Marijuana Use Disorders Affect Many Americans

Thirty-two percent of people who try tobacco, 23 percent of those who try heroin, 17 percent who try cocaine, 15 percent who try alcohol, and 9 percent who try marijuana become dependent, The New York Times reports. There is a prevailing misconception that cannabis use is safe and nonaddictive. While it is true that smoking pot isn’t associated with serious life problems or mal-health, the same way that other substances typically are, the reality is that marijuana is not benign. Those who use the drug frequently and in substantial amounts do experience consequences, are at risk of use disorders, and often require treatment to find recovery.

The truth is that despite America's new-found relationship with weed, there are risks tied to using cannabis. Legal is does not imply safe; alcohol has had a legal status since time immemorial (excluding the brief prohibition), and yet it is one of the leading causes of poor health and premature death. And marijuana, like alcohol, certainly carries the risk of addiction; the fact that the general public should be made aware of as more states consider legalization.

It is worth noting that just because a substance carries the potential for addiction, shouldn’t mean that it is worthy of prohibition. Most adults are aware of the severe damage that the “war on drugs” has wrought on the fabric of society, mainly affecting minorities and the impoverished. Since California legalized recreational marijuana use, efforts are underway to reverse some of the damage caused by prohibition. Still, moving forward people must have the facts so they can make informed decisions regarding their relationship with marijuana.

 

Marijuana Addiction

It seems like every time Americans go to the polls these days, one or more state lightens their stance of cannabis regulation. The trend we are witnessing is not inherently bad for America, but it is critical that individuals understand the potential effects habitual marijuana use can have on their life—especially young people for that matter. Legalization in California took effect this January; since that time some addiction medicine clinicians in Northern California began seeing a rise in the number of people seeking assistance, The Denver Post reports. Heavy and long-term users can develop physical dependence; and when such people attempt to abstain on their own, withdrawal symptoms can include:

• Chills
• Sweats
• Cravings
• Insomnia
• Loss of Appetite
• Nausea
• Anxiety
• Irritability

“There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction,” avid Smith tells the Denver Post, he is a physician who has been treating addiction since the 1960s. “We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people.”

Smith’s theorizes that the marijuana users today are treated to a far more potent substance than in decades past, according to the article. Stronger marijuana, grown with nutrients that bolster the drugs strength and overall quality could explain increasing cannabis use disorder rates.

An estimated 2.7 million Americans are meeting the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence, according to the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow.

 

Marijuana Use Disorder Treatment

If you are struggling with marijuana use disorder, please contact Celebrate Hope at Hope by the Sea. We can show you what is needed for achieving lasting recovery and give you the tools for everlasting progress.

Having Fun Finding Yourself in Recovery

The stakes of addiction recovery are incredibly high; a wrong turn or wrong decisions can lead one down a path toward relapse. If you are working a program, then you know that there are not any guarantees; in order to achieve lasting recovery, you need to be ever vigilant in the pursuit of progress, not perfection. You pray, go to meetings, take care of your obligations, eat right and get plenty of rest; which are all useful practices for sustaining a program of recovery. Those who make it in the program are people who waive what they want, in service of what they need. Making progress often rests on making sacrifices, it usually depends on doing the opposite of what you feel like doing from one day to the next.

Structuring your life around a recovery routine is instrumental; at a certain point your daily movements become muscle memory, you don’t even have to think about your next right move. When you follow a set of directions long enough, the choreography of recovery becomes part of your DNA, seemingly. However, progress in your life is also dependent on balance; recovery is about far more than going to meetings, doing step work, etc. One must make a point of being a part of the world, getting out there, seeing new things and meeting new people.

Working a program asks that you don’t do anything that can jeopardize your program, but that doesn't mean you should always stay in your comfort zone. People with years of active addiction are often unfamiliar with themselves when newly sober. Many don’t know what their passions are because drugs and alcohol didn’t permit such fancies. Much of recovery is self-discovery; getting to know the person that is You. Early on in the program it is natural to be guarded, to follow every instruction to a T—which is a good thing; and yet, you may find at times that you are taking yourself too seriously; in your quest to stay on track you find yourself hesitant to do anything that involves letting loose.

 

Having Fun Finding Yourself in Recovery

One of the most significant gifts the program affords is meeting new people from many walks of life. Each of us has a unique story and experiences that we should share with each other. Some of your peers may engage in activities that are foreign to you, if they ask you to go for a bike ride or a paddle board ride consider saying yes before the alternative. Maybe you befriend an artist who invites you to an exhibit or a poetry reading, what do you have to lose by going? After all, only a brief part of your life is in the rooms of recovery; there is a lot to be learned outside.

“Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.” —Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Now that summer is upon us you can engage in activities that the winter prohibits, depending on where you live of course. Anything you can do to stay out of your head will pay off immensely in the long run. Engaging with your peers may do more to keep you clean and sober than you think. If you are doing the Work and going to meetings, then you are well within your right to get out into the world and have some fun. Explore parts unknown to you, immerse yourself in activities that force you to open your mind; doing so can result in some unexpected transformations and strengthen your resolve for long-term recovery.

Southern California Addiction Treatment

If you are struggling with alcohol or substance use disorder, please contact Celebrate Hope at Hope by the Sea. We can show what you need for achieving lasting recovery and give you the tools for everlasting progress.

Enough Fentanyl to Kill 26 Million People

Opioid use disorder is a treatable mental illness; those who undergo treatment and commit themselves to working a program of recovery can lead productive lives. While useful forms of treatment are available, many find it difficult to seek help due to the intense cravings typical of opioid addiction. Everything that public health officials can do, must be done, to encourage as many people as possible to seek addiction treatment—the risk of overdose death is notoriously high.

Many of you are probably aware that the likelihood of fentanyl exposure among heroin addicts is exceedingly high. With each year that passes, more and more people succumb to fentanyl exposure, an analgesic that is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50-80 times stronger than average batches of heroin. When people cut heroin with fentanyl, the result is a deadly cocktail. In fact, research shows that fentanyl-related deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2016.

One of the reasons fentanyl is more prevalent than ever is because cartels in Mexico can synthesize the drug with ease. Drug cartels acquire the necessary precursors from Asia and then chemists south of the border manufacture the hazardous substance. Once in powder form, the drugs is either stamped into pills disguised as highly coveted OxyContin or cut into batches of heroin to boost potency. In either case, opioid users on this side of the border have no way of knowing that the drug they are about to ingest, smoke, snort, or inject contains the presence of fentanyl.

Fentanyl is Everywhere

So just how likely is it that people will come in contact with fentanyl? Highly likely! The drug made the headline once again after a Nebraska State Trooper pulled over a truck hauling 118 pounds of the deadly substance, CNN reports. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) states that 2 milligrams of fentanyl is a lethal dose; a little math shows that there was enough fentanyl confiscated to kill roughly 26 million people.

"This year is going to be a banner year, a record year in a bad way, in overdose deaths in the United States," said Matthew Barden, an associate special agent with the ‎DEA.

Naloxone is a drug that can reverse the deadly symptoms of an overdose; unfortunately, fentanyl is so potent that it often doesn’t work and people die. When a fentanyl overdose is reversed, first responders often have to give victims multiple doses of the drug. Pharmacies sell naloxone under the name Narcan. Fentanyl is only going to be more prevalent in the coming years. Anyone caught in the destructive cycle of opioid use disorder should seek help immediately and begin working a program of addiction recovery.

 

Southern California Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Celebrate Hope at Hope By The Sea can assist anyone struggling with an opioid use disorder. We can help you end the cycle of addiction, please contact us today.