The appalling overdose numbers associated with the opioid epidemic can prompt serious questions from people using other drugs. Despite the serious dangers of opioids they are not the only drug that poses a potential threat. Almost every single substance can harm your health. Many drug users are aware of the dangers but not sure of the specifics. For example, a regular weed user might ask: “Can you overdose on marijuana?” While legalization in some states might make the question can you overdose on marijuana seem odd, people die from drinking too much legal alcohol? Legal doesn’t always mean safe.
Specifically, Can You Overdose on Marijuana?
The Center for Disease Control, which typically takes a conservative position on most medical issues, judges the odds of a fatal marijuana overdose as unlikely. There are some claims that marijuana isn’t actually that safe. These claims to the contrary, however, focus almost entirely on doses of pure THC.
That’s a bit like asking, “Can you overdose on weed?” Then, someone answers, “Yes, after you run it through an intense laboratory process to extract one component and take a massive dose.”
For all intents and purposes, the answer is that you can’t overdose on weed if you smoke it in anything resembling normal amounts. To this point in time, there have not been overdose deaths caused solely by smoking marijuana.
Other Risks
A more pressing question that can you overdose on marijuana is: “Are there other risks to using marijuana?” The answer to that question is a definitive yes.
Marijuana is widely considered a gateway drug. In essence, it normalizes drug use for a person. So, you’re more likely to say yes when someone offers a harder drug. Taking harder drugs runs the risk of serious, life-threatening addiction. This is largely considered one of the most dangerous aspects of marijuana abuse. While marijuana itself does not pose a serious threat, the other drugs it puts you near are far less safe.
Marijuana can also prove addictive in most meaningful ways. It can become the exclusive focus of your day-to-day life, impair work performance, and make you neglect social obligations. All of which are key indicators of addiction. In many ways, the psychological addiction that marijuana can lead to is the same as the psychological addiction to any other substance.
Treatment
Marijuana overdose doesn’t cause the same intense, sometimes medically dangerous withdrawal symptoms of other drugs. There a little to no physically uncomfortable symptoms to go through and typically minor psychological ones. So you can expect a fairly short stay in detox if you go at all. However, you’re still subject to all the same psychological and emotional withdrawal symptoms as anyone else. This means that you are almost sure to need a stint in rehab to get through this phase and the following therapy options.
A rehab program will give you the chance to identify why you ended up abusing marijