Marijuana, Alcohol Addiction May Share Genes

[usregimechange]

FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- The genes that make people susceptible to alcoholism also make them prone to becoming addicted to marijuana, a new study suggests.

Researchers interviewed almost 6,300 men and women aged 24 to 36, including almost 2,800 sets of twins who were part of the Australian Twin Registry, about their use of alcohol and marijuana over their lifetime.

Twins are valuable to researchers in determining the role of genetics in various diseases or conditions because identical twins share 100 percent of their genes, while fraternal twins share 50 percent of their genes, the same as other siblings.

About 60 percent of the likelihood of becoming a heavy drinker, a frequent marijuana user or of becoming dependent on marijuana can be attributed to genes, according to the study, while about half of the likelihood of being an alcoholic can be traced to genetics.

"We know there is a high likelihood of alcohol addiction-related problems among people who smoke marijuana heavily and vice versa," said study author Carolyn E. Sartor, a research instructor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "What we found is that some of the same genetic influences that impact alcohol use and dependent symptoms also impact marijuana use and dependent symptoms."

Still, that means between 40 percent and 50 percent of the cause of alcohol or marijuana dependence may be due to environmental influences. Despite a genetic tendency, no one is predestined to abuse either substance, Sartor noted.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_93192.html

[maxsolomon]

1. durrrr....

some folks like those receptors stimulated more than others...

[mike_c]

2. define "addicted to marijuana...."

I don't care what anyone says about "heavy use."

[usregimechange]

3. Meeting 3 or more of the 7 criteria for substance dependence

[ixion]

4. being that marijuana is NOT addictive

that would be pretty tough.

[usregimechange]

6. Humm, wonder why the DSM-TR has cannabis dependence in it

Want a picture and page number?

[ixion]

8. it is not physically addictive

there is psychological addiction, but that is not the same thing.

So page number is not necessary. Thanks.

[usregimechange]

9. It is not as physically addictive as other substances but it certainly can be

[ixion]

10. No. It is not physically addictive. Period.

no more than, say, chocolate.

[usregimechange]

11. According to who?

"There are some signs of physical dependence or withdrawal in heavy users, and withdrawal has been demonstrated in studies on animals. But what matters much more is that every year more than 100,000 people, most of them adolescents, seek treatment for their inability to control their marijuana use. They suffer from compulsive, uncontrollable marijuana craving, seeking and use. That, makes it addicting, certainly for a large number of people." -NIH

"By the twenty-first century, the answers to these questions are clear. Tolerance does develop to THC (the active chemical in marijuana). Moreover, withdrawal definitely occurs in some users." -University of Wisconsin

[ixion]

12. according to millions of pot smokers

who don't suffer physical withdrawal when they don't have pot.

The statement above is specious, in my opinion. In the first place, it uses teens as a control group. It also mentions compulsion. I would be willing to bet if you dug a bit deeper into those cases you would find an obsessive-compulsive disorder of some sort. It's just very convenient for them to blame it on the pot, especially if mom and dad find out.

Secondly, to make the blanket statement that marijuana is physically addictive because "some users" suffer minor withdrawal symptoms is intellectually dishonest, and smacks of bad science.

Alcohol, Opiates, Caffeine, Nicotine are all physically addictive. Not in "some" people, but in anyone who would use the drug for an extended period of time. Some people can control it better than others, but the bottom line is that the physical withdrawal is a constant, not an anomaly.

[usregimechange]

13. Pot smokers without addictions are authorities on pot smokers with addictions?

:shrug:

[ixion]

14. to some effect

it's a sub-culture, and there is a common-shared knowledge, and ubiquitous commiseration. :)

But really, though, if it were a problem then there would be as many documented cases of physical withdrawal (not self-induced or psycho-somatic, but real withdrawal) as there is for alcohol and nicotine. They've all been around for thousands of years, and the effects are well-known.

