Customer Reviews

The Truth About Pot: Ten Recovering Marijuana Users Share Their Personal Stories, Ph.D.

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've read this book and personally have found it very helpful. I've been smoking pot everyday for almost a decade. I'd be a liar as well as a moron to try to suggest that I don't have an addiction or problem with it. People don't believe that you can become physically addicted to pot because you don't get the shakes or have physical with drawls. They may be right. I'm not physically addicted, it's all mental. I think or used to think everything was better when I was stoned. Sex, movies, food, everything. I used to think that it didn't effect my life and that I could stop at any time. Then I tried to stop. I would think about being stoned all the time. No matter what I was doing, I would think it would be better to be doing it stoned.
Addiction creeps up on you. Most people don't get addicted to pot just like most people don't get addicted to alcohol or sex or food. But some people do. To make a general statement that it's impossible to get addicted to pot is ignorant as well as idiotic. When you use drugs and it makes you happy, it sends dopamine to your brain and your body associates the drug with happiness and starts to depend on it whether it's alcohol, pot, vicoden, whatever.
There is no community or support for people that abuse pot. marijuana anonymous is a joke. It's basically AA in disguise and if your not into god good luck with that.
It was refreshing for me to read these peoples stories and relate exactly to what they were feeling and going through. I don't really relate to alcoholics and drug addicts. they tell these awful stories about hitting rock bottom and your like "I forgot my friends birthday or was going to do something and got lazy and didn't" and they just kind of roll your eyes at you like you don't really have an addiction because it's not as severe. Well- smoking pot is definitely screwing up my life. I used to be fun and social and go out all the time. Now I stay home most nights watching reruns or when I'm out I'm thinking about going home and smoking pot.
And for all the people that left negative comments about this book stop saying that's it's impossible to get addicted to pot. Your just making yourself sound stupid. It is not impossible. Educate yourself.

To make a blanket statement that Pot is not addictive, as some of the previous reviewers have...is discouraging to say the least. To those who do have a problem, it is down right irresponsible. I bought this book to try to find some help for my brother, who admits that he has a problem. It is harder and harder to watch him "toke his life away." Most of his money is spent on pot. He has become more and more listless and unwilling to join in on life. He has become more and more isolated because his buddies have long since grown up and stopped getting high. I was discouraged to see such a low rating for this book. But as I read the reviews, I found they were to be dismissed. They are not intelligent thought. They are written by people who feel the need to defend pot smoking. To me, some are in denial and are threatened by any assertion that pot might be addicted. Some of the other reviewers are just morons who haven't figured out that its time to grow up. Give this book a try if you think you have a problem, or know someone who does.

This book interviewed 10 people who developed problems after smoking pot on a regular basis for a while. They all started off just having fun. Not everyone who smokes pot will become addicted but the statistics indicate that 20% of the people will. You ought to know about that and what can happen. Because pot's side effects are more indisdious and not as extreme as side effects from like cocaine or heroin, people often think the side effects are somethig else and actually smoke more pot to get away from the stuff the pot is causing. This is not Nazi like, it's just a more complete picture. Most pre-teens, teens and parents ought to read this and discuss what's real in this book. Each story is told in the person's own words.

I have suffered from anxiety/depression all my life, and I have learned a lot about these types of personality disorders over the years. People who suffer from these illnesses should under no circumstances drink or do drugs, if they wish to get and stay well. All drugs affect the brain chemistry in very similar ways, whether we are talking about pot, booze, coke, heroin, etc.

Also, it's fruitless to argue whether drugs CAUSE these disorders or not. It's the "chicken and the egg" argument. In some cases, drugs can trigger an already existing condition, or they can cause them. It all depends on the individual. Marijuana is not "harmless." I know people who have gone into rehab because of their dependence on marijuana. Drugs are drugs are drugs.

Don't waste your time or emotional energy reading this book. The book is just a sump of half-truths and lies. This book is an extension of the reefer madness mentality and United States Government anti-marijuana propaganda machine. To quote the nazi propaganda minister of 1939, "Lie, lie, lie something bound to stick." This is what this book attempts to do. Nothing hurts more than a lie and this book is full of them.

