Cannabis
Is Cannabis Use Disorder Really a Thing?
We used to just call people stoners, that was enough. But the medical world always likes things to be more specific, and so now we have the term ‘cannabis use disorder’. But is this really a thing? Or a combination of fear-mongering, and over-enthusiasm to make everything into a problem? Read on and form your own opinion.
How is cannabis use disorder defined?
Though cannabis use goes back for thousands of years without a use issue stated, somehow, when legalizations started happening in the US, it popped up as a disorder. It’s currently listed in the DSM V, which came out in 2013. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) states the qualifications for psychiatric diagnoses. Since there aren’t medical diagnoses for these issues, this guide is meant to tell doctors how to diagnose psychiatric problems. In the previous edition which was used between 2000-2013 (the DSM IV), cannabis was associated with ‘dependence’ and ‘abuse.’
According to VeryWellMind, cannabis use disorder denotes “problematic marijuana use.” The site then goes on to list the symptoms related to this problematic use. These symptoms include:
“Continuing to use cannabis despite physical or psychological problems; continuing to use cannabis despite social or relationship problems; craving cannabis; difficulty controlling or cutting down cannabis use; giving up or reducing other activities in favor of cannabis use; problems at work, school, and home as a result of cannabis use; spending a lot of time on cannabis use; taking cannabis in high-risk situations; taking more cannabis than was intended; tolerance to cannabis; withdrawal when discontinuing cannabis.”
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However, given all this, it then goes on to stipulate: “Just because the name has changed and the term “cannabis use” has replaced “cannabis abuse” or “cannabis dependence” doesn’t mean that cannabis is not addictive. In fact, research shows conclusively that cannabis is addictive.” However, contrary to this article, research, in fact, does not show any ability for a physical addiction to cannabis, as well as no death toll; and the fact it was downgraded in this way, really says a lot about how innocuous it is.
Have I ever seen a real example of cannabis use disorder in life?
No, not really. And that means something. I can’t speak for every person reading this, but I can speak for my own experience. I’ve been smoking weed for well over 20 years. I admit I never got into it in high school, but when college came around I finally understood what all the hype was about. In reality, I had tried it in high school a couple times with some (now I realize) low-grade herb stolen out of the top drawer of my stepfather’s dresser. He had back issues and had likely procured the green for his pain.
I was one of those people who simply couldn’t get the inhale right. The non-cigarette smokers among us sometimes have problems with this in the beginning. But in the throes of university, I figured it out, and by the end of my junior year, I was a full on stoner. In fact, I went from 0 to 100 in no time at all.
I’ve had times in my life when I wouldn’t go places without a joint rolled or a one-hitter in my pocket. I used to be the one stinking up greyhound buses with my bag of weed stuffed in my backpack, and the scent emanating out. It used to be customary for me to sneak a smoke break in my car at lunch, or to go for a walk and toke up, pretty much whenever possible. My habit might have been irritating to those who didn’t understand my desire to constantly be high.
But the truth is, I never had to do it. If a situation arose whereby I couldn’t have weed, I might have complained, but it was more of a superficial thing. My body wasn’t upset by not getting it. I didn’t go into DTs, or get incredibly sick. I wasn’t irritable and in a generally bad mood; and if I was, it was related to me, not the weed. Because I was never addicted to it.
It also never messed anything up for me. I never prostituted myself to get it, robbed anyone or anything for the money, or missed out on something because of it. It didn’t cause me to fail out of school, lose friends, or become a social outcast. The most is did was make me lazy, and hurt my lungs (the latter of which was rectified by vaping over smoking).
Want the real reality check? Most of the time I’ve used like that, I’m unhappy in general, or stressed out in life, with no other way to deal with it. You know that whole idea of self-medicating? It isn’t that a person wants to be blown out of their mind, its that they’re trying to fix a problem, whether consciously or subconsciously. What my weed use indicates to me, is a discomfort in life and in myself, and that has nothing to do with a use disorder, but rather, a reason for use. As in, something not right = more weed use, feeling okay = less. I expect this is true for nearly every person who uses a substance regularly.
Most users I know go through different periods in life with their consumption. And many people seem to cut down on their own when the time is appropriate, or if they feel they’re going overboard. A real drug use disorder involves a lack of control to the point of a problem, but that indicates it needs to cause a real problem. I have yet to see even one person directly ruin their life because of weed. Which, in my opinion, makes for no actual use disorder attached.
Have YOU ever seen a real example of cannabis use disorder in life?
Are you a weed consumer? And if so, how would you characterize your own use? Do you feel compelled at any point to use it? Do you feel like your life is lacking something because of it? Do you feel out-of-control in your ability to use or not use it? Now think of the people around you. Do they seem out-of-control on weed? Like, unable to make decent decisions? Unable to stop from doing more? Unable to stop themselves from tanking out their lives? And all due only to weed?
And have you seen it fundamentally mess up another person’s life? Job lost, partner left, family leaves them behind? Have you seen anyone destitute on the side of the road because they just couldn’t stop smoking weed? Have you heard of a store being burglarized because of it, or a person performing sexual acts to get it? Maybe you have, I can’t say, but I’d certainly bet not. If you had seen it, I probably would have too.
Now, last, have you watched person after person, unable to stop using weed? Trying to quit repeatedly, and unable to consume less, or stop at all? Have you ever heard anyone talk about needing an AA style meeting, or a counselor to get them through the hard part? Has anyone ever disclosed to you their painful experience of trying to leave weed behind? Again, if you say ‘yes’, I won’t argue, but I expect if this were a thing to see, I’d have seen it in my over 20 years of being in the weed scene.
So is there really a cannabis use disorder?
In order for the medical community to prescribe you a medication for anything, they legally need a reason to do it. That reason comes as a diagnosis that creates a need for a treatment, which is then prescribed as a medication. The diagnosis acts as a justification to allow the patient to have a specific medication. A doctor can’t prescribe a medication that requires a prescription, without that justification.
If you go to a doctor with a urinary tract infection, that infection is tested for, and the diagnosis made based on the results of the tests. As in, it’s a verifiable problem, for which a medication exists to treat it. There’s 100% no subjectivity there. These are objective tests. This is the same for any medical issue, with a medical definition. Cancer is definable, the flu is definable, a broken bone is definable, a genetic mutation is definable.
Then we get to psychiatric disorders, and the process is the same, but with one not-so-minor stipulation which gets constantly steamrolled over. Psychiatric conditions have no medical diagnosis. There’s nothing to verify they exist, and no way to test for them, or differentiate them. Now, if you’re thinking ‘I’m sure that doctors can test and diagnose issues like schizophrenia’, the sad truth is they uniformly cannot, as there is no true verification method. All diagnoses therefore come from the opinion of each specific doctor. They are only subjective, with absolutely no objectivity involved.
Ever heard of two doctors having two different opinions? Happens all the time! And that can mean two wildly different diagnoses depending on the specific beliefs of the individual doctors. And two wildly different medications prescribed, that can have wildly different effects. Breast cancer is breast cancer no matter which doctor you go to. But depression might be depression to one, bi-polar to another, and a personality disorder to a third. All the doctors will pick up on what they see, which is usually centered on their ideas and beliefs. Now think of how opinionated most doctors are.
So does cannabis use disorder actually exist? Or is the medical community trying to make an unnecessary label so it can prescribe you more meds? It’s not my place to say for sure, but I can give my opinion. Remember that part where I’ve been both a weed user and in the weed community for over half my life? If I can go this long without seeing something that mirrors the conditions of this disorder, than far as I can tell, it’s pretty much the last thing you’ve got to worry about.
Conclusion
Want to worry in life? Worry about getting addicted to opioids, or benzodiazepines, or meth. Worry about your alcohol intake and how you’ll get home without driving drunk. Worry about the boxes of cigarettes you go through and how they affect your health and the health of those around you. And worry about why your governing bodies are consistently pushing you to use unhealthy options over healthier ones.
Worry about the pollution in the air and water, the chemicals in your food, and the long hours you’re made to work that take you away from your family for most of your waking hours. Worry about the stress that gets piled on you, and the terms used to describe the ways you deal with it. But if you like to de-stress yourself with weed, maybe don’t worry so much that you have a so-called disorder, since it doesn’t look to actually cause problems.
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Related
What is Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis? “You don’t hear me talk about the war on drugs. I’m not a war on drugs person,” Ramaswamy said when he appeared at a Free State Project event in New Hampshire last June.
Vivek Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur seeking the Republican nomination to run for President of the United States.
Ramaswamy told the crowd he was “probably the only person in the modern history” of the Republican Party to talk about decriminalizing drugs for people with PTSD and other mental health problems.
“Psychedelics,” he said specifically. “From ayahuasca to ketamine… That’s gotta be part of the solution.”
But what is Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis? He told Fox News:
We got to catch up with the times. It’s not a popular position in the Republican Party, but I’d just, again, I guess I’m going to speak the truth. Whether you vote for me or not is your choice. I think the time has come to decriminalize it.
Later, a spokesperson from his campaign said:
The current state-level ‘legalization‘ farce contributes to the culture of lawbreaking. It’s literally against the law. For us to pretend otherwise only undermines the rule of law in this country. For that reason, Vivek favors the federal legalization of marijuana.
What is Vivek Ramaswamy’s Position on Cannabis?
What is Vivek Ramaswamy’s Position on Cannabis? Decriminalization or legalization? Once upon a time, those meant the same thing. And indeed, in America, this may still ring true.
Vivek isn’t shy about wanting to rule by executive fiat. Suppose he’s the next U.S. President and unilaterally deschedules cannabis. Not a rescheduling, a complete descheduling.
As far as the federal government is concerned – cannabis is not its business.
Is that decriminalization or legalization? For operators in legal states, it certainly helps their tax situation. And why would the financial system fear a plant the government has delisted as a controlled substance?
Is that legalization or decriminalization? Or are those terms synonymous?
If a Ramaswamy Administration removed cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act entirely, there would be a few implications.
Implications of De-Scheduling Cannabis
Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis could empower state-level regulations. If the federal government takes a literal hands-off approach, you could argue that’s not legalization.
But is legalization ideal? Should Washington D.C. force states like Idaho to legalize? Suppose people in Idaho want to consume cannabis legally. There are 23 other states they can move to, including next-door neighbors.
Even if all 50 states legalized – isn’t it better to have local regulation of a competitive and complex modern industry? Think of the supply chain: cultivation, production, packaging, distribution, sales, marketing, and everything in between.
Do you want D.C. bureaucrats in charge of all that? Isn’t that how lobbyists capture the process and rig the rules against the little guys?
When The Feds Do Get Involved
Of course, some will argue Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis can’t be entirely hands-off. Somebody is going to have to regulate interstate commerce and international trade.
Imports and exports are federal jurisdiction and always have been. Of course, Vivek’s brand of governing may detest interstate regulation. A Ramaswamy Administration may create a free-for-all for all industries, not only cannabis.
One can hope.
And, of course, FDA bureaucrats will want to control aspects of cannabis, especially if it’s used in food products or marketed as a medical treatment. In a sense, descheduling and taking a hands-off approach empowers the existing bureaucracy.
But Vivek can use the stroke of the Presidential pen and tell the FDA to buzz off. Such is the state of the American “republic.”
Of course, if Vivek Ramaswamy becomes President, he won’t be able to decline the tax revenue. Who can, really? Except for maybe Ron Paul.
So, the federal government may tax cannabis. And so Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis matters a great deal.
But there’s something else. And it involves Vivek’s policy on the Federal Reserve Bank.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s Position on Cannabis & Money Could Change the World
Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis and money could change the world. And here’s how.
