Marijuana

I am so sick of potheads saying that marijuana is not addictive. Wake up treehuggers! That is just something that you tell yourself so you don't have to face the fact that you are addicted to the shit. It makes you sound in control: "I can smoke it whenever I want. I can quit whenever I want. I don't need it. I just like it." I'm not claiming that there is research that shows that pot is physically addictive. I'm not claiming to know how it biologically works in someone's body. I am saying that I know people, friends, family, students who cannot (or they say "choose" not) to go a day without smoking it. Oh, but it's not because they are addicted...no....it is because they just want it. I can meet them in the middle and consider that it may not be physcially/bodily addictive, but it sure as hell can be emotionally, psycologically, and metally so. They are addicted to the way it makes them feel as if they don't have a care in the world, how it makes all food taste like the best thing they've ever eaten, how it rids them of responsibility and thought, how it eases the pain of trauma. And who can blame them for being addicted to something this wonderful? I'd love to be able to wash away my fears, baggage, and shit by inhaling some magic smoke.
And it IS as harmful as alcohol. Here is why I believe so: a student of mine had a beautiful 8 week old baby boy. She came home from working all day at the hospital as a nurse, fed and bathed her baby, and laid him down to sleep. Then she crashed asleep in her own bedroom. A few hours later, her high-as-hell boyfriend came running in to her room shaking her awake screaming through a smoke haze, "he's dead! he's dead!" My student ran out into the living room to find her precious boy smothered to death because her boyfriend had passed out on top of him. He was so high that he just couldn't keep his eyes opened and laid down on the couch, forgetting that he had just laid his son there.
I'm not demonizing the use of marijuana....hell, sometimes I crave a toke. I'm just saying, stop kidding yourself if you believe it is not addictive and is harmless.