>Yet, pot affects an individual's concentration and memory and tends to make some people lazy.<

It definitely affects these aspects of a person when they are under the influence of the drug. However, after the affects wear off only people who are lazy all of the time still carry this characteristic.

>And because it takes months, even years to get it out of one's system, it is difficult to convince a pot user to stop.<

Maybe it's hard to convince a pot user to stop because the use you are trying to disuade is enjoyable? Try to convince someone to cease their habit of masturbating; I guarantee it will be a more difficult task.

>There are withdrawals, including depression and anxiety that don't go away immediately.<

In most cases, if these symptoms do occur they are relatively benign and won't affect a person's day-to-day behavior. If the symptons are severe, it was not the marijuana that CAUSED them, rather it only triggered them.

>Today's pot is much stronger than that of my hippie generation and I have the experience to back up my statements.<

Then you'd know with a stronger amount of active ingredient, a person has to smoke less material (thus subjecting their lungs to less carcinogens) to achieve the desired affect.

>I see negative behavior changes in my son whenever he smokes pot.<

Perhaps your son has more serious problems that the marijuana is triggering? Assuming he's an adolescent, what the heck are you letting him use a DRUG for anyway?

>Most of us know at least one regular pot smoker whose life is going nowhere.<

Most of us know at least one regular soda-drinker whose life is going nowhere. Give me a break.

I literally could not get past the first line of this book without finding glaring errors.

"Marijuana is the second most popular drug after alcohol in our country today." (Baum, Page 1)

Aside from being a hopelessly clumsy sentence, this statement ignores caffeine and tobacco, which are respectively, psychoactive and narcotic substances.

This book is much needed. Too many people believe that pot is one of the more harmless drugs. The author has worked with and interviewed actual addicts whose primary drug of choice is pot. These are different people but their stories have many similarities. They know what they are talking about, they have "been there". It is certainly true that not everyone who smokes pot will become an addict any more than everyone who drinks will become an alcoholic. But for those that do, it is very devastating, every bit as much as other drugs and very insidious.
I do have some basis for what I say from personal experience. My husband is an addict and was in active addiction for about 25 years. His primary drug of choice (and for many years of his addiction the ONLY drug he used) was pot. When I read this book, it helped explain to me what I saw happen in my husband, both during his years of active addiction and now that he is in recovery. His story definitely resembles that of the addicts who share their stories in this book. My son also became addicted, and went downhill rapidly over a 2 year period. Thank the Lord he is also now in recovery but is experiencing many of the symptoms this book talks about as he is recovering. My husband now has over 3 years clean and is a drug/alcohol counselor, devoted to helping still suffering addicts. My son has about 4 months clean after relapsing and going through treatment a second time.
I would MOST HIGHLY reccommend this book to counselors, to addicts themselves, and to family members like me who want to understand more about the devastating effects of drug abuse(particularly pot)--or anyone who wants to learn more about the subject! It is very well balanced and informative.

I read an excerpt from this book, the first few pages on Chapter One: A Good Hard Look At Marijuana. And what can I say. It's all scripted. Just another book from the government-produced drones out there. If you want to be swayed to one side, the side of the "good law-abiding" non-thinking anti-rebellious people of the United States, then read this book.

TRUTH ABOUT POT illustrates the negative impact of smoking pot. This book is nothing like Reefer Madness. The author is credible, having treated patients with marijuana addiction. Pot is insidious because its addictive characteristics aren't as obvious or well-known as those of cocaine or heroin. Yet, pot affects an individual's concentration and memory and tends to make some people lazy. And because it takes months, even years to get it out of one's system, it is difficult to convince a pot user to stop. There are withdrawals, including depression and anxiety that don't go away immediately. Today's pot is much stronger than that of my hippie generation and I have the experience to back up my statements. I see negative behavior changes in my son whenever he smokes pot. Most of us know at least one regular pot smoker whose life is going nowhere. My only criticism of the book is that the marijuana users who share their personal stories are almost all addicted to alcohol or other substances, which makes it impossible to tell which substance has caused what problem. The facts about pot in the beginning of the book make it worthwhile reading.