Quote:
Originally Posted by Beachbum65
I have very little experience with marijuana ,as I understand that it is physically not addictive as the pain killers I take.
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Maybe—maybe not. First,
dependence is not addiction. Dependence is physical; addiction is psychological. There is no question that pain patients can become
dependent on opioid pain medications. However, less than 3% of pain patients without previous history of abuse or psychological issues become
addicted.
Painkiller Addiction: A Smaller Risk Than You May Think
I don't know the cannabis addiction statistics of
chronic pain patients, however...
Quote:
Research has shown the overall addiction potential for cannabis to be less than for caffeine,[19] tobacco, alcohol, cocaine or heroin, but slightly higher than that for psilocybin, mescaline, LSD.[44] In a survey conducted by NIDA in 1994, epidemiologist James Anthony found that of those who tried marijuana at least once, about 9 percent eventually became addicted. While this is not negligible, it was still lower than other drugs which were evaluated. The corresponding figure for alcohol was 15 percent; for cocaine, 17 percent; for heroin, 23 percent; and for nicotine, 32 percent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabi...tion_potential
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Cannabis can also cause dependence.
Quote:
Dependence on cannabis is more common amongst heavy users. Researchers have demonstrated that heavy marijuana use can lead to increased tolerance and withdrawal symptoms when trying to stop.[45] One study with 500 heavy users of cannabis showed that when trying to cease consumption, some experience one or more symptoms such as insomnia, restlessness, loss of appetite, depression, irritability, and anger.[37] Cannabis Dependence has been recognized as a clinical entity in the DSM-IV.[46] Prolonged marijuana use produces both pharmacokinetic changes (how the drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted) and pharmacodynamic changes (how the drug interacts with target cells) to the body. These changes require the user to consume higher doses of the drug to achieve a common desirable effect (known as a higher tolerance), and reinforce the body's metabolic systems for synthesizing and eliminating the drug more efficiently.
Ibid
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So while opioids present a greater
dependence risk, cannabis may present the greater
addiction risk.
In the case of chronic pain patients, who may need pain medication for many years—if not for life—this may all be academic. I think it comes down to choosing the lesser of evils.
Long-term effects of cannabis
vs.
New research shows effects of long-term use of opioid therapy
From a much broader reading of what's out there, I'm inclined to agree with you that cannabis addiction and/or dependence MAY be preferable to opioid addiction and/or dependence, but that will have to be each individual's personal choice—there are many other factors that enter into it (side effects, efficacy, cost, etc.)
And I encourage anyone contemplating/faced with this decision to do
much more research than presented here, and have discussions with their doctors before making their decision.
You hang in there too.
Doc