Don't you think that you're confusing depression/withdrawal with "I can't think of anything positive to do now that I'm NOT high"? I've cold turkey'd cannabis periodically to ensure its non-addictiveness and not once have I ever had a symptom you described. And not once has anybody I know had your experience. In fact, the ONLY withdrawal issues I have ever witness is not really a withdrawal issue. It's a "hey, I had this issue before I started smoking and now it's back" kind of thing. Anger is a good example. I'll admit that maybe your body makeup has this reaction to quitting, but dude, in all my years I have never seen ANYBODY having withdrawals from cannabis as you describe. As far as the legalization of it, I don't care how they do it, but I should be able to enjoy an after dinner dube without worrying about the law.
Oh yeah... tobacco is taxed so heavily in CA that it might as well be illegal. I went into a store the other day, and they were selling cigs for $10 a pack!
I am advocating for a more intelligent policy than prohibition, which is the absolute worst way to deal with intoxicants. With prohibition, criminals and thugs run the market instead of legitimate businesspeople and the government. As such, disputes are settled by gangs with guns instead of the boys in blue, people do not get a known quantity of a known purity, kids have ready access to some of the most dangerous substances they could possibly ingest, and minorities bear the brunt of enforcement efforts. All of these things are a direct result of prohibition and easily answer your question of "why." We need to regulate it because prohibition takes a "bad thing" and makes it far, FAR worse than it would be in a regulated market.
The people I know who smoked as much as I did had withdrawal symptoms. We were not people who smoked an after-dinner dube every now and then. I was high 24 hours a day for three years. Withdrawal is a pain. Now, if you smoke occasionally... like a joint after work... then I think its probably OK, and you wont suffer any withdrawal.
Alcohol withdrawal can kill you and nicotine is as difficult to quit as heroin. Just the fact that dependence can occur is a poor reason to support prohibition.
Moderation is the key. Most people who smoke do not smoke that much high quality pot. Besides, there is a logical fallacy in advocating prohibition because of the limited dependence that mar1juana causes.
Chi, how do you know if you weren't clinically depressed before and your mar1juana use was just a pallative that you ceased to use? I've known mar1juana users for 40 years now and I've never heard anyone say they had withdrawals. And in the old days there were times when you just couldn't find any. King Cheetah's story sounds like the Dragnet episode where the Mary Jane hipsters let the baby drown.
I knew this would come up. I've been smoking grass since 69 and smoked it to every conceivable degree from 24/7 highs to the after dinner social dube. And still I maintain it's a mental issue, not physical.
Because I wasn't depressed before I started smoking, and I'm not depressed now that I've stopped. I was only depressed during that one-month of withdrawal. You guys make great points about keeping things in moderation. If used in moderation, I think mar1juana is fine. I do think its ripe for abuse though, because people think its harmless.
Believe it or not, withdrawal is a real issue for heavy users. Most people probably don't abuse mar1juana, so withdrawal is never an issue for them... but its real.
WTF does that mean? How are the chemicals not a physical issue? Even if you don't understand how the chemicals can be a physical issue, a mental issue is bad enough.
Everyone is different. I've had many friends, who were heavy smokers, who quit without a problem. They always said the first day or two is tough but after that, they did not have any withdrawal problems like you had. It doesn't even compare to alcohol or cigarette withdrawal. Why not make those illegal? They are even more dangerous than mar1juana even without looking at withdrawl symptoms. It all depends on the person and their personality. mar1juana may be more portent now but I guarantee you that the high grade stuff you smoke these days are 10x better and more "healthier" for you than the dirty, brown, low grade, ammonia sprayed grass. mar1juana has too many medical benefits to be illegal. If you can pop a pill to relieve anxiety or pain, why can't you smoke an joint to relieve those same symptoms?. Not only that, but hemp only can be used to create many products. Yes, we would be saving trees. So what we've learned is that mar1juana has many medical benefits, the plant itself can be used to create hundreds of textile products and our economy can greatly benefit from taxing mar1juana. Yet, its still illegal? Wow. You do realize that criminals are making a billion a year off mar1juana? Why should they continue to profit off all that money? Would it not make more sense to tax it and take all that money away from the dealers? I believe the positives of mar1juana completely over weigh the negative of an excess smoker who had bad withdrawals. Anything in excess can be bad for you. But you don't see us illegalizing cheeseburgers or banning knives because some crazy guy could use it as a weapon.
If you're going to say "don't legalize mar1juana because its addictive" I'm fairly certain you'll need to ban tobacco and alcohol first and foremost.
