# Marijuana Side Effect Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 17, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485 "2010-08-17T01:29:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/1 "2010-08-17T01:29:15Z")
Does marijuana usage increase the probability of anger-related over-reaction?
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/2 "2010-08-17T01:44:37Z")
In everybody that uses it?
In Mel Gibson?
Marijuana’s effects are notoriously variable in different users…
In general, it may well have the opposite effect for the typical user, if there even is such a thing as a typical marijuana user. (afterall, the passive, mellow stoner is a well known stereotype, correct?)
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### Author:  [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/3 "2010-08-17T02:26:57Z")
It’s hard to say if it’s causal or coincidental, but in the people that I have known that are regular smokers (daily or close), yes.
I really can’t say what happened when they quit, as I’ve never hung around them enough or they didn’t quit.
It seemed to me that casual smokers (weekenders or less) were not as bitchy.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/4 "2010-08-17T04:04:33Z")
I would’ve said that marijuana usage increases the probability of “_anything_-related _under_-reaction”. The stoners I’ve known (and lived with) have been mellllllow… to the point that I said that if our house burned down, I’d be the only one worrying about getting out while they leisurely looked for marshmallows.
In fact, that was part of my Anti-Dope message to my son:
**Kid, you do _not_ need LESS motivation.**
To be honest, I did tell him that I’d be much more upset if he were smoking cigarettes, due to all the chemicals and addictive substances.
I think I scared him at first with my fist shaking in his face:
[seething rage] _“If I catch you smoking, it just **better** not be **tobacco** …”_ [/seething rage]
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/5 "2010-08-17T04:10:41Z")
Hasn’t it always been “mean drunks” and “happy tokers”?
Seriously, I’ve never heard of this anger thing. Where’d this even come from?
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### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/6 "2010-08-17T04:31:06Z")
> [@digs](#):
>
> Hasn’t it always been “mean drunks” and “happy tokers”?
>
> Seriously, I’ve never heard of this anger thing. Where’d this even come from?
Today’s marijuana is exponentially stronger than that of past generations (which translates to last year in potency terms). From what I’ve seen, withdrawal is truly a bitch these days. It can certainly can bring about anger and other emotions that users of yesteryear didn’t face. My friend attempts to quit 2-3 times per year. I always have to remind him to not yell at his wife or kids. I instruct him to stay conscious of the fact that his anger is driven by the withdrawal. It works, and he’s fine after 2-3 days. The problem is that he starts right back up after a month or so. It’s always some excuse like back pain or insomnia.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/7 "2010-08-17T04:37:54Z")
Can we get a cite for pot having withdrawal symptoms? Sounds preposterous. No doubt that people self-medicate and there are correlations between usage and mood, but statements like “withdrawal is truly a bitch these days” and strong emotions being “driven by the withdrawal” suggest that there is a strong relation to cessation and mental impairment.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/8 "2010-08-17T12:47:21Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> Today’s marijuana is exponentially stronger than that of past generations (which translates to last year in potency terms).
a) Let’s have a reliable cite on the potency (unfortunately, law enforcement agencies are not very reliable on this issue).
b) Even if it is more potent, so what? In my experience, smokers use as much as they need to get their desired level of buzz. More potent weed means a smaller joint or one bowl instead of two. Seems like that’s a good thing, as there’s less lung damage, right?
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/9 "2010-08-17T12:58:52Z")
> [@digs](#):
>
> Seriously, I’ve never heard of this anger thing. Where’d this even come from?
Perhaps they’re showing ‘[Reefer Madness](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6696582420128930236#)’ or its modern analogs in the public schools again?
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/10 "2010-08-17T13:25:16Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> Today’s marijuana is exponentially stronger than that of past generations…
Where did you hear this?
Not sure what you mean by “exponentially,” but Wikipedia had this to say about [marijuana potency:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana#Potency)
> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> A scientific study published in 2000 in the Journal of Forensic Sciences (JFS) found that the potency (THC content) of confiscated cannabis in the United States (US) rose from “approximately 3.3% in 1983 and 1984”, to “4.47% in 1997”. It also concluded that “other major cannabinoids (i.e., CBD, CBN, and CBC)” (other chemicals in cannabis) “showed no significant change in their concentration over the years”.[37] More recent research undertaken at the University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring Project[38] has found that average THC levels in cannabis samples between 1975 and 2007 have increased from 4% in 1983 to 9.6% in 2007.
In a scientific context, “exponential” usually refers to an increasing rate of change over time, but is not useful for describing the difference in magnitude from start to finish. In a casual context (which is apparently what you were intending), “expontial” implies a very large change. Speaking in casual terms, IMHO, going from 4% to 9.6% does not qualify as an “exponential” increase.
And as has been pointed out, pot smokers (and other recreational drug users, including drinkers) are self-dosing: when the potency increases, the user simply smokes a smaller quantity. In the present case, one would simply smoke a quarter-joint instead of a half-joint to enjoy the same level of intoxication.
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### Author:  [@nuggz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nuggz)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/11 "2010-08-17T13:38:42Z")
Having had lots of stoner friends, I have never ever seen it induce any sort of rage. Even when withdrawling (which could be entirely psychological), they just seem to get a little crabby and stop eating.
