Marijuana is absolutely physically addictive as much as people want to say it isnt.

I mean it scientifically isn't though. Physical addictions don't just give you psychological withdrawals, they are physical. Your body becomes dependent on them to maintain homeostasis.

Cold turkeying drugs like opioids and benzos can kill you.

Dude those “withdrawal symptoms” are a joke compared to any other drug.

That said, I don’t know a single person who identifies as a stoner that isn’t completely and utterly mentally addicted. And the drug is so subtle, stoners rarely try to stop.

Cocaine, even a 2 day bender is incredibly hard on your body. If you’re a person with any kind of responsibilities in your life, you’ll be strongly incentivized to reconsider the habit in no time.

But weed, it’s meh. Most users can restrict their use to when they’re not at work, so it’s fine.

Which makes it more dangerous.

I’ve watched so many promising futures flushed down the toilet by weed. Motivation? gone. Real hobbies? Indoors in front of a screen only. At its worst, I’ve seen friends totally withdraw from socializing almost entirely. Social anxiety combined with the escape of being high was enough to dampen and deny the very real human need to connect with others.

Every single one of these individuals went through some form of depression that was was extended and exacerbated by escapism and addiction in the form of excessive marijuana usage.

I know that’s not everyone. There are people who use it in a healthy, balanced way.

But there are also a ton of people who get heavily addicted because it dampens the pain of something they’re going through. And that pattern can make it a lot harder to make progress and work through whatever that person is dealing with.

Anyone who’s spent any time around stoners knows this is true. And yeah, for a lot of people, it’s a gateway drug. I’ve seen plenty of buddies in college jump from weed to xans to oxy. It’s ruined lives. It made my best friend drop out.

And yeah, these people clearly already had issues. But that’s how drug addiction works. It preys on people who are going through something and it makes a bad situation way worse.

Weed can do the exact same thing. Doesn’t matter if it’s not physically addicting.

I was hopelessly addicted to cigarettes. It took torturous willpower to quit.

I can smoke weed now and then and never crave it.

But sure, my experience is anecdotal.

I've gone from every day smoking to nothing multiple times. Never had trouble getting to sleep. But I did have wildy fucked up and vivid dreams.

I have no idea what the meaning behind that is. But if my only withdraw symptoms are "vivid dreams", is it really that bad? In the grand scheme of drug withdrawals, that's super mild.

I think it varies from person to person. I use it sometimes and will stop for months at a time. The main reason I use it is to help me sleep, and it's definitely not stopping weed that makes me not sleep since I had those sleep problems for years already while not using weed. Before it was legalized I only ever smoked at parties and had zero desire to go out of my way to find a dealer so I'd only use it very rarely and sometimes went years between using. Once it was legalized I started using lightly only for sleep and stress relief. Before I took sleeping pills instead but prefer weed because it doesn't make me as drowsy in the morning. I think it's a non statement to say that stopping weed makes it harder to fall asleep when one of its effects is making it easier to sleep. If the status quo is not falling asleep as well, stopping a sleep aid will of course return you to the status quo

Good point

You forgot the nausea/lack of appetite.