Quitting marijuana afterchronic use often leads to withdrawal symptoms similar to those suffered by cigarette smokers who give up the butts, says a new Johns Hopkins study.
The symptoms include irritability, anger and trouble sleeping, researchers at Hopkins? School of Medicine found.
The study belies the commonly held belief that pot is a safer, less-addictive substance than tobacco or alcohol.
“These results indicate that some marijuana users experience withdrawal effects when they try to quit and that these effects should be considered by clinicians treating people with problems related to heavy marijuana use,” said Ryan Vandrey, the lead researcher for the study, published in the January edition of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Vandrey defined heavy use as smoking marijuana 25 or more days a month and 10 tobacco cigarettes a day.
The study followed a dozen patients from the University of Vermont in Burlington and Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States. More than 94 million Americans ages 12 and older have tried marijuana, the federal government says.
Treatment admissions related mainly to marijuana use have more than doubled since the early 1990s, now ranking on par with cocaine and heroin nationwide, experts say.
“Its always been the unspoken rule that nobody really wants to admit how serious and dangerous of a drug marijuana is,” said Michael Gimbel, addictions educator at Sheppard Pratt Health System. “All the baby boomers and current users of pot think it?s safe and it ?cures cancer.? ”
A lack of data on the drug?s effects may have resulted in cannabis withdrawal symptoms not being characterized or included in medical reference literature, Vandrey suggested.
