Marijuana addiction is growing like wild fire in our country right now as medical cannabis is hitting widespread distributors, being used for detox, and being celebrated by people everywhere. While I personally agree with the use of marijuana for medical terms and for dealing with issues like anxiety, I don’t agree with abusing it to the extreme. It can lead to ugly side effects and long term addictions that can wreak havoc on anyone’s lifestyle if they aren’t careful enough to control their use like any other drug. Before you start using marijuana, it’s critical to know what the risks are from the drug and how marijuana addiction can start before it becomes too late. Even if you or someone else is able to consume marijuana for medical reasons, they still can develop an addiction to consuming it if they don’t follow directions.
Marijuana addiction can bring on disruptive withdrawal effects, legal issues, financial crisis and sometimes the loss of relationships with people who can’t approve of your habits anymore. Not everyone will want to support your constant use of marijuana, and that’s okay. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion. But you have to be careful about the people that you do surround yourself with. Being around substance abusers can make you own yourself, so it’s important to keep your social circle bulletproof. Let’s look at the red flags of having a marijuana addiction and how it can affect people mentally and physically.
Signs of Marijuana Addiction
Addiction to drugs might be difficult to detect than other illnesses or disorders. Someone may be very careful with covering up their tracks and expenses to fuel it. Some of the most common signs of someone having marijuana addiction include:
- Marijuana addiction fuels a strong dependency. In 2015, about 4.0 million people in the United States reported to have met the diagnostic criteria for a marijuana use disorder. Out of that number, only 138,000 people voluntarily sought marijuana addiction treatment for their disorder. That’s an extremely low amount of people coming to terms with their reality of dependency to the drug. Just like any drug, frequent use of marijuana leads to a high tolerance for it. This means that a person will start needing more and more of the drug in order to achieve the same quality “high” than before. If you feel like you’re starting to need more of the drug to get high, you are building tolerance that needs to be addressed.
- Marijuana addiction shows withdrawal signs in its victims. If you begin experiencing withdrawal symptoms like loss appetite, irritability, insomnia or anxiety, bloodshot eyes, or headaches you have an addiction. Someone who has might also appear more agitated and just weak in general. People may even have weight changes in extreme cases from eating a lot more or a lot less than normal. Look out for these signs of decreasing health, differing behaviors, and a worse mood throughout the day if you think someone or you have a marijuana addiction.
- Marijuana addiction messes with a person’s ability to focus. They might sleep in more and miss important meetings, tests or classes at school, arrive later than usual, or get nothing done in general. Maybe they were usually always on top of their schedule and were never the person to forget things. They may seem more careless now about their responsibilities and blame others for what they missed out on. If someone calls them out on their behavior or lack of showing up, they may lash out in anger or complain that people just don’t understand them well enough. These are all walls of defenses that a marijuana addict could put up because they know the truth about their lifestyle. For those working, being warned about becoming fired for being repeatedly late can be a key sign that you have an addiction on your hands.
- A marijuana addiction will lead people to do things they don’t usually do. They may start to hang out with the wrong crowd, go out more than usual, sleep in more than usual, and maybe even dress differently to fit in with their supporters. They could isolate themselves in response to their addiction as well so they can feed into getting high enough. If someone is often smoking with their new friends a location that sounds peculiar, there is definitely something fishy going on. As someone who lived with roommate dealing with an addiction in college, hearing little white lies about their whereabouts was enough of sign that they needed help. Open up your eyes to what they could be covering up.
Dealing With A Marijuana Addiction
There is always hope for anyone who is going through a marijuana addiction. The addiction doesn’t make them a bad person, they are simple too dependent on the substance to function normally and get through the day. They may put up a wall and tell people to not interrogate them, but often these are the people who need the most help. Everyone wants a listening ear from someone who truly cares about them. If you take time to approach a person with an open mind, you may learn about why they may be having their marijuana addiction. If you’re the one having the addiction, you need to get over your fears of judgement for the sake of saving your body and mind. The sooner you start treatment and counseling the more quickly you can get over your addiction and regain control of what happens in your life. You may feel powerless and hopeless right now, but that isn’t a permanent feeling if you make changings in your daily actions. You might find that you like having someone to talk to if they approached you with a caring mind. Look into getting natural treatment first before taking a medication if you are someone with a sensitive body as well. Better yet, get a consultation at a nearby rehab clinic and see where the journey to better health takes you!
