The woman's story sounds more like a mental problem than drug addiction. She is the one who chose to stay in doors and hide. Funny how she managed to go to work every day while struggling with "Marijuana Addiction." Part of the story sounds like the old time drug war propaganda.

There was a time when The New York Times was considered to be a relibable news source.

You guys are so far gone that you don't believe anyone could possibly have a problem with marijuana. How come the woman's problem stopped once she stopped marijuana?

So the New York times, is indeed full of lies?

I guess, since no one buys it anymore, they decided to just put a bunch of made up stupidity into it...

"You guys are so far gone that you don't believe anyone could possibly have a problem with marijuana. How come the woman's problem stopped once she stopped marijuana?"

If Marijuana did this, there would be a lot more than just her. There are things such as personal problems, mental problems, physical problems, emotional problems, ect. that can all play a large roll in a persons demise. I'm sure she was also drinking water, maybe that's what made her hide inside? Sounds pretty stupid to suggest that everyone's actions are to be blamed on something other than the person themselves. I use and know many people that do as well, and we don't hide in our rooms, so to answer your question, no were not too far gone, but the girl in the story seems to be, and remember, when a person does hard drugs and then quits, there can still be long lasting effects to their minds and bodies, so a history of other drug use can play a part in her problems as well. I hope the best for her.

Besides, what basis would this have on legalization? Doesn't Alcohol cause all kinds of problems for those who abuse it? Sam thing with fast food, its not the commodity, its the persons ability to live responsibly, after all, we cant protect the irresponsible by making anything with abuse potential illegal, because that's not fair to the responsible people who make good choices.

Time to Legalize what should have never been illegal in the first place!

"If Marijuana did this, there would be a lot more than just her. There are things such as personal problems, mental problems, physical problems, emotional problems, ect. that can all play a large roll in a persons demise. "

This is one big factor that people dont talk about. Why do these ppl take marijuana? I believe that a lot of people have undiagnosed health problems. I for one can atest to this. For years I had undiagnosed Chron's disease and an anxiety disorder. I used to wonder why i would have to be high to go to the grocery store or ride the ciy bus. I was having uncontrolable anxiety w/ panic attacks. Then i started to feel nauseous when i woke up in the morning. I had to smoke cannabis to releive my symptoms and trigger my appitite. MARIJUANA SAVED MY LIFE!!!!

Re: "How come the woman's problem stopped once she stopped marijuana?"

"reality check's" argument is based on the logical fallacy known as Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, or correlation not causation.

Perhaps her problem of staying indoors had more to do with the legal status of cannabis than it's effects. Far gone, indeed.

I've been a member of AA for years and in my experience the people who are headed for relapse (for whatever reason) don't pick up a bottle first, they pick up a joint. Maybe the stigma of an alcoholic relapse prevents the drinking at first but once the marijuana line has been crossed drinking soon follows. I smoked for many years and loved it. I felt it made me a more creative person and it was fun. At the end though it wasn't fun at all, it was isolating. My old friend marijuana turned on me.

Some of the NYTimes posters seemed to qualify to me. Cannabis was causing a problem in their life, and they weren't able to stop using when they tried to, often repeatedly. I read a lot of the replies to this article, the replies were very overwhelmingly pro-marijuana legalization. I found 2 things interesting about the small, but not tiny, number of people who expressed serious regret about their cannabis use. First, even in this group who felt they have or have had a marijuana problem, none that I read mentioned anything about their cannabis use causing violence or child abuse. And most of that group of regretful users still supported cannabis legalization.

If prohibitionists like the NYTimes (so glad they're losing money!) want to discuss addiction that's fine, they should start by comparing the damage done by heavy cannabis users to that done by heavy alcohol users. Why not focus anti-drug efforts on drugs that cause catastrophes? If you're cool with alcohol being legal, it's bullshit for you to get freaked out by cannabis.
-newageblues

reading the nyt scared her into staying inside

I mean, seriously, people *can* get addicted to anything, pscyhologically. Even sugar. Which is actually fairly common, apparently. Or sex. We don't make sugar or sex illegal.

Lots of people get addicted to alcohol -- and it makes people violent. We tried making that illegal, and it was a disaster.

The second most physically addictive drug ever disocovered, as well as one of the most psychologically addictive, is nicotine. It's still legal. It's even legal to dump it into the public air, which actually shouldn't be legal (secondhand smoke is not voluntary).

The New York Times continues to print horror stories about pot even when the country is clearly changing it's view. Is it possible that none of the reporters smoked pot in college. Are the NYT reporters so out of touch that they don't know that pot is not really a dangerous drug. How can people take them seriously when they continue to print this kind of bull... It's no wonder they are losing money.

I don't think pot should be illegal or people should be put into jail or any access should be limitied to it, but c'mon people have problems such as depression or anxiety and then they may use something like marijuana to cope and it becomes a viscious cycle making things work and then using marijuana again.

There are responsible ways to smoke marijuana and to remain balanced and a contributing happy member of society, but some people have a addictive personalites or they use pot as a way to cope with anxiety or depression or whatever, this is where marijuana starts effecting people badly, people can lose all motivation with the amount they are smoking there anxiety can get worse and only be soothed by pot which after it wears off makes it worse so they smoke more.

I'm all for the legalization of pot and growing hemp, but i think that this sort of perspective that a drug that is as powerful as pot has no dangers whatsoever is really hurting the cause. As we fight to make it legal we should also educated people on proper use or else there will be those that use it that make pot look bad.

If we want to move forward with drug policy, the advocates need to do it responsibly.