Treating Marijuana Addiction

Marijuana is a dangerous addiction that affects and threatens the physical, emotional and professional well being of an individual. Its ill effects have made most countries ban its import except for therapeutic use. Yet it is smuggled through mysterious channels and is available to addicts at phenomenal prices. Marijuana addiction is awful, as it becomes an all-consuming passion, leaving room for little else in the addict’s mind. It alters the way his mind functions and makes it incapable of rational, intelligent thinking. Hence treating this addiction is crucial.

Treating the addiction to marijuana does not simply entail getting the addict to stop smoking it. It is a process of education where the addict has to be taught about its ill effects, short term, which he must be experiencing, and long term, which will ruin his life and that of his family as well. The three-step knowledge he needs is about addiction, recovery phase and the relapse. It is also important for the family to understand the reasons that pushed the addict towards marijuana, as often negativism, low self esteem, lack of confidence lead to a low sense of self worth and there is a need for an emotional anchor, which appears in the form of marijuana. It gives them the ability to feel good and be happy for sometime, till it becomes obsessive.

Marijuana addicts need to know how the drug works and how it affects their bodies. New addicts feel confident in being able to shake off their addiction, but it is not so easy. The starting point is always the addicts inclination to leave his addiction and his willingness to accept help. The treatment has to be customized to his needs and requirements, and requires a lot of family support and encouraging signs like reemployment opportunities and other feel-good factors. The process is long drawn and requires medication as well. Residential programs are available in many centers that have perfected techniques of de-addicting patients.

But both in-house and outpatient programs need a minimum 90-day period to show significant improvement in the patient. It is not unusual to find addicts leaving before completing the treatment and then falling back into the marijuana trap. This makes the rehabilitation program even more difficult. Family support to work as a preventive for this would be ideal and could motivate the addict to complete his treatment join back where he left off at home, as a parent and possibly at work as well.

As in the case of other addictions, marijuana addictions also need to be treated sensitively, with family support and tenderness. Educating the addict about times ahead, the prospect of enjoyment even without marijuana, reinstilling confidence and making them feel responsible, all contribute to strengthening their resolve to fight this addiction.