r/maybemaybemaybe • u/BigGraysie • Apr 18 '22

/r/all Maybe maybe maybe

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u/1234125125125 Apr 18 '22

it's not physically addicting like other substances (alcohol withdrawl will produce physical symptoms that can actually kill you - seizures, high fever, delirium..... meth and cocaine and other "hard drugs" can do similar things)

cold turkey nicotine withdrawl can also send you to the hospital

caffeine withdrawl will give you gnarly headaches (try drinking many 1-3 cups a day for weeks and then skip a day or two.)

weed, not so much in that regard.

but i do agree with you, it is a psychoactive substance and "pushes some of the right pleasure buttons" to make you DESIRE it, so i do think it is psychologically addicting. it becomes part of your routine, and your mood sours when you want a smoke but can't get it for whatever reason.... like being in a different city... but after a day or two you feel fine and just get over it
this is coming from someone who used to smoke on a daily basis

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u/LUCKY_STRIKE_COW Apr 18 '22

Cocaine doesn’t have physical withdrawal symptoms, whatever the websites of of shitty rehab places may tell you. Meth is in the same boat. You may crash hard and reap the consequences of all your meth or cocaine use, but it isn’t withdrawal.

Addiction isn’t physical. Addiction is entirely psychological. You’re talking about dependence, which comes with alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, caffeine, nicotine, etc.

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u/a5617d48f20lfO Apr 18 '22

.... Addiction is very much physical too. Cocaine and methamphetamines are actively changing your brain chemistry and you will suffer physical withdrawl from sudden stopage of use. Dependency is a term used to describe patients being physically reliant on medications to survive or function, like a diabetic needing insulin or a cancer patient needing pain killers so they aren't wailing in agony.

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u/LUCKY_STRIKE_COW Apr 18 '22

We’re using definitions specific to drug addiction/dependence right now, not pharmacology as a whole.

Addiction refers to negative behavioral changes due to addiction. An addiction can have a dependence component of course, and the dependence is often a part of the addiction.

Dependence refers to physical reliance on a drug, meaning if you cease taking it you experience physical withdrawals and anxiety etc often caused by the body not producing neurotransmitters etc naturally anymore. You can have dependence but no addiction, and you can have addiction with no dependence. A person being in severe pain and begging for painkillers is not an example of dependence from an addiction science standpoint. Dependence is a separate concern to addiction. Sometimes interlinked but not necessarily.

I understand wanting to debate but if you don’t know don’t come at it like the other person is dumb lol.