The various proponents of marijuana legalization or use in medical treatment might have you believe that marijuana is a natural and harmless substance. This is promoted despite the fact that millions of families across the nation know all too well how negatively life changing marijuana addiction can be. ?It got to where I didn't even know him any more?, states Elisa wife of a chronic marijuana addict. ?He just wanted to sit around and smoke pot all day and didn't help with the family, our income, our kids or anything else?.



In sheer numbers, marijuana users beat out any other drug users. In 2006, nearly 15 million Americans 12 and older used the drug in the past month. For comparison, abusers of prescription drugs numbered 7 million and 2.4 million were cocaine users. The magnitude of use of this drug is astounding and so are the dollars the sales of this drug represent. This may be one reason for extreme legalization efforts since the income potential for selling marijuana is competitive with most of the strongest pharmaceutical lines on the market.

But the most dangerous change occurred in the potency of the marijuana being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, Canada or other foreign countries. Potency of pot seized in 1980 averaged less than 2 percent THC, marijuana's intoxicating ingredient. By 2007, the average potency had increased to almost ten percent, with some samples testing as high as 13 to 33 percent. And as to the effects of THC, a study of cannabis users executed in Spain in 2002 suggested that the heavy use of cannabis can induce a psychotic disorder that includes depression, hallucinations and depersonalization as symptoms.

What makes marijuana additionally dangerous is that so many young people see no harm in using the drug, an attitude that can easily lead to chronic use or dependence. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration stated that in 2006, more than 4 million Americans aged 12 and older fit the criteria for dependence or abuse of the drug, which means that these individuals continued to use the drug despite personal, mental or social harm.

Facts on the effects of marijuana must be carefully evaluated by anyone who has someone close to them who is a heavy or chronic marijuana user. One for one, those who love the person addicted long to have the person they used to know back again. Often this nightmare starts early in life and left untreated carries on for years. Since so many people start using marijuana at such a young age, we could be losing our best minds to a marijuana addiction, rather than grooming our children for good careers and productive, enjoyable lives.

To recover form a marijuana dependency or addiction, they must first eliminate their cravings for the drug. Flushing the residual by-products of the drug that remains in the fatty tissues is an effective method of reducing or even getting rid of cravings. The best rehab programs available throughout the U.S. will successfully address this and many other issues that previously represented enslavement to the person addicted.