SAMHSA: One-Third Of Marijuana ‘Treatment’ Admissions Haven’t Used Pot!
I’m reminded of Bob Saget’s cameo in the movie Half Baked. The recent litany of “marijuana addiction” stories always offend me as a person who has struggled with real addictions to speed and alcohol, whose father was damn near killed by addictions to speed, alcohol, and nicotine, whose grandfather was killed by addiction to alcohol, whose grandmother was killed by addictions to pharmaceuticals. To paraphrase the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, “Mary Jane, I suffered with addiction: I knew addiction; addiction was a friend of mine. Mary Jane, you’re no addiction.”
I’m told that there are some people who do have serious dependency issues with marijuana. But that is nowhere near the physical and psychological hell suffered by a heroin addict, alcoholic, or cigarette smoker trying to quit. This press to label “marijuana addicts” is just the latest reefer madness salvo to keep funding the perpetual drug war prison/rehab industrial complex. Paul Armentano, our Deputy Director, picks up on this theme as he notes that a full one-third of these “marijuana addicts” haven’t even used marijuana for over a month! If you can find any treatment facility for alcohol, heroin, cocaine, meth, or nicotine addicts that contains even one addict who hasn’t used in a month, I’ll be amazed…
NORML Blog » Blog Archive » SAMHSA: One-Third Of Marijuana ‘Treatment’ Admissions Haven’t Used Pot!
According to a recent UPI news wire story, researchers are now proposing prescribing the psychoactive prescription drug Lithium to so-called ‘pot addicts’ to help them kick the habit. But just who are these alleged ‘addicts?’According to the latest statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services, a startling high number of US government-defined marijuana ‘addicts’ don’t even smoke pot! That’s right, according to a recent DHS report, more than one-third of Americans entered into drug treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana ‘dependency’ haven’t used pot in the month prior to their admission.
How’s this possible? It’s possible because the majority of folks admitted to ‘drug treatment’ for pot don’t need treatment at all, but were arrested and ordered by a judge to attend rehab in lieu of going to jail.
Nevertheless, the White House touts this phony ‘data’ as evidence that marijuana is allegedly more dangerous than cocaine or heroin, and NIDA touts these numbers as evidence to support multi-million dollar ‘Cannabis Addiction Centers.’
Looking for the truth about marijuana use and dependency? Look no further than my recent Alternet.org essay on the subject here, or you can ‘digg’ it here.
Tags: addiction, NIDA, Paul Armentano
