic usage, minimal physiologic effects occur after stopping, even abruptly. There is a different pathway of action with marijuana on the brain than opiates. This can result in medical marijuana being used to decrease the amount of narcotics individuals necessitate for pain reduction, and in some cases 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.

About the Author:

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.

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