"Reefer Madness", the cultural icon of mindless scare tactics was a film many boomers laughed at for decades. The film's attempt to dramatize the mind-altering affects of marijuana went well beyond the bounds of common sense and logic. Well, decades later, the evidence is in. Critics are now armed with hard data, and the news isn't good.
You might say the myth about marijuana's harmless impact on one's mental state appears to have "gone up in smoke". And this news comes none too soon. The use of marijuana in America seems just as popular as the belief that the drug is neither addictive nor psychologically harmful. Marijuana is a mythed opportunity for many Americans, especially those in the boomer-age category. Take a look.
People who have smoked marijuana daily for many years display more aggressive behavior when they stop smoking the drug, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School. The study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, is further evidence that a withdrawal syndrome is associated with abstinence from long-term marijuana use, and suggests that aggressive behavior is part of this syndrome.
Human and animal studies conducted since the early 1970s have suggested the existence of a marijuana withdrawal syndrome, characterized by insomnia, restlessness, loss of appetite, and irritability. "This syndrome, although less dramatic than the withdrawal syndrome associated with alcohol, opiate, or cocaine withdrawal may contribute to relapse among those dependent on marijuana," says NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner. "People addicted to marijuana may continue to use the drug at least partly to prevent the onset of withdrawal symptoms. Identifying the exact nature of this syndrome is crucial to developing treatment strategies for those attempting to stop their marijuana use."
"Most of the studies that have been published on marijuana withdrawal symptoms in people have relied on self-report," says Dr. Elena Kouri, lead author of the paper. "In these studies, long-term marijuana users report that they feel irritable when they are abstaining from marijuana use, but these studies generally do not involve measurements of aggressive behavior to verify these self-reports. In our study, we demonstrated that long-term marijuana users do, indeed, exhibit more aggressive behavior during the first week of abstinence, and that this aggressive behavior can be measured."
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States. More than 11 million people have smoked marijuana within the past month, according to the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction in some people. These marijuana-addicted individuals use the drug compulsively, and this use often interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. Individuals with cannabis dependence may also persist in using the drug despite knowing that it causes them physical problems, such as a chronic cough related to smoking, or psychological problems, such as excessive sedation due to high doses.
"Although it is difficult to be certain of the exact prevalence of cannabis addiction in the United States, I can tell you anecdotally that we had no difficulty recruiting dozens of people between the ages of 30 and 55 who have smoked marijuana at least 5,000 times," says Dr. Harrison Pope, Jr., principal investigator of the study. "A simple ad in the paper generated hundreds of phone calls from such people."
AgeVenture News Service,
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