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When people try to quit smoking pot, they experience real withdrawal
symptoms that can affect their daily lives, a new study from Australia says.
In the study, habitual pot users who were asked to abstain for two weeks
experienced irritability, sleep difficulties and other symptoms that affected
their ability to work and their relationships with other people, said study
researcher David Allsop, of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information
Centre at the University of New South Wales. The biggest impairment to daily
life was seen among users who were the most addicted to pot, Allsop said.
Moreover, the effects of withdrawal symptoms were on par with those of
people going through nicotine withdrawal, Allsop said. The idea that cannabis
can be addictive has been debated. And although it is generally accepted now
that the drug can cause addiction and withdrawal, researchers were not certain
whether withdrawal from the drug was severe enough to interfere with daily
life, Allsop said.
In fact, cannabis withdrawal is not included as a disorder in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) — the bible of
mental health disorders — although it is being considered for inclusion in the
updated version that will be released next year. (In contrast, withdrawal from
other substances, such as alcohol and cocaine, are included as disorders.)
The new findings show that doctors should be aware of the disorder, and
educate patients about what symptoms they might experience when they try to quit,
he said. "I suspect that there is a long way to go still in changing the
popular beliefs," about the effects of pot on health, Allsop said. But
education that withdrawal "makes you irritable, tense and anxious, and
disrupts your sleep, is one good place to gain some traction," he said.
Current treatments for marijuana addiction have shown very little
success in terms of their ability to get people to abstain from the drug over
the long term. Withdrawal symptoms could be contributing to this low success
rate, Allsop said. Providing tailored treatments for people going through
withdrawal, such as stress management and sleep medication, could improve
success rates, Allsop said.
The study involved 49 men and women from Sydney who were addicted to
marijuana, and used the drug more than five days a week. Participants were
asked to abstain from marijuana use for two weeks. Urine samples were collected
to identify those who relapsed. Ten participants relapsed during the study.
These people were more likely than those who didn't relapse to have experienced
greater impairment in their daily lives from withdrawal symptoms.
The withdrawal symptoms that contributed most to impairment were:
physical tension, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, mood swings and loss of
appetite. The new findings, along with previous work, suggest cannabis
withdrawal should be added as a disorder to the DSM, Allsop said. "Cannabis
is the most prevalent illicit drug all around the world — including in America
— and current treatment options have very limited success rates for continuous
abstinence," Allsop said. "Why wouldn't you include it?"
Because the number of users who relapsed was small, more research is
needed to identify which withdrawal symptoms may predict relapse, Allsop said.
Live Science
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