Should Marijuana Be Legal?

Hey, everybody, this is Amber over at Helpful Family Recovery center in Greenville, South Carolina. And today's hot topic is should marijuana be lethal? I know that's a pretty controversial thing. It's talked about a lot these days and certainly a topic of discussion that comes up in this office all the time. Most of the time when it comes up, it is a teenager or maybe a college kid, so sometimes an adult, and they're coming in, usually brought in by a family member, and maybe they're smoking a lot of marijuana, especially if they're teenagers and their parents are really mad about it, and they come in sort of armed and ready for this debate of, well, other states have it legal, and South Carolina should have it legal, too, but eventually it will be. It's ridiculous. It's not as bad as alcohol. They say no one beats their wife on marijuana and all that kind of stuff. That's their argument. The joke around here is I fully expect them to come in with like an entire PowerPoint and like a laser pointer, an Excel spreadsheet, to give me their giant presentation on why marijuana should be legal. And the way that I deal with this is, here's my answer. Basically, I say, you know what? I don't really have a super strong opinion about it. I don't feel really hard one way or the other. But in my mind, it really isn't addiction or why people come to me really isn't about a specific drug. And it really definitely has nothing to do with legal versus illegal. I see plenty of people that are using substances that are legal. It's very problematic. And I see plenty of people using substances that are illegal, and it's problematic. And I also see people using substances both legal and illegal, and it's not problematic. So in my mind, the legality of the problem isn't the problem. In fact, I pretty fully believe that the way the legal system handles it makes it more problematic versus less problematic. I know that seems strange, especially for an eviction counselor to say, but there's a lot of reasons behind that. And I will check back in soon with a live post and talk to you about why my thinking is that way. But as far as marijuana goes, here's what I tell people. Doesn't matter to me if it's legal or illegal. What matters to me is, is it causing problems for you in your life? Because that's basically the question at hand for anybody struggling with any addiction. It really doesn't matter about the legal part. A lot of people can use marijuana, and it's not problematic. Some people use marijuana, and it is problematic. We had a young guy in our group not too long ago, and it surprised me. He was probably, like, in his early 20s. And he came to me and he said, I am addicted to weed. And I was, like, completely shocked because no one ever says that. Like, they. It's like the last thing people say is that they're addicted to weed. Not because you can't be addicted to weed, but because people don't believe you can be addicted to weed. Nothing. Holy crap. I didn't even think that. And he says, dude, anybody that would pawn their TV to get weed has a problem with weed. And I was like, dude, you're in. Like, you're my favorite. Like, if you get that, you probably don't even need me. So it just doesn't happen very much that people sort of get it. The reason why people don't get that marijuana can be a problem. And it's not a problem for everybody. That's a problem for some people. Those of us that have that tendency to get addicted to stuff, we can get addicted to whatever. We get addicted to exercise, we can get addicted to weed. We can get addicted to alcohol. We can get addicted to anything. So it's not about legal or illegal. It's not about the substance. Plenty of people use pain pills and don't get addicted. Other people use pain pills and they do get addicted. So it's about you as a person. Do you have that thing, that genetics, that childhood history, that missing piece that you're trying to fill with a substance? That's basically what it's about. It's not about the substance. It's about the person. And if you can keep your conversations with other people centered around them, how it affects them, how it affects their work, their family, their school, their friends, their social life, that sort of thing, then you can kind of steer away from this legality conversation, which really is just sort of a pitfall and a nightmare discussion, especially with teenagers. So to sum that up, it doesn't matter to me if they make it legal or illegal. What matters to me is that people get it when they're having a problem. This is a metaphor I use a lot with my clients. But basically, the reason why people can't see that marijuana is affecting them is because it takes a long time to see those effects. Other drugs, you feel super quick. Like, if someone's using cocaine, you can usually know you got a problem sometimes within a few weeks, but within a few months, you can see it really quick because it's Expensive. That problem just goes faster for whatever reason than people that are going to be addicted to it. Marijuana is what I told you was. It's like when you're a little kid and you're out in the ocean and you're playing and you're having fun. It's summertime. Remember that when you were a kid and you went to the beach and you're, you know, you look up at your mom and dad and they're up on the beach and you're like, watch this. And you get on your little boogie board, you're showing them tricks and you're just playing, you're just having a good time. And then like five or 10 or 15 minutes later, you look up and you're like looking for your parents and you're like, where did they go? Oh my gosh, they left me. I can't believe they left me. And you're freaking out for like a whole minute, trying to panic. I was just panicking. Like, where'd they go? But they leave you. You actually moved. You just didn't feel it. And that's what happens when you are that person that begins to have problems with marijuana. It's sneaky that marijuana is. It gets you a little bit and a little bit and a little bit and a little bit instead of really fast. Because of that, you don't feel it. Just like you did not feel that you were sort of floating down the beach at the ocean when you were a kid and it's just like, how did that happen? So that's one way that I explain it to people. Another way that I explain it to people is just to say, what problems is it causing you? Are you so, like set on smoking weed that you don't care that you can't drive? You don't care that your parents won't take you, get your driver's license. You don't care that your parents have taken everything from you. You're just dead set. I don't care. I'm going to smoke weed. That's probably a little bit of a problem because why is it that important? That's what you should ask yourself. If it feels like it's more important and you're willing to just give up everything for it. If you're dating somebody who really doesn't like it, but you like that person that you're dating, but they really disapprove and you're thinking, I'd rather have weed than have you, and I don't care if you leave me. I don't think about that. So those are things that help people to think about marijuana personally and not in that big way. Because we're not here to make judgments about other people or particular substances and whether they should be around or whether they should be legal or illegal at home families. We're here to make decisions about whether or not you're having a problem with it. And that's what you're here for. So keep it personal. Don't get global, don't get political, because that's just a distraction that can throw you off base. If you think that you might have a problem with marijuana or any other substance and you're not sure and you want to see what the official criteria are, you can go to our website, which is www.hopeforfamiliesrecoverycenter.com and there's a free download video where I go over specifically what the official DSM that stands for Diagnostic Statistical Manual, the fifth version, which is the newest version. And I go over exactly what the criteria are. So you can figure out do you meet the criteria or not. And it's really cool. With the new, the newest version, they'll actually tell you are you have a problem that's mild, moderate or severe, which I think is pretty neat. And if you are a family member, a loved one, and you're watching this video, you can actually go and get that download too. You and you can count on your fingers as you think about that person in your life that you're thinking maybe they have a problem with it. Which is very helpful because it gets your head straight about whether or not yes it is and no, it's not clinically. Now, I will tell you, if you're a family member, I don't advise you to watch the video and then go up to that person that you Venice from and says, and say, you know what? I watched this video and I know that you have wrong marijuana. You should watch this video too. That's probably going to backfire on you. So don't use it as a weapon, just use it as a piece of information. And that's all I have to say about today, about whether or not marijuana should be legal. I'll be back on soon to talk about other drugs and my thoughts and opinions about whether or not other drugs should be legal or illegal and how we should handle that as a society. When people are having problems or do get in trouble with it, what should we do about that different than what we do now. Thanks very much for joining me.