Quote (CoheedAndCambria @ May 15 2013 09:33pm)
Would like to read the actual research and not the IBTimes regurgitated material. Seemingly, the way they defined "addictive" is much too broad. Any repetitive behavior when stopped could then be defined as an addiction.
The common cause seems to be stress, which isn't controlled for. These seem to be the results when a stress reliever is taken away. Replace "marijuana" with any relaxing ritual and you will likely get the same results of the study when such a ritual is taken away.
Here's a link to the study:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044864#pone-0044864-t004They report that overall marijuana use was mildly addictive, comparable to smoking cigarettes (though I think this study would really have to be done in parallel to see if there was a difference).
With that being said, if you look at Figure 2, you can see that in their Low Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) group, there was no apparent withdrawal.
Here is the SDS test:
http://ncpic.org.au/static/pdfs/assessment-tools/severity-of-dependence-scale.pdfIf you score lower than 8, you would fit into their Low SDS group (no evidence of withdrawal), rather than the High SDS group (evidence of withdrawal). I don't smoke anymore, but I would have scored probably at 4 back when I did.