Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 Source: Imprint (CN ON Edu) Copyright: Imprint Publications 2003. Contact: http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2693 Author: Katherine St. James WHAT DOES THE WORD ADDICTION IMPLY? The debate over the decriminalization of cannabis is generally divided between those who feel it would relieve strain from our judicial system and those who believe pot is a grave social threat. One of the underlying issues of this debate begs the question of whether cannabis is addictive, and if so, whether such an addiction is something we should worry about. But how is addiction defined? Webster's defines it as a compulsive need for, and use of, a habit-forming substance (such as heroin, nicotine or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal, or a persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful. In general, scientists largely agree that there are two primary types of addiction: psychological and physical. Psychological dependence refers to the strong attachments people form to drugs, leading to powerful urges to seek and consume them. Physical dependence is a term attributed to developing a tolerance to a substance meaning that more of the drug is needed to gain the same effect -- and there is a subsequent withdrawal period when the drug-use is ceased. In terms of negative physical effects, it is generally agreed that smoking cannabis causes the biggest health problems. When it is smoked, the respiratory problems associated with tobacco are present; however, the extremely addictive nature of nicotine is not present. Motor skills, from co-ordination to reaction time are affected. Additionally, THC has been found to reduce the immune system's response to infections. The withdrawal symptoms in individual users of cannabis are mild to non-existent. Symptoms, if present, resemble those of mild flu symptoms. In the laboratory, cannabis has been found to have the same rewarding effects on the brain of rats as other physically addictive substances, such as alcohol and heroin. It triggers an increase in the chemical dopamine in a part of the midbrain called the nucleus accumbens, which reseachers believe is the key to an addictive substance. But the other side of the story, according to John Morgan, a pharmacologist at City University of New York Medical School, is that rats do not enjoy cannabis. Rats get addicted to heroin and cocaine much more easily than marijuana. Morgan also claims that researchers are rarely open about other obscure observations, such as the fact that there are many other non-addictive drugs that stimulate dopamine in the brain. Common things -- such as eating chocolate or gambling -- also release dopamine in the brain. The impact of health problems associated with cannabis is much less than the problems resulting from alcohol or tobacco use. Moreover, legal drugs -- mainly tobacco and alcohol -- account for the majority of economic costs associated with substance abuse. For example, an Ontario study done in 1997 found that annual health care costs resulting from cannabis use were small ($8 million) when compared to those for tobacco ($1.07 billion) and alcohol ($442 million). However, even though there are ten times more tobacco and alcohol users than users of illegal drugs, government spending on users of illegal drugs is twice the amount spent on tobacco and alcohol users. The movement to reclassify cannabis as addictive has not gained much momentum through laboratory tests; what it has done is demonstrate the need to better define addiction and judiciously classify drugs in response to this new definition. Because of the studies involving cannabis, some of the drugs which are now classified as legal have been shown to be more harmful than some that are illegal.