DO POT SMOKERS NEED TO DETOX?

Dr. Dave: Joe writes us wondering if medicinal marijuana can help
someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's not much of a
stretch to conclude he sees this home remedy as an exercise in
futility, since he goes on to ask how to detox from chronic pot use.

Bill: Let me make a wild guess, that the "someone" he's talking about
is Joe himself? He sounds like my pothead friends who use the stuff
in futile pursuit of creative writing. But, Dave, that said - what's
your own take on the medicinal marijuana? A lot of people say it's a
benign, natural plant that doesn't even cause physical dependence.
Does a pot smoker ever need detox from withdrawal?

Dr. Dave: A very serious question. The fact is that next to alcohol,
pot is the most widely used drug of abuse: one in 5 high school
seniors uses it on a monthly basis.

Bill: And when they get older?

Dr.Dave: The rate of use for 18 to 25-year-olds is one in six. It
sure is a no-doubt-about-it drug of physical dependence. But rather
than me reciting all the current facts on pot, or any drug , I would
direct our readers to the national Web site for the Office of
National Control Policy at www.ondcp.org.

Detoxification from pot is different from other drugs since it has a
half-life of 72 hours in the body. Bill, even in your wildest bender,
if you stopped drinking, the booze would be out of your system in 24
hours. Your health care provider would have treated you to avoid the
huge crash of possible seizures and hallucinations, but you'd have
been on the mend about the same time Joe was getting jittery from his
pot detoxification.

Bill: All of which you saw for yourself when you were director of a
Hawaiian youth treatment center, right? That was also just as the
twin epidemics of high grade pot and amphetamines were hitting the
islands. What did you do for chronic detoxification with those patients?

Dr. Dave: In the early 1990s, I headed a great team that redesigned
Oahu's Bobby Benson Center. We provided residential rehab for youth,
most of whom detoxed from chronic use during their first 12-16 days.

Bill: A 12-day detox! You had 30 shaking teenagers for up to two weeks?

Dr. Dave: No, we had running and swimming teenagers carbo-loading on
steamed rice on the beaches of North Shore Oahu. The withdrawal
craving is long, enduring and insidious. If these teenagers - or an
adult for that matter - were to just go about their everyday life, in
the back of their heads for two weeks there'd be that nagging,
seductive voice: "See? You can stop any time you want! Its been a
week, let's have a couple hits to take the edge off."

Bill: The standard denial of the compulsive user, both obsessive and
garden variety.

Dr.Dave: They believed that since they weren't using every day, they
weren't addicted. The problem of body storage of pot in the fatty
tissue is why we had those kids on a high exercise regimen. It burned
out the pot faster and overcame the anxiety and discomfort of a drawn
out detox.

Bill: So you keep them in rehab to get them over a longer crash than
alcohol, but you don't need the nurses and anti-seizure medication,
right? What about Joe's other question - do you believe in the
medical use of pot for mental health problems? I read where the Bush
daughters said their mother was OCD in her demands for household
cleanliness. Somehow, I don't see Laura Bush curling up with a joint
at the end of a hard day at the ranch.

Dr. Dave: Without entering the legal debate over the eight states
that have passed medicinal laws, it is important to realize that
virtually all this legislation was passed for patients who had
debilitating chronic pain or nausea such as that from cancer
treatment. Bill, anyone who tells you that his/her use of pot is to
alleviate anxiety, depression, OCD or other mental health problems -

Bill: They're like Joe, just adding to their emotional struggles?

Dr.Dave: There simply is no valid health argument for the use of pot
for non-pain emotional disorders.

Bill: Period?

Dr.Dave: Period.

Bill: I remember a guy I met when I went through my own rehab. He
said, "I told myself, 'OK, just one quick toke to get me through a
job interview,' and when I Iooked again, it was two years later."