Marijuana Addiction Treatment Information

Marijuana plants grow on large stalks that range in height from a few feet to 12-15 feet high with small flowers or "buds" appearing when the crop is ripe for harvest.

Hash, Mary Jane, Pot, Chronic, Bud, 420, The Kind, and various other names given to the cannabis plant are rooted in a sub-culture that began in the 1950's and continues to attract new inductees and centers around the consumption of different varieties of cannabis leaves. These are usually smoked in hand-rolled cigarettes, called joints. The cannabis can also be smoked in pipes or long tubes that use water as a filter, called bongs. The tradition of consuming marijuana for religious, social, medicinal and cultural reasons go back more than 5000 years.

Today, however, the herb has gotten a fresh revival due to media and grassroots support. In the US, several states have approved the drug for medicinal purposes and many more are looking to pass similar legislation. The problem with this is that it lets those who consume the herb for other than legitimate reasons get their message that the cannabis plant is not harmful and is less damaging than what experience tells us.

The Real Reasons To Stay Away From Marijuana
by John Duff

There seems to be a consensus of agreement about the dangers of cocaine, heroin, and even cigarettes and alcohol, but not marijuana. What are the real dangers with it and how do you handle responses such as; "marijuana is an herb", "it is harmless", "it is used as a medicine", "it's organic", "it makes me feel creative and I write and perform better!".

As a youth during the 1960's I became deeply involved with drugs including marijuana and was arrested numerous times prior to going through a drug rehabilitation program in December of 1971. I bought, sold, and smuggled drugs out of the Mexican Border town of Mexicali, Mexico for a number of years.

I once thought that everyone should smoke pot and I thought it was my job to get them to. This is no longer how I feel and now I have the task of trying to change the damage done.

So lets look at what the real dangers are and some of the more frequent responses to them.

What all drugs have in common is that each and every one contain or are a poison. The poison molecule in marijuana is THC. It is the THC that causes the high. What are the problems?

Ambition
Ambition is the very thing that a person aquires natural highs from. Of all the drugs I used, marijuana sapped my ambition more than any other. In high school my only goal in life became "to find the ultimate bud (bud means: potent cluster of marijuana flowers)" All else became unimportant or secondary.

Memory
It has been stated in the past that marijuana effects "short-term memory". It is more than this. Using marijuana as well as other drugs effect concentration, recording (learning) and recalling (remembering).

Education
Individuals who use marijuana are going to have a hard time educating themselves either inside or outside the classroom. The reason is the mind is your computer and it depends on attention, concentration, recording and recalling and memory. Grades and performance usually drop with regular use.

Personality
Marijuana, like all recreationally used drugs, changes ones personality. It can make the shy feel outgoing, the weak feel strong, the inhibited feel uninhibited - especially concerning sex. Instead of developing these qualities the addict relies on drugs to produce the illusion that they posses them.

For more information on marijuana check: www.potabuse.net