Marijuana Is Addictive – So What?

Marijuana Is Addictive – So What?: "Marijuana Is Addictive – So What?

Stanton Peele


Introduction

Although definitions of “addiction” are putatively rational and scientific, they are actually historical and political. Addiction is applied selectively, not based on pharmacological criteria, but in order to create a basis for disapproving of and proscribing drugs. Nonetheless, any real definition of addiction must include marijuana – addiction has subsumed marijuana in the past, and the classification of marijuana as addictive has again become accepted. Now, marijuana’s addictiveness is supported by clinical and epidemiological studies based on the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual. But marijuana for some time has been widely used as a countercultural recreational drug, and drug policy reformers in particular refuse to apply the addictive label to this substance. Political conservatives, on the other hand, insist on the harmfulness of marijuana as a tenet of their drug policy. The grounds are thus set for perpetual conflict around the drug, conflict that cannot be resolved by clinical designations or epidemiological research. Rules for nonaddictive use of marijuana are proposed – comparable to rules for nonaddictive use of any substance – and reasonable policy for marijuana, addictive as it is, is outlined."

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posted by Robert Heard at 10:24 AM