The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently released data that
suggests that 30 percent of those who use marijuana may have some degree
of “marijuana use disorder.” They add that people who use marijuana
before age 18 are 4 to 7 times more likely to develop this use disorder
than adults.
Researchers estimated that 4 million people in the
United States met the criteria for marijuana use disorder in 2015.
138,000 voluntarily sought treatment.
The use disorder, according to
researchers, can morph into an addiction when the person can’t stop
using the drug even when it interferes with their daily activities.
The
Canyon, a treatment center in Malibu, California, lists 10 signs that
someone might have an addiction to marijuana. Among the signals is a
growing tolerance for the drug’s effects, as well as using more
marijuana than they initially intended to use.
Who becomes addicted to marijuana and why?
Genes
are one strong predictor of developing an addiction, said Dr. Alex
Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in Lafayette,
California.
“When we look at the criteria for addiction, it has a
lot to do with people tempering their behavior,” explained Carl Hart,
PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Columbia University in New
York and author of “High Price,” in a 2016 interview with Healthline.
“It
has a lot to do with responsibility skills. It’s not perfect, but when
you look at the people who are addicted, and you look at people who have
jobs and families, they have responsibilities, they’re plugged into
their societies, they have a social network, the addiction rates within
those kind of groups are dramatically decreased from people who are not
plugged in with jobs, families, social networks.”
Those who don’t become addicted also tend to have more options.
“Most
of us have a lot of choice in life of things that make us feel good,”
said Gantt Galloway, PharmD, executive and research director of the New
Leaf Treatment Center and senior scientist at the California Pacific
Medical Center Research Institute.
“Those who have fewer choices,
who perhaps don’t have as rich a set of social interactions because
their family life is difficult or because they have emotional problems
that are stopping them from forming close friendships… those people may
find drugs such as marijuana more attractive and be at greater risk for
addiction.”
Mental health conditions, which have both genetic and
environmental causes play a large one in a person’s chance of
developing an addiction.
“Mental health is a huge risk factor for
addiction,” said Stalcup. “Drugs work very well, at first, for mentally
ill people. If you’re anxious, it’ll go away with a couple of hits, a
beer. It’s like magic. But then, the tolerance sets in.
“So, not
only do they need to drink more to relieve the anxiety, but every single
time they try to stop, the underlying anxiety comes back worse. We
conceptualize it as a biological trap. It works at first, it turns on
you, it stops working, and then you still have a problem.”
Stalcup
estimates that 50 to 60 percent of the people with an addiction to
marijuana whom his clinic treats have some sort of underlying mental
health condition. The majority of his clients have:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- schizophrenia
At
first, marijuana offers a benefit. It makes the world more interesting
to counteract the loss of pleasure in depression. It soothes anxiety.
For those with PTSD who experience nightmares, it shuts down the process
by which dreams form in the brain.
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