Is Cannabis Addictive? – Cannabis News, Lifestyle

According to a new study published in the Lancet Psychiatry, the answer to the question “is cannabis addictive” is an amazing yes. The authors claim that people who consume cannabis with higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, are more likely to suffer from addiction and mental health issues.

But how much of this is a chicken and egg problem? Do people with “addicted personalities” and mental health problems attract cannabis as a means of self-medication? Or does cannabis cause these problems?

These are standard questions, but a better solution is to break this paradigm completely. It’s not a matter of cause and effect, but of narrative. What exactly is “addiction”? And is it the best way to solve psychological problems to frame mental processes in terms of “health”?

Of course, CNN didn’t ask the study’s lead author those questions. They withheld their questions so he could give the textbook answers. That “high potency cannabis…was associated with a four-fold increased risk of addiction.”

Details of the study

The study says it is “the first systematic review of the association of cannabis potency with mental health and addiction.” They admit that the “included studies were observational studies” and therefore cannot establish causality. Nor are they trying, suggesting that further studies of a more rigorous nature will “strengthen the evidence for this association.”

But what is the evidence?

They looked at 20 observational studies. Genuine scientific research tests specific interventions against a control group. The only way to scientifically prove that cannabis is addictive and causes mental health problems is through an experimental study.

The conclusions are suspect if the results are not from a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. How else can you really determine a cause between two or more variables?

Many observational studies can confirm an association between poor mental health, addiction, and “cannabis use disorder.” But it’s a chicken and egg problem. Are people with poor mental health and ‘addicted personalities’ becoming obsessive cannabis users? Or does cannabis make you hopelessly “addicted”?

All this recent Lancet study showed was correlation. And the first thing you learn in a statistics class is that correlation doesn’t equal causation.

Would the study authors go on CNN and promote the link between ice cream sales and murder?

What about importing Mexican lemons to prevent traffic fatalities? Or prevent swimming pools from drowning by banning Nicolas Cage films? Isn’t it strange that global warming started with the end of the Cold War?

Observational research can give us insights into associations between lifestyle and risk of a particular disease.

But all they can do is show correlations.

And who says mental health and addiction are diseases, anyway? Is a “cannabis use disorder” like heart disease or cancer?

Is Cannabis Addictive? Why don’t Africans get treatment?

Over the past decade, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction has reported a 76% increase in people entering rehab for cannabis use. The CDC reports that 3 in 10 people in the US suffer from “cannabis use disorder.”

The study’s senior author told CNN that “the proportion of people seeking treatment for cannabis addiction has increased in every region of the world except Africa.”

But why is it like that? Like the rest of the world, African nations are liberalizing their laws. UNODC estimated that there were approximately 38.2 million cannabis users in Africa in 2005, approximately 7.7 percent of the population aged 15 to 64.

And that number has only increased as an estimated 20.8 million people smoked cannabis in Nigeria alone in 2018.

So why aren’t Africans seeking treatment for cannabis addiction or “cannabis use disorder”? Are you too poor? Don’t they have any rehabilitation centers to go to? They have a lot of alcoholic rehabilitation centers, so that’s not the problem.

Maybe addiction and mental health are cultural phenomena?

Is Cannabis Addictive? What is “cannabis use disorder”?

Is Cannabis Addictive? Is “cannabis use disorder” real just because people identify with it? Consider the subtle but essential differences in thinking about addiction.

On the one hand we have the statements one would expect from a traditional Western belief in addiction and mental health.

On the other hand, we have statements stripped of their cultural baggage and left with mere universal facts, however uncomfortable they may be.

Default Belief: Addiction is when outside forces – like cannabis – have the power to enslave you and make you do things you don’t want to do.

What the facts say: Cannabis is a dried flower. It has none innate power of control.

Default Belief: The individual is powerless against the lure of highly potent cannabis.

What the facts say: Each individual acts according to their goals. Cannabis is an inanimate substance with no motives. You have the power, not the substance.

Default Belief: Addiction is real, and treatment is needed to overcome it.

What the facts say: Some heavy substance users may need medical detox for their own safety. Fortunately, cannabis is not one of these substances. Nobody needs rehab or treatment to stop or moderate their cannabis use.

Default Belief: You can’t decide to stop. You cannot opt-in to moderation. Addiction overwhelms your individual choices.

What the facts say: Your preferences for strong, moderate, or abstinent depend on your state of mind. A substance cannot hijack your mind and force you to do things you don’t want to do.

Is Cannabis Addictive? Does it lead to poor mental health?

The study’s lead author said, “The evidence linking the potency of cannabis to addiction and psychosis was very clear.” If you define “linkage” and “evidence” using the results of observational studies rather than randomized controlled trials.

And no serious researcher does that.

But the problem is deeper. We have already established that a “cannabis use disorder” is a symptom of a person’s beliefs. It does not reflect any objective reality. And the same goes for mental health.

In The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, psychiatrist Thomas Szasz criticizes and argues against the concept of mental health. Szasz says that mental health problems are not diseases and that “mental illness” is an inappropriate metaphor. According to Szasz, since the mind is not physical, there can be no disease of the mind. It’s metaphysical.

Szasz compares modern psychiatry to astrology, arguing that it violates the values ​​of freedom and individual autonomy and responsibility. Indeed, silencing political dissidents by “diagnosing” them with mental illness is a common feature of authoritarian left-wing regimes.

Szasz argues that a person needs to be taught personal responsibility rather than trying to “cure” them with drugs. Psychotherapy is not a tool to help people recover from illness, but to help them “learn about themselves, others and life”.

And although the book came out in 1961, his thesis is still valid. Maybe more than ever. Dissident opinions are increasingly seen as harmful misinformation. My flat-out rejection of addiction and mental health concepts isn’t just one person’s opinion. It’s basically violence.

But words are not violence and cannabis is not addictive.

What then is “cannabis use disorder”?

Someone with a “cannabis use disorder” is someone who finds benefits in using cannabis. The authors of the Lancet study would no doubt conclude that someone who smokes cannabis compulsively must be the victim of a powerful force overriding their free will.

But there is zero evidence for that. It seems very unscientific to think that a “higher power” can force you to do something.

How does cannabis compel you to use it? It is undoubtedly a habit. And habits can be hard to break, especially when you enjoy them. But at what point does cannabis rise into your mind and override your basic preferences? how does it do that

There is no “cannabis use disorder”. There is no cannabis addiction.

The mind and the brain are two different things. To stop you have to want it. You can’t deprive yourself of something you love and call it a disease. Cannabis (or any other substance, including alcohol) has no special magical powers.

THC feels good. That’s why some of us enjoy it. Even if this is at the expense of our responsibility. That’s a different issue. THC does not take control of a person. People who use cannabis to the detriment of their duties is not a symptom of something harmful or dangerous about cannabis. Nor is it a mental illness.

Someone who claims to have “cannabis use disorder” is someone who suffers from bad ideas. Put there by a whole cottage industry of rehabilitation centers and treatment plants. Heaven forbid they find new fields of work.

Public health technocrats need power over you. It’s not enough to stay away from cannabis and buy patented medicines. They also want to control your mind. They want you to believe the same things they do.