Experts must control money. That’s what the experts say. That’s why supply and demand don’t determine interest rates. You can’t trust free markets, they say. You need a central planning committee of experts.
But when the hell has that ever worked? This is not the 1920s, this is the 2020s. We have evidence of central planning, and the results are far worse than any of the theoretical excesses of free-market capitalism.
But suppose the experts are right about one thing. The price of money is too volatile to leave to a truly random process. That there should be a more market-based approach to price stability.
As in, leave it to the experts, but not the boardroom suits. Leave it to the people who are actually buying and selling in the market on a daily basis.
Like Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis, his proposal for the Federal Reserve is a breath of fresh air—a novel idea in an age of corporate-state shallowness.
What is a Government Gold Standard?
A country on a gold standard exchanges its currency for gold at a fixed rate, say, $35 an ounce. And vice versa. So, if the market price of gold goes beyond $35, people bring in their dollars to exchange for gold.
This process means the number of dollars in circulation decreases, so the value of the dollar increases. This continues until the market price of gold is back to $35.
If the market price drops below $35, the same process works in reverse. Historically common, it’s not without its flaws. Governments tinker with the mechanism like a curious 12-year-old who takes apart the television to see how it works (and ends up breaking it in the process).
A gold standard keeps the value of the money constant relative to the market price of gold. Economists have all kinds of critics and rebuttals as to why that wouldn’t work today in the “modern” economy.
To their credit, relying on gold as the sole commodity backing the government currency does run into problems. Especially when governments are always trying to cheat the system.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s position on cannabis stems from listening to the people and the real experts (i.e. not “public health”). He is responding with the correct answers. He has – more or less – done the same with the subject of the Federal Reserve and the money.
What is a Commodity Bundle Standard?
Vivek Ramaswamy should combine his positions on money and cannabis.
Vivek wants a commodity bundle standard to help solve the problem of using government currency. In this system, the market defines the U.S. Dollar as a collection of commodities. This collection or bundle is valued by what’s in it.
For example, suppose you had one million dollars. You take it to the bank and demand your bundle. It could consist of a few pounds of gold and silver, but it’d mostly be a claim on commodities (i.e. 100 pounds of grade A beef, 10 barrels of crude oil, 1,000 board feet of lumber).
Likewise, anyone who brings in a bundle (the claim on commodities) gets a million dollars. This keeps the bundle’s price at a million dollars and, thus, a stable purchasing power, assuming nobody is messing with the bundle.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s Position on Cannabis & Money Could Change the World
Vivek Ramaswamy could combine his positions on money and cannabis by including 1,000 pounds of industrial hemp biomass and 500 grams of premium-grade cannabis flower in the commodity bundle.
Regarding “changing the world,” you’ll have to refer to some of our past posts on the subject.
The main takeaway: eliminating the elite’s ability to create money out of thin air and charge interest on it can only be construed as a step in the right direction.
In fact, it’s the first step.
Those who use marijuana skin care claim that the hydrating, anti-inflammatory properties save their skin and lips, while beauty experts suggest that cannabis-infused products may help treat skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and dry scalp without any psychoactive effects.
While most of the information available on the effects of marijuana skin-care products is anecdotal, some clinical research by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and the National Center for Biotechnology Information exists showing that cannabinoids from cannabis have anti-aging and antioxidant properties. The cannabinoid molecules interact with the endocannabinoid system (ECS), a network of cell receptors that stretching throughout the entire human body to control all kinds of vital functions.
These studies also confirm that cannabinoids, especially CBD, are responsible for lipid production and, therefore, help regulate conditions such as dry skin or acne when applied topically. It’s also an excellent treatment for psoriasis, eczema, and muscle cramps.
Sensimilla Soaps and Soaks
Cannabis seed oil is anti-inflammatory that helps decrease the activity of oil glands, which may explain a benefit in acne. Back pain, sore muscles and joints can all benefit from a scrub with a cannabinoid-rich soap. Sensimilla, a type of marijuana with high THC, will give you a genuine body buzz. Plus, topical application of cannabis is non-psychoactive and is safe enough for the whole family. Your choice of soap may contain CBD, THC or both but it should also be made of ingredients that are gentle on skin.