You can suffer minor withdrawal symptoms over anything. Television, food, sex and on and on. Minor withdrawal symptoms do not constitute an addiction problem comparable to alcohol or nicotine, both of which have actual, real withdrawal symptoms that can debilitate the person going through withdrawal. It's just not the same.

[usregimechange]

15. It isn't the same but cannabis dependence doesn't need to be minimized

I have worked with people who lost their children or neglected them because they struggled to stop.

[ixion]

19. I understand why you're concerned

but in these cases you should look for deeper psychological issues. The marijuana is only a prop masking a deeper issue.

Certainly, there will be people who report trouble with it, just like TV or Video Games or anything else. The problem is that at the moment there are people who would take things like this and use it to continue the so-called 'war' on drugs, which has caused far more destruction and destroyed more families than pot ever has.

I think were it to be legalized and regulated, that issues related to psychological addiction would be easier to discuss and treat.

[usregimechange]

20. Fair enough but there are very often psychological factors relative to crack addiction

I agree with you about the war on drugs but if your family gets ripped a part by the police I wouldn't just blame it. You made the decision to put your freedom and time with your family at risk by using a substance that is illegal. I would agree to moving cannabis off schedule 1 classification and medicalization when scientifically appropriate but blaming the system for behavior the individual willingly engages in says more about the individual than the system.

[ixion]

22. "blaming the system for behavior the individual...

willingly engages in says more about the individual than the system."

We agree that the problem is with the individual, in some cases. I mean, over the years I've met people who had a problem with it, but that problem was related to other issues with the individual, not the drug.

And the System. Well, the System. The System is designed to destroy anything it touches, in my opinion, and is gamed to the hilt by people with their own agenda. I'm going to empathize more with the individual in that case. :)

[usregimechange]

23. Where psych issues dominate the drug is always a symptom not a cause

That does not mean that such a mechanism of escape is effective or wise. I think your view of the system is highly negative. That the system was designed to destroy. I can think of a few sources for that negativity, one where you have negative experiences with the system because of choices you have made.

[ixion]

24. not from choices I've made

from witnessing it's destruction of others. ;)

Admittedly, my opinion is negative. Were something to change and I was witness to a system of compassion, I would be happy to change my opinion.

[Indenturedebtor]

17. It's no more addictive than masturbation

or anything that stimulates our brains in pleasant ways. If there was no pot around, pot-heads would likely be huffing paint or playing video-games 50 hours a week.

This study seems to me to just be reinforcing the idea of low-activation/high-activation.

[Warpy]

18. No, there are no physical symptoms on stopping it suddenly

even after years of heavy use.

What the drug hysterics are calling "physical symptoms" are simply the anxiety reaction caused by withdrawing any coping mechanism. Don't believe me? Watch a two year old when you wash his blankie.

[westerebus]

25. The only reason we smoked pot was because they washed our blankie.

I wonder how much funding you can get for that study? :evilgrin:

[JDPriestly]

5. Now, the people they should study from this point forward

are the people who don't get addicted to these things. Once they start studying non-addicts more and addicts less, they can identify whatever it is that makes a person resistant to these sorts of addictions. I'll volunteer for that study.

[usregimechange]

7. Good point...

[d_r]

16. people are different

I've known some people who the first thing they say in the morning is "how/where am I going to get a bag today."

I've known people that smoke cigarettes for the heck of it and never had a problem quitting.

Same thing with alcohol, some people can get addicted some don't.

Personally, I can take or leave pot or alcohol or chocolate or coffee. I haven't smoked cigarettes in years but I would still love one right now, but I wouldn't be able to stop smoking them. I can't snort coke.

Some people get addicted to some things and some don't.

[usregimechange]

21. Agreed, people are different

[Fumesucker]

27. I know people who the first thing they do in the morning is turn on the television..

I know people who the first thing they do in the morning is log onto the internet.

I know people who the first thing they do in the morning is jump in the shower.

I don't think even you can argue that any of those behaviors involves something that is physically addictive.

[Name removed]

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