Harvard physician and legalization activist Dr. Peter Grinspoon writes cannabis withdrawal symptoms are real, but not well understood. Neither of the common treatments — cognitive behavioral therapy and medication — are particularly effective.
Harvard Health Publishing
- Per Grinspoon, a recent analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests, “Many patients using MED to ‘treat’ their symptoms are merely caught up in a cycle of self-treating their cannabis withdrawal. Is it possible that almost half of cannabis consumers are actually experiencing a severe cannabis withdrawal syndrome — to the point that it is successfully masquerading as medicinal use of marijuana — and they don’t know it?”
- He finds the JAMA study “doesn’t seem particularly generalizable to actual cannabis users.”
- Grinspoon concludes, “Perhaps a simpler, more colloquial definition of cannabis addiction would be more helpful…: persistent use despite negative consequences.”