RELATED: CBD Bath Bombs Sound Relaxing, But Do They Work?
Marijuana-filled bath bombs are also being gobbled up by fans of the canna-beauty trend. Warm bath water helps to open pores and allow cannabinoids full penetration for all-over relief. Fair warning to females: medicated bath soaks can cause a slight high due to vaginal exposure.
Lifted Lip Care
Marijuana lip balm soothes chapped lips and takes the idea of illegality and stigma out of using marijuana. The popular, and highly-clandestine pot product that sheds the “stoner” association while still giving the user all the benefits of being high. Whether or not the balm contains THC, the important thing is that it has CBD oil and other agents that will allow lips rebuild their natural oil barrier. Before you buy, here are 4 Things Dermatologist Want You To Know About CBD Lip Balm.
Hemp Hand Protection
RELATED: You Just Bought CBD Lotion — Now What?
The Body Shop has been making hemp hand protector for years, before it was cool. And now that beauty editors across the country are hooked on the craze, the product has become the store’s best seller. Cannabis topicals and creams can treat skin problems from dry skin to rheumatoid arthritic flare-ups and sunburns.
Cannabis Flower Fragrances
Apply cannabis accord anywhere you like to wear fragrance for an earthy and delicate scent that smells less like a dispensary and more like a chic eastern European boutique.
Anti-aging Potions Medicated with Marijuana
Look for full-spectrum hemp oil face moisturizers that use cannabis sativa oil to correct skin while actively protecting it throughout the day. Cannabis seed oil stimulates the skin’s natural oil production to keep skin firm.
People tend to have two reactions when it comes to using marijuana: they either find it very relaxing or they don’t. Those who belong to the latter group accuse the plant of causing them tons of paranoia and anxiety, making them feel like they are too “in their heads.”
Bad highs are almost like meltdowns, where your body’s reactions become stressful and scary. These episodes are temporary, but they still feel terrible and the only relief is either waiting them out or trying to sleep off the effects. Bad highs are a big reason why some people choose to avoid marijuana altogether.
These anecdotes leave cannabis in an interesting spot. The same plant can produce exact opposite effects in different people, all because of genetics, experience and predisposition to the drug.
RELATED: Does Habitual Marijuana Use Make You Anti-Social?
Marijuana produces effects by interacting with the cannabinoid receptors in our bodies, located in different areas, like our brain and skin. Cannabinoids, such as THC, bind to the receptors in the brain, causing either relaxing or stressful effects. Some of these receptors are located in spots governed by the amygdala, a section of tissue that’s responsible for managing emotions like fear, stress and paranoia.
THC is also known for increasing heart rates and producing an influx of thoughts — both behaviors that can cause anxiety for people that are naturally anxious or who haven’t experienced these feelings before.
RELATED: Marijuana Makes You Paranoid? Study Suggests Your Genes Are To Blame
Studies show that the positive and therapeutic effects of cannabis are due to the influence of cannabinoids on our endocannabinoid systems. These positive results appear even more markedly on patients that have experienced trauma and PTSD, who usually have low levels of chemicals like anandamide.
The most clear link between freak outs and cannabis occurs when people are new to the plant or they’ve had a negative experience with it — both of which create a predisposition towards certain behaviors. What people can do in order to prevent these reactions is to stick to low and manageable doses (avoiding oils and edibles since they’re harder to manage) and smoke somewhere that’s comfortable and private, surrounded by people they trust.
RELATED: What You Need To Know Before Trying Cannabis For The First Time
For newbies and people who’ve had bad experiences with weed but are willing to give it another shot, the type of weed you smoke, your location and companions are pivotal factors. Ask your budtender for a relaxing strain, something that’s focused on the body and not the brain. By trying to manage these factors you can try to curb freak outs and reintroduce yourself to fun experiences with cannabis.
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