Life experience has provided enough insight to acknowledge the fact that marijuana addiction is a serious problem that our society needs to take attention towards for action and improvement. According the Miller ET (al). (1989), “The definition of marijuana (Cannabis) dependence (addiction) contains three critical elements, which are (a) preoccupation with the acquisition of marijuana, (b) compulsive use of marijuana, (c) relapse to or recurrent use of the marijuana” (p. 183).When someone is addicted to marijuana they may put marijuana before other life priorities, and therefore face many consequences in the process. Marijuana dependency has been steadily increasing over the years, so social workers need to understand the severity of marijuana
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Different research has shown alternative theories that can challenge the gateway effect theory. Morral, McCaffrey, and Paddock (2002) argue these associations could instead be explained as the result of a common factor—drug use propensity—influencing the probability of both marijuana and other drug use. This research helps show that if someone was open to marijuana use, then chances are that they were already open to other drug use. Even though this research suggests that marijuana isn’t necessarily a gateway drug, I believe that if an individual is subjected to marijuana and views it as harmless, then that individual could start to view other substances as harmless and that association can be attributed towards the gateway …show more content…
It’s hard finding the proper way to help address and addiction once it occurs, but withdrawal symptoms are commonly used to access and treat marijuana addiction. According to Budney ET (al). (1999), “Since withdrawal symptoms are frequently a target for clinical intervention with other substances of abuse, this may also be appropriate for marijuana (p. 1322). Research done by Budney has provided that possible withdrawal symptoms that can be targeted for treatment, so the best way to prevent further harm is by treating the withdrawal symptoms in order to prevent relapse when a client is trying to break away from the addiction. Sometimes treatments based on symptoms aim to treat the specific symptom, when many times it’s much more than simply trying to fix specific
Different research has shown alternative theories that can challenge the gateway effect theory. Morral, McCaffrey, and Paddock (2002) argue these associations could instead be explained as the result of a common factor—drug use propensity—influencing the probability of both marijuana and other drug use. This research helps show that if someone was open to marijuana use, then chances are that they were already open to other drug use. Even though this research suggests that marijuana isn’t necessarily a gateway drug, I believe that if an individual is subjected to marijuana and views it as harmless, then that individual could start to view other substances as harmless and that association can be attributed towards the gateway …show more content…
It’s hard finding the proper way to help address and addiction once it occurs, but withdrawal symptoms are commonly used to access and treat marijuana addiction. According to Budney ET (al). (1999), “Since withdrawal symptoms are frequently a target for clinical intervention with other substances of abuse, this may also be appropriate for marijuana (p. 1322). Research done by Budney has provided that possible withdrawal symptoms that can be targeted for treatment, so the best way to prevent further harm is by treating the withdrawal symptoms in order to prevent relapse when a client is trying to break away from the addiction. Sometimes treatments based on symptoms aim to treat the specific symptom, when many times it’s much more than simply trying to fix specific