The illegal nature of marijuana has everything to do with racism and very little to do with addiction. It was just another way to keep the black man down, and to punish those who associated with blacks.
On the addiction thing, there are many more ways to become addicted than the dopamine path ways. Coacaine in particular inhibits the MAO (monoamine oxidase) and as my instructor stated in college is the 'pac man' chemical in the synaptic cleft. So when the MAO is inhibited all the neuro transmitter builds up in the cleft and the brain lights up like the fourth of july. Nicotine, also very highly addictive effects the muscarine receptors.
There is still little know about the actual biocehmistry of addiction, although it is certainly out of the dark ages and into the modern world. The largest misconception is the 'there has to be a physical withdrawl for it to be dependancy' thing. This is the great error that led people to say that 'cociane is not addictive'.
Thanks to behaviorism, addiction is now defined in behavioral terms in the DSM-IV(R) and it is easy to distinguish abuse from dependance.
In a nut shell, abuse causes minor impairments of functioning. (Minor is a relative term , like loosing your job or relationship.) When someone with an abuse problem finds out there are consequences to the using choices, they say "Well enough of that then." and they walk away. Sometimes with a few bumps in the road.
Dependance/addiction is a very different critter, a-diction, against speech, usualy most addicts have stated that they want to quit but can't, although there are those in serious denial. The behavioral hall marks of dependance are:
1. The drug becomes the primary relationship for the user.
2. The drug creates substantial interference in all areas of function. Loss of job, loss of home, loss of relationships. (Hey David, you just said this for abuse! Well, there is a subtle difference between loosing your job because you were late and loosing your job because you were drunk.)
3.The repeated use of the drug in amounts and for times beyond the stated intention of the user.
4. The use of the drug is believed to be nessecary by the user to function in life.
5. The amount of drug used increases over time, and the individual does not get the desired effect. Even if there is no physical tolerance issue.
6. The person feels miserable in the abcense of the drug.
Basicaly in addiction the drug messes with someones life and they won't or cant quit in the face of the overwhelming evidence that it is messing them up.
I have only met two people who have claimed marijuana addiction, and I have met hundreds of alcoholics, cocaine is a problem very similar to alcohol except most cocaine users will admit it is a problem. And well, methamphetamine is as bad for you as large amounts of alcohol.
The routes to addiction vary, there are those who definitly have a biological vulnerability, there are those who get hooked using it to deal with problems, there are those who do it for other reasons. Food is the most common addiction after or next to alcohol.
If you insert the word 'mood altering behavior' into the places where I wrote 'drug' then you can encompase sexual addiction, gambling, compulsive shopping and the myriad of other' unhealthy coping mechanisms'.
From my experience and government statistics there are many greater threats to the world than marijuana use. It is a political pariah, it pales in comparison to domestic violence and starvation.
:O
