WHAT DOES THE WORD ADDICTION IMPLY?

The debate over the decriminalization of cannabis is generally divided
between those who feel it would relieve strain from our judicial system and
those who believe pot is a grave social threat. One of the underlying issues
of this debate begs the question of whether cannabis is addictive, and if
so, whether such an addiction is something we should worry about.

But how is addiction defined? Webster's defines it as a compulsive need for,
and use of, a habit-forming substance (such as heroin, nicotine or alcohol)
characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon
withdrawal, or a persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user
to be harmful. In general, scientists largely agree that there are two
primary types of addiction: psychological and physical.

Psychological dependence refers to the strong attachments people form to
drugs, leading to powerful urges to seek and consume them. Physical
dependence is a term attributed to developing a tolerance to a substance
meaning that more of the drug is needed to gain the same effect -- and there
is a subsequent withdrawal period when the drug-use is ceased.

In terms of negative physical effects, it is generally agreed that smoking
cannabis causes the biggest health problems. When it is smoked, the
respiratory problems associated with tobacco are present; however, the
extremely addictive nature of nicotine is not present. Motor skills, from
co-ordination to reaction time are affected. Additionally, THC has been
found to reduce the immune system's response to infections. The withdrawal
symptoms in individual users of cannabis are mild to non-existent. Symptoms,
if present, resemble those of mild flu symptoms.

In the laboratory, cannabis has been found to have the same rewarding
effects on the brain of rats as other physically addictive substances, such
as alcohol and heroin. It triggers an increase in the chemical dopamine in a
part of the midbrain called the nucleus accumbens, which reseachers believe
is the key to an addictive substance.

But the other side of the story, according to John Morgan, a pharmacologist
at City University of New York Medical School, is that rats do not enjoy
cannabis. Rats get addicted to heroin and cocaine much more easily than
marijuana.

Morgan also claims that researchers are rarely open about other obscure
observations, such as the fact that there are many other non-addictive drugs
that stimulate dopamine in the brain. Common things -- such as eating
chocolate or gambling -- also release dopamine in the brain.

The impact of health problems associated with cannabis is much less than the
problems resulting from alcohol or tobacco use. Moreover, legal drugs --
mainly tobacco and alcohol -- account for the majority of economic costs
associated with substance abuse.

For example, an Ontario study done in 1997 found that annual health care
costs resulting from cannabis use were small ($8 million) when compared to
those for tobacco ($1.07 billion) and alcohol ($442 million).

However, even though there are ten times more tobacco and alcohol users than
users of illegal drugs, government spending on users of illegal drugs is
twice the amount spent on tobacco and alcohol users.

The movement to reclassify cannabis as addictive has not gained much
momentum through laboratory tests; what it has done is demonstrate the need
to better define addiction and judiciously classify drugs in response to
this new definition. Because of the studies involving cannabis, some of the
drugs which are now classified as legal have been shown to be more harmful
than some that are illegal.