Pubdate: Sun, 03 Feb 2002
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.bouldernews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Clay Evans

IS POT TRULY 'ADDICTIVE'?

Marijuana "makes people lazy and stupid." So said Boulder County Sheriff 
George Epp in a recent interview. Exaggeration, or observation? Perhaps both.

When I dabbled with pot (my youthful substance stupidity mostly revolved 
around alcohol and foolishly inviting nicotine addiction), it left me 
hungry, paranoid and sleepy, among other things. Blecch.

But I knew a girl who went from squeaky clean, to pothead, and back, and 
she did seem to shed mental wattage while a stoner. We used to refer to her 
as "Whaa-at?" - her response to anything more complex than "Hey."

However - and Epp agrees - once users quit toking up, their gray matter 
seems to recover. My friend is now a brilliant grownup who speaks multiple 
languages. (And in fairness, I have to say I've known "high functioning" 
stoners who could comprehend physics class while "baked" - better than I 
could sober.)

Epp, a member of the Colorado Juvenile Parole Board, also says that "lots 
of kids ... are addicted to marijuana ... Maybe you can't say they are 
physically addicted, but these kids are sure addicted ... it destroys their 
lives."

Addicted? Maybe not.

Dr. Jack E. Henningfield of the Johns Hopkins University School of 
Medicine, while with the federal government's National Institute of Drug 
Abuse, and Dr. Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California's medical 
campus, ranked six substances by their addictiveness: alcohol, caffeine, 
cocaine, heroin, marijuana and nicotine. Each was ranked 1 (most serious) 
through 6 (least serious) according to severity of five indicators of 
addiction, withdrawal, reinforcement (i.e. will test subjects use it to the 
exclusion of other substances and activities), tolerance, dependence and 
intoxication.

In both rankings, marijuana ranks last in dependence, tolerance, and 
withdrawal. Henningfield places pot at fifth in reinforcement (ahead of 
only caffeine) and fourth in intoxication (ahead of caffeine and nicotine). 
Benowitz also ranks pot at fourth in intoxication, but last in reinforcement.

Overall, nicotine ranked highest for dependence, but averaging the 
rankings, heroin is the most addictive, followed by alcohol, nicotine, 
cocaine, caffeine and marijuana.

In other words, marijuana is less addictive than French roast. It might 
make you a dullard, but if you want to quit, you should succeed. Some claim 
pot is a "gateway" to harder substances, but the real gateways are 
personality, environment, brain chemistry and other factors. Humans have 
sought mind/body-altering substances throughout history.

Despite his recent comments, Epp agrees that pot isn't the worst problem in 
the world. And he'd like society to stop pretending that drugs are 
primarily a criminal problem.

"One of the biggest disservices we've ever done is to coin the term 'war on 
drugs,'" he says. "I know that law enforcement is not in itself a solution 
to the problem. We have to have education and treatment."

True. But I'd like to see law enforcement's role fade completely and 
society recognize drugs as a public health issue.

I'm not pro-pot, or any drug, and hate being around intoxicated people. But 
I am anti-drug war, and we should watch the rhetoric - i.e. that pot is 
"addictive" - lest we tempt kids to disbelieve all that we say, like "pot 
may dim your bulb."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart