Contact: Patrick Keefe, 860.679.2447 e-mail: [email protected]
Study Holds Bad News for Pot Smokers
FARMINGTON, Conn. -- Sue has used a drug for a number of years. Now, when she doesn't use it, she feels a strong craving for it. She thinks about it. She wants it. She's jittery. Restless. Irritable.
She's addicted.
The drug she's using is:
(a) cocaine
(b) barbiturates
(c) marijuana
(C) is the correct answer which may come as an unpleasant fact to Sue and many pot smokers: pot, weed, marijuana -- whatever you want to call it -- is not harmless. And it is addictive.
These are some preliminary indications from a study at the University of Connecticut Health Center looking at treatment options for those dependent on marijuana. The biggest surprise, investigators say, is the level of addiction shown by the participants in the project.
"It's a common thread that contradicts the widespread assumption that pot is not addictive," said Ronald Kadden, Ph.D., Health Center professor of psychiatry and the study's principal investigator. "What the participants tell us -- and they all say the same thing -- is they didn't know how hooked they were until they tried to quit."
When they tried to quit, they couldn't. The symptoms were sufficiently pronounced and compelling so that the easiest course was to continue to smoke pot.
"The symptoms are not lethal, but they will surely make you uncomfortable," Dr. Kadden said. "If you're able to stick it out, you'll get over your addiction.
"The problem is," he said, "very few are able to stick it out."
Researchers and health professionals have long maintained that marijuana is psychologically addictive. Recent research shows that marijuana is also physically addictive, although withdrawal effects after discontinuing use are not as debilitating as those seen with alcohol, heroin, cocaine, amphetamine or barbiturate dependence.
Users who are familiar with the severe effects of physical addiction to other drugs, such as heroin, amphetamines or barbiturates, tend to believe their marijuana use is optional and elective.
Psychological addiction is addiction nevertheless, and many study participants express feelings that they can't cope or even function adequately without marijuana. Their addiction, interferes with leading a normal life, and needs to be treated.
Dr. Kadden's study, which began in 1997, is a three-year project with more than 130 individuals enrolled so far. Participants have an average age of 36, but the figure is misleading, he said. They range in age from the teens to late-50s. They also come from all walks of life -- from the unemployed to the six-figure manager, and are men and women alike.
The study has revealed a number of aspects that are consistent among participants:
-- Marijuana smokers are ambivalent. They're ambivalent about their drug use; they're ambivalent about treatment; they're ambivalent about acknowledging that some personal problems concerning their finances, their health or relationships may be associated with marijuana use.
That ambivalence extends to decision decision-making, too.
"They may recognize the need to do something about marijuana use," Dr. Kadden said, "but they keep rationalizing and they keep smoking. So signing up for the study is a big first step for them."
-- Marijuana use builds tolerance and tolerance can lead to addiction.
"Many participants smoked marijuana all day," Dr. Kadden said. "It's a vicious cycle. Because you become tolerant, you need to smoke more to achieve the desired effect.
"The more you smoke, the more you need to smoke. The more you need to smoke, the more you need to stop," he said.
-- Long-term users who started at an early age may have impeded development of basic social and personal skills, and maturity, during critical periods of their adolescence.
"Some chronic users are scared to quit because they don't know who they are," Dr. Kadden said, "and they fear they won't be able to cope. Much of their lives has been spent high on marijuana and as a result, normal emotional development may not have taken place."
Dr. Kadden said marijuana users shouldn't let doubts or insecurities stop them from seeking help. The therapists and researchers in the Marijuana Treatment Project -- as the study is known -- are trained to help participants overcome obstacles to stopping marijuana use.
The study is still enrolling individuals. Free, individualized and confidential counseling is available to those who are interested in stopping marijuana use. No medications are involved.
For more information, or to make a referral to the study, call 860-679-3525.
The University of Connecticut Health Center is composed of three main units: the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and the UConn Health System. Founded in 1961, the Health Center pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service.
Note: News professionals are invited to visit the Office of Communications homepage at http://it.uchc.edu/uchs/uchcoc/ for archived news releases and other information.
RSS