Not to say I don’t know a few utter assholes with smoke, and they are assholes, smoking or no. But less so when high.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/12 "2010-08-17T14:58:48Z")
Indeed, many folks suppose that the alcohol-fueled anger and bar fights would turn into something totally more mellow if saloons served pot instead of Jack. I’ve never heard of anyone getting angry WHILE they were smoking. **Juggernaut’s** argumentative friend became so, according to the post, because he wasn’t smoking. That argues for a sedative and relaxing effect, if anything. I, also, question the OP’s premise.
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### Author:  [@panman\_1960](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panman_1960)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/13 "2010-08-17T15:19:39Z")
I think it may be a relative point of view. If you know a person while smoking, they may appear to be a happy, mellow kind of person. Once the use stops, the mellowing effect is gone, and they will probably revert to being a person a bit less tolerant…
later, Tom.
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### Author:  [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/14 "2010-08-17T15:31:08Z")
> [@digs](#):
>
> Today’s marijuana is exponentially stronger than that of past generations (which translates to last year in potency terms).
I keep hearing this. First of all, I’d like to see a cite of the “exponential” increase. There has been an increase due to breeding and hydroponics, but certainly not “exponential”. It’s actually more unhealthy to smoke MJ with less active ingredient.
I also keep hearing this used in the negative. We’re not talking about OD potential here, people. If it’s stronger, I don’t have to smoke as much. Period. Nothing more insipid than that.
I also have been smoking for 25+ years, have had long-term employment in a highly complex and technical environment, and get glowing reviews each year. And just had a perfect-health physical. And yup. I smoke all day every day.
Withdrawals? no worse than trying to get to sleep after a coffee-drinking 12 hour work day. No worse than craving a pizza, but can’t have one because it’s loaded with fat.
Give me a break.
I just wrote my congress-bots about this very issue. I write them every month. One of them (Bob Fucking Martinez) actually wrote me back about this “dangerous” drug and how he’s going to be “tough on crime”. He’s definitely getting my vote this Nov. NOT.
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### Author:  [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/15 "2010-08-17T16:01:52Z")
For potency measurement, consider the marijuana potency monitoring project (National Institute on Drug Abuse - US). While the potency increases may or may not be exponential (I refuse to do a deep-dive into all of the data), there is an identified and deliberate increase in potency.
Page 9 of this doc is illustrative: [Office of National Drug Control Policy | The White House](http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/FullPotencyReports.pdf)
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/16 "2010-08-17T16:11:38Z")
> [@GiantRat](#):
>
> there is an identified and deliberate increase in potency.
Sure, but when you start out with plant material with several percent THC content, there’s no way you’ll ever get to over 100% THC content. The increase in THC over the past decades is more akin to people switching from Jalapeno sauce to Habanero sauce than an ‘ **exponential KT boundary catastrophe event** ’, or whatever it’s popular to bloviate on the subject nowdays.
The active ingredient has the same kick it always has, it just takes less dried plant material to achieve a given effect, or affect, as the case may be.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/17 "2010-08-17T16:36:26Z")
> [@digs](#):
>
> I would’ve said that marijuana usage increases the probability of “_anything_-related _under_-reaction”.
Except for arts and crafts. Get stoned enough and often enough and you want to make everything into a bong.
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### Author:  [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/18 "2010-08-17T17:01:07Z")
> [@GiantRat](#):
>
> For potency measurement, consider the marijuana potency monitoring project (National Institute on Drug Abuse - US). While the potency increases may or may not be exponential (I refuse to do a deep-dive into all of the data), there is an identified and deliberate increase in potency.
>
> Page 9 of this doc is illustrative: [http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/FullPotencyReports.pdf](http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/FullPotencyReports.pdf)
All that means is that there’s less ditch weed on the market, so the average THC content may be higher nowadays. But the best back then was plenty fine. Maybe you don’t remember Thai sticks, but I do. And in Hawaii in the '70s there was “work dope”, of which two tokes would make a morning’s hard and complex labor go by smoothly, and two tokes more after lunch did the same. Then after work you had “pau hana” to smoke in the evening, and again two hits was plenty to keep you talking story till bedtime.
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### Author:  [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/19 "2010-08-17T17:17:11Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> Can we get a cite for pot having withdrawal symptoms? Sounds preposterous.
I had to do a presentation on Marijuana for one of my classes in Pharmacy school, and one of the interesting things I learned is that Marijuana (or THC), really is physically addicting, and it is possible to go through a physical withdraw… However, due to the way that THC is stored in the body in the fat cells, and is slowly released over time (the same reason it takes so long to pass a drug test), no one actually goes through withdraw. The only was to precipitate THC withdraw is the administration of an Canniboid Antaganist like Rimonabant, which blocks the canniboid receptors in the body.
So, yes, Marijuana is “technically” addicting, but not in any sense anyone outside of researchers and propaganda would talk about.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-side-effect-question/550485/20 "2010-08-17T17:50:18Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#):
>
> > [@Rhythmdvl](#):
> >
> > Can we get a cite for pot having withdrawal symptoms? Sounds preposterous.
>
> I had to do a presentation on Marijuana for one of my classes in Pharmacy school, and one of the interesting things I learned is that Marijuana (or THC), really is physically addicting, and it is possible to go through a physical withdraw…
> So, yes, Marijuana is “technically” addicting, but not in any sense anyone outside of researchers and propaganda would talk about.
Again, this being the SDMB, we’d like to have citations that you used for your oral report in pharmacy school. The fact that you “learned it” is not proof that it is true. One of the indicators of addiction is the development of tolerance and the need to increase dosage to experience the same effects. Did your research show you that this is true for marijuana?
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