But it’s possible to get hooked on marijuana, also known as cannabis. Studies show about 1 in 10 adults who use marijuana can get addicted. The longer someone uses marijuana, and the more they take it, the more intense the long-term effects can be. For example, someone who has smoked marijuana once a week for several years likely won’t experience the same slew of negative effects as someone who’s smoked daily for the last decade. Located near the ocean, Beachside Rehab uses a holistic approach to treat addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions.
What’s driving the permanent crisis of drug addiction?
Several MRI studies reveal functional and structural differences in the amygdala – a key brain structure in processing emotions – after chronic cannabis use. Compared to healthy controls, adolescents who used cannabis had lower activation in the amygdala in an emotional arousal word task during fMRI (Heitzeg et al. 2015). However, in another fMRI study, adolescent cannabis users showed greater amygdala activation to angry faces compared to controls (Spechler et al. 2015). Together, these fMRI findings indicate that chronic cannabis use alters amygdala function. The withdrawal/negative affect stage is then triggered by opponent-process responses following binge episodes. These opponent-process responses are marked by within-systems and between-systems neurobiological changes that drive the loss of motivation towards non-drug rewards and impaired emotion regulation seen in this stage.
Health Conditions
It is now legal for recreational and medical use in many U.S. states. In New Jersey, marijuana became legal for recreational use in 2020, and studies indicate that cannabis use in the state has surged since its legalization. According to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, over 2.5 million marijuana sales transactions were recorded in the first 6 months of legalization, showing a significant demand and acceptance among residents. In addition, because the study was done between 2012 and 2015, cannabis was less available than it is now, which limits the participants to those who were more determined to seek out cannabis. Klag was particularly concerned about the structural changes to the working memory areas of the brain observed on the MRI scans, especially since the study participants were Drug rehabilitation younger adults. People also provided urine samples on the day of testing, which were used to determine if they had used cannabis recently.
- Amanda Reiman, PhD, policy manager for the California office of the Drug Policy Alliance, and lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, shed light on this trend.
- People who use marijuana frequently can experience psychological dependence and mental side effects that make it challenging to quit.
- Increased extracellular glutamate levels activate inhibitory metabotropic glutamate receptors, reducing glutamate neurotransmission (Samuni et al. 2013).
- Although further research is necessary (Box 1), the findings summarized here indicate that neurobiological changes in CUD seem to parallel those in other addictions, albeit to a lesser extent in some brain systems.
Know the Effects, Risks and Side Effects of Marijuana
This connection remained even when researchers excluded people who had used cannabis recently, based on the urine test. The results also weren’t affected by how much alcohol participants reported drinking, researchers found. In the new study, researchers examined data from the Human Connectome Project, which explores how age, growth, disease, and other factors affect the connections in the human brain. In 2022, the disease modelers Jalal and Burke projected that half a million Americans would die of drug overdoses between 2021 and 2025. Drug mortality alarmed officials in 2010 when thirty-eight thousand people died in a single year. Drug deaths were declared a “national health emergency” in 2017, when the annual death toll topped seventy thousand.
- Behaviorally, this translates into excessive salience attribution to drug-paired cues, decreases in responsiveness to non-drug cues and reinforcers, and decreases in the ability to inhibit maladaptive behavior (Koob and Volkow 2016).
- The NIDA highlights research suggesting that 22% to 30% of people who use cannabis have CUD.
- Previous preclinical and clinical studies indicate that features of the three stages of drug addiction described by Koob and Volkow are also present in cannabis addiction (Fig. 1), although these findings may not be as robust as other drugs of abuse.
- The preoccupation/ anticipation stage is implicated in the reinstatement of substance use following abstinence.
- Of the participants, 96% had been diagnosed with severe cannabis use disorder.
For instance, one study found that “solitary use,” or using the drug by yourself, was a strong sign that dependence would form in the future. The increased potency of modern marijuana strains means that there is a greater risk for tolerance, dependence, addiction, and withdrawal. You’re more likely to get CUD if you misuse other drugs, like alcohol. Mental health issues, like an anxiety or a mood disorder, can raise your chances, too.
Psychosis is a symptom of a serious medical condition called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia also affects the way you understand what’s real, but it includes other symptoms, such as trouble with speech and not being able to focus and show emotions. Even so, more research needs to be done, especially on marijuana’s long-term effects. Dried, shredded buds of the plant can be smoked in a rolled cigarette (joint) or hollowed-out cigar (blunt). For many, it’s difficult to imagine a life in which using drugs is more important than spending time with friends or doing favorite hobbies.
Amanda Reiman, PhD, policy manager for the California office of the Drug Policy does weed have addictive properties Alliance, and lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, shed light on this trend. 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. Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant.
Can I Get Addicted to Weed?
However, the marijuana that is available today is more potent than the marijuana of the 1960s, containing higher levels of the active ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive component in marijuana. However, some who use marijuana develop the symptoms of addiction after chronic marijuana use. Marijuana also poses several other health risks that people should consider. That includes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational enhancement therapy (MET), and contingency management (CM).
Signs of Marijuana Use
However, for heavy users, quitting cannabis abruptly could lead to withdrawal symptoms that could last for a week. “Even those who define themselves as ‘social’ users can still have negative cognitive effects without seeing the negative life consequences that often lead them to seek treatment,” she said. Researchers also looked at whether people had a diagnosis of cannabis dependence, and found that this was not related to changes in brain function. This included measuring working memory, which includes how the brain processes rewards and emotions, as well as language and motor skills. Working memory also plays a role in social settings by processing important social inputs like other people’s emotions.