Drug Treatment Specialists on Cannabis Law: Don’t Imprison, Make Us Rich

With medical marijuana gaining steam in Florida, the discussion of marijuana laws has become more widespread in the state. Many people (including us at Weedist, of course) believe that marijuana should not land a person in jail or limit their educational and employment opportunities. While for us at Weedist this means working toward full global legalization of the cannabis plant and it’s cannabinoids, there is an entire profession that wants to simply decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis. This profession is the drug treatment industry.

Drug treatment specialists are fighting to decriminalize small amounts, dropping the jail time and criminal record in exchange for treatment. But they absolutely oppose legalization, even though they themselves recognize that most marijuana users suffer little or no harm from the drug. The goal is, when someone is busted for minor possession, they get a new (court ordered) client.

“If they’re caught, there should be some substance abuse assessment done, and then they should be referred to whatever treatment is required.” -Gwen Love, prevention service coordinator at CDS family and behavioral health services, Gainesville, FL.

“I am personally for decriminalization of marijuana because of the harm criminalization does to families, I believe a person should be referred to a diversionary program instead.” – Watson Louidor, substance abuse counselor at Creative Counseling Services of Gainesville.

We at Weedist have already spoken out against the theory of marijuana addiction, but if you look closely at the claims of these drug treatment facilities it is incredibly clear that they may as well be treating people for addictions to things like watching football, playing mini golf, hiking or anything else an individual might spend a good deal of time on. Drug-rehabs.com claims that 10% of marijuana users become addicted to marijuana, and they even have a convenient little test to see whether or not you are addicted:

Are You Addicted to Marijuana?

According to the APA, people who meet 3 or more of the following characteristics meet the medical criteria for marijuana addiction.

The following addiction criteria are based on those from the DSM-IV Manual of the APA.

1. Do you have a marijuana tolerance? Do you need a greater amount to get high than you needed when first using?
2. When you stop using marijuana do you feel withdrawal symptoms? Or, do you take another substance (alcohol, cocaine, opiates, etc.) to keep from feeling marijuana withdrawal symptoms?
3. Do you often smoke more marijuana in a session or day than you planned on?
4. Do you often feel like you need to cut back on your use? Or, do you sometimes try to moderate your use (or quit using) and fail?
5. Does your marijuana habit take up a lot of time, whether it is time spent using, recovering from use, trying to score or getting money to score?
6. Has your use of marijuana caused you to quit or reduce your involvement in any work, recreational or social activity that used to be important to you?
7. Do you keep smoking even after realizing that your use of marijuana harms you mentally, psychologically or physically?

Notice that you need to answer yes to 3 of these items to be an addict, and they just happened to slip in exactly 3 that are virtually meaningless. So, if you have a tolerance, occasionally smoke a bowl you didn’t schedule in your calendar and ‘spend a lot of time’ high, the American Psychology Association considers you a marijuana addict, and would love to be able to force you into a meaningless treatment program at your own expense.