Junky monkeys Cannabis may be physically addictive, suggests a study on monkeys
The question of whether marijuana is physically addictive has long vexed researchers, but the latest evidence from lab animals suggests that it is.
American scientists have shown for the first time that monkeys strive to inject themselves with the active chemical in marijuana in the same way that they seek out cocaine or morphine. The finding has created a firestorm of controversy over the implications for people who smoke the drug.
Last week, a survey revealed that one in ten people in England and Wales has used cannabis in the past year. The report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction also found that 45 million Europeans are regular users.
Serious habit
Therapists and psychiatrists who treat people for marijuana dependency have hailed the study as a breakthrough. They think it will make people take the abuse potential of cannabis a lot more seriously.
"A lot of people think it's not addictive," says Ron Kadden of the University of Connecticut Health Center. "They've been told by treatment professionals and their friends that they couldn't really be addicted to marijuana."
Kadden says he recently found plenty of takers when he advertised a treatment program designed specifically for cannabis dependence.
But campaigners for the legalisation of dope have called the study "pseudoscience", designed to fulfil a political agenda.
"We take umbrage with the government's seemingly never-ending penchant to prove that cannabis is harmful enough to justify the 70-year prohibition," says Allen St. Pierre of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington, DC.