Am I addicted to marijuana?

[Board Forum Blogger]

Marijuana addiction test

The following 7 questions are based and established upon the American Psychological Association’s clinical diagnosis test of marijuana addiction, and if you truthfully answer Yes to 3 or more of the following questions regarding your behaviour for over the last year, then indeed according to them, you’re addicted to marijuana.

1. Have you tried in the past to at least cut down on your smoking or totally quit, but failed?

2. Could you use more and more of this drug than you used to be able to? Do you need more to get high or just to feel or experience similar effects?

3. Have you ceased doing things which you used to enjoy just because of your smoking habit?

4. Have you ever spent a lot of your time on getting high, working to acquire cash to get high or merely thinking about getting high?

5. Have you ever smoked more than you had planned on smoking? For instance, do you ever have a joint, a few hours or minutes before work, and rather than stopping at one, find yourself very high a few hours later as you begin your work?

6. Do you still continue to use even after you begin to feel and experience unfavourable and detrimental social and health effects? You still continue to use at the similar level or extent even as you notice or observe, that the drug is already affecting your capacity to think and focus, or is having a negative effect on your school grades or work performance.

7. Did you ever begin to feel anxious or apprehensive if you cannot get any of this drug? And have you ever taken another drug instead when there’s no marijuana around?

So, what’s your real score? This is just one way of diagnosing if your cannabis use has become a problem, there are numerous others reasons for why it may have become a problem, including the fact because you feel it has. But never the less seven questions anybody who uses marijuana should ask themselves.

[Unregistered]

i have just finished reading a book unrelated to this subject that coincidentaly made I a good point a good point about addicts.
I have used for 40 years quit cold turkey 33 days ago.I found it hit home with me.

The author was refering to people who get stuck in a habit, opinion, or way of life and suggested that these stuck or locked states were similar to those of a drug addict and he made the following observations.

He said there are three types of addicts.
1) the wanton addict. this is the person who craves the drug at all costs and will do everything and anything they need to do to get their high.
2) the willing addict. These are people who are aware of their addiction and it's consequenses but are willing to forsake their doubts in order to continue their use of the drug.
3) the unwilling addict. these are the people who are addicted but feel a certain guilt, shame and loss about their habit. the author concludes that this third group are the people who are most likely to be successful in their attempt to quit.

I have to agree with this from personal exerience as I am one who has moved from the willing addict to the unwilling addict and finally made the decision to quit and so far so good.

Therefore I think it is important in as we move ahead in our recovery to ask ourselves the question "what kind of addict am I ?'

this kind of questioning may indicate to us why we continue to smoke and help us decide the best method or reasons for giving it up.

The book by the way is "U-turn: what if you woke up one moning and realized you were living the wrong life?" by Bruce Grierson.

stay clear

rob.

[Mel]

In my opinion addiction is when you lose control over the drug. And it controls you. You crave the drug, and you center your thoughts on getting the drug, using the drug and getting more of the drug.

[Unregistered]

To me addiction is when you feel that you have to take something.

[Luke]

I think if you have to do something every day then you are addicted.

[Unregistered]

Would you say that someone who smokes everyday but only in the evenings has a problem. I mean u dont call someone who enjoys a few beers after wrk everynight an alcoholic

[Board Forum Blogger]

That is a good question and to a certain extent a bit of a subjective thing. There aren’t really set amounts of consumption, that determine you have a problem with most drugs, other than alcohol there are no recommended limits, although if you are a heavy user of any drug, that can be an indication that you have a problem. I think it’s more of the case of rather than you control it, it controls you, if you feel you have to do it and can’t go without doing so, then you probably have an addiction, especially if you have to do it every day.

So in answer to your question if somebody has to have a “few” drinks a day, then they may well be addicted, just like if they have to have a few joints a day, they may well be addicted too. So maybe there are lots of people in society that are also addicted to various things, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, gambling, etc. But that does not make you any less addicted to what your addicted to.

The above test is probably a pretty good measure to go by, as if you leave it up to your own subjective judgement, it’s a well known fact that people who are addicted to something, whatever the addiction are often in denial and able to convince themselves that they are not.

Allot of people smoke marijuana every day and don’t even consider that they could be addicted, because they don’t think it’s even possible to be addicted to marijuana in the first place . But if you behaved that way with anything else, whether it was with a drug or a behaviour like gambling, it’s still recognised that you can have an addiction. Why is marijuana any different? Whether you believe it’s physical, psychological or whatever, an addiction is still an addiction.

The other thing to remember is whether you are addicted or not to any drug, doesn’t mean that your taking of that drug does you any less harm.

If you are certain you are not addicted to marijuana, try going without it for a couple of months and see how you do, if you are not addicted then you will not find it a problem.

[Unregistered]

Regardless of whether you pass or fail whoever’s test, if you can’t go a couple of months without it then you are addicted.

[Unregistered]

i got 7 out of 7

[Unregistered]

Would you say that someone who smokes everyday but only in the evenings has a problem. I mean u dont call someone who enjoys a few beers after wrk everynight an alcoholic

actualy yea, they would be an alcoholic.