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Q: Do marijuana users lose their motivation?
A: Some frequent, long-term marijuana users show signs of a lack of motivation (sometimes termed “amotivational syndrome”). Their problems include not caring about what happens in their lives, no desire to work regularly, fatigue, and a lack of concern about how they look. As a result of these symptoms, some users tend to perform poorly in school or at work. Scientists are still studying these problems.
 Q: Can a person become addicted to marijuana?
A: Yes. Although not everyone who uses marijuana becomes addicted, when a user begins to seek out and take the drug compulsively, that person is said to be dependent on the drug or addicted to it. In 2004, more than 298,317 people entering drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse, showing they needed help to stop using.
Some heavy users of marijuana show signs of withdrawal when they do not use the drug. They develop symptoms such as restlessness, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping, weight loss, and shaky hands.
According to one study, marijuana use by teens who have prior serious antisocial problems can quickly lead to dependence on the drug. That study also found that, for troubled teens using tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, progression from their first use of marijuana to regular use was about as rapid as their progression to regular tobacco use and more rapid than the progression to regular use of alcohol.
Q: What is "tolerance" for marijuana?
A: “Tolerance” means that the user needs increasingly larger doses of the drug to get the same desired results that he or she previously got from smaller amounts. Some frequent, heavy users of marijuana may develop tolerance for it.
 Q: Are there treatments to help marijuana users?
A: Up until a few years ago, it was hard to find treatment programs specifically for marijuana users. Treatments for marijuana dependence were much the same as therapies for other drug abuse problems. These include behavioral therapies, such as cognitivebehavioral therapy; multisystemic therapy; individual and group counseling; and regular attendance at meetings of support groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous.
Recently, researchers have been testing different ways to attract marijuana users to treatment and help them abstain from drug use. There are currently no medications for treating marijuana dependence. Treatment programs focus on counseling and group support systems. From these studies, drug treatment professionals are learning which characteristics of users are predictors of success in treatment and which approaches to treatment can be most helpful.
Further progress in treatment to help marijuana users includes a number of programs set up to help adolescents in particular. Some of these programs are in university research centers, where most of the young patients report marijuana as their drug of choice. Others are in independent adolescent treatment facilities. Family physicians can be a good source for information and help in dealing with adolescents’ marijuana problems.
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Marijuana: Facts for Teens (Revised)
La marihuana - Información para los adolescentes (Versión
Revisada)
Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know (Revised)
La marihuana: Lo que los padres deben saber (Versión
Revisada)
These publications may be reprinted without permission.
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