When Does Marijuana Use Become Addiction?

At the time of this writing, 24 states have legalized recreational marijuana use. For many years, much of the discussion of marijuana focused on whether or not it should be legal. This conversation, though important, often took away from the more crucial conversation about whether marijuana was actually addictive.

Though some may argue this, medical and mental health experts agree marijuana is, in fact, addictive. As with any substance, not everyone who uses marijuana is an addict. It's an infinitely less toxic and much less dangerous drug than some others (including alcohol), and many people can use it recreationally without it becoming problematic.

What is Marijuana Addiction?

So when does Marijuana use cross the line into actual addiction? In the most basic terms, someone is addicted to marijuana when it either causes them to feel bad about themselves or their marijuana use creates problems in one or more areas of their life: home, work, school, relationships, etc.  

Drug abuse counselors and addiction counselors use the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) list of diagnostic symptoms to determine if someone has a problem with marijuana. The diagnostic term for marijuana addiction is cannabis use disorder. Cannabis is the plant that marijuana leaves and flowers are taken from.

If someone has two or more of the following symptoms in a 12-month period, they meet the definition of cannabis use disorder: marijuana is used in larger amounts over a longer time period than intended; there’s an ongoing desire to cut down on the use of marijuana or recurrent failed attempts to cut down; lots of time is spent trying to get marijuana, use it, or recover from using it; marijuana use gets in the way of meeting important expectations related to work, school, or home life; use continues despite it causing ongoing problems in some important area of their life; ongoing use in situations that are physically dangerous; the person keeps using marijuana even though they know it causes some ongoing physical or psychological problem; they develop a tolerance for the it - meaning they need to take more of it to feel the way they want to feel, or if they continue to use the same amount, they feel less and less of the desired effect; or withdrawal - meaning they experience withdrawal symptoms or keep using marijuana to avoid experiencing these symptoms. 

Though Marijuana impacts different people in different ways, nearly all users of cannabis find that it decreases their general sense of motivation and negatively impacts their short-term memory. Habitual marijuana use has been shown to cause or worsen depression and also anxiety. What I’ve seen after 30 years of working with marijuana users is that virtually nobody brings their A-game when they use it habitually.

Marijuana Addiction is Treatable

The good news is that marijuana addiction is treatable. Though there are some physical and psychological symptoms people experience when they stop using marijuana – like anxiety and difficulty sleeping – these symptoms aren’t dangerous and usually only last a couple of weeks.

For more information, visit my Drug and Alcohol Counseling page.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.