- Is marijuana addictive?
Can you develop a marijuana addiction?
You may or may not like what I have to say about this,
but stay tuned, because I'm about to teach you
a little bit about addiction.
- Get some...
Sour cream and onion chips
with some dip, man.
Some beef jerky, some peanut butter,
get some Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars,
a whole lotta, make sure chocolate,
gotta have chocolate, man!
- What's up, everybody?
This is Chris from The Rewired Soul,
where we talk about the problem,
but focus on the solution.
And I decided to make this video about marijuana addiction
and if marijuana is addictive
because I get this question constantly
from my clients at my rehab center as well as people online
just asking me about this.
The first thing that we need to talk about
is the definition of addiction.
So as I continue this video,
keep this definition locked in your brain.
The definition of addiction, short and sweet,
is any repeated action
despite negative consequences.
That's literally all you need to remember.
So let's just take a look real quick.
Let's look at gambling addiction, sex addiction,
food addiction, porn addiction.
Any of these actions
where we're having negative consequences.
For example, if you have a gambling addiction,
you might not be able to pay your bills.
If you have a sex addiction, you might not be able
to stay faithful to your spouse,
to your significant other.
If you have an eating addiction,
you might have a weight problem
or you might cause a lot of health issues.
It is any type of action we continue doing
despite the consequences that are going on around us.
So yes, in fact, marijuana is extremely addictive.
I won't use the word "extremely"
because there are more addictive substances,
but when you understand how our brain works
and the way it's wired,
you can realize how just about anything you do
can become addictive, especially
if you are genetically predisposed
to the disease of addiction.
Our brain works in this loop,
based on a trigger, a behavior and a reward.
Any time we have a specific trigger
and we do a specific behavior
that gives us a reward, it lays down a memory
and then our brain tells us to do that again
whenever that specific trigger comes up.
So if you smoke weed every single time you get stressed out
and that's the most common reason why people smoke weed,
then every time you get stressed,
you're going to wanna smoke marijuana.
And what happens is is that you get these cravings
and if you don't smoke, you start to experience
a little bit of marijuana withdrawal.
And it's not a physical withdrawal,
so I want you to erase that from your head,
that you need a physical withdrawal.
Most withdrawal symptoms are completely psychological.
It's that brain's pull towards any type of substance
or action.
The best example I can give you
is one of my friends who smokes pot.
So this friend knew he had a drug test
coming up at his job, his career.
It was a great job, a good-paying job.
He knew his drug test was coming up.
He knew months in advance.
But he couldn't stop himself
from smoking weed before that drug test.
Guess what?
He tested positive and then he got fired.
So that was a negative consequence.
Now my buddy keeps telling me how depressed he is
because he can't find a job.
And the weird part about that is,
which isn't so weird,
is that he was getting job offers,
but when they would drug test him,
he would test positive for marijuana.
This went on for months.
And if you know about marijuana
and how it stays in your system
and places that drug test with a urinalysis,
typically weed stays in your system for about 30 days.
So the fact that this went on for months
and he wasn't able to get a job
because he couldn't stop smoking pot,
these are more negative consequences
as a result of that action.
So he eventually found a job, this job happened
to not drug test him.
But I hope this is putting this into perspective for you.
Now I wanna make very clear
that I have nothing against pot.
Hell, I have nothing against alcohol
or prescription narcotics.
I have nothing against any of those substances,
because a lot of people can use them
and not become an addict.
But we have to talk science and we have to talk facts
because these types of questions or opinions
and when I say "opinions", I mean anything
not based on science, people start going down
a slippery slope and next thing you know,
their life is becoming unmanageable again.
I have seen countless people stop doing heroine,
stop doing meth, stop drinking,
but then their life never gets better
because they start smoking weed instead.
So I personally don't have anything against weed.
If you watched my other video about marijuana,
I actually voted for the legalization of it
here in Nevada, so I have nothing against it.
But I just wanted to answer this very common question
for all of you out there.
So, question of the day:
Do you think marijuana is addictive
and have you experienced it yourself
or do you know anybody who has shown
signs of a marijuana addiction?
If so, leave your comments down below
in the tagged post and if you're new here,
make sure you click right below this little box,
the little round Subscribe button.
I'm always doing videos about addiction,
about mental health, mental illness,
anything I can help you out with
that'll help you up here.
So thanks for watching, I'll see you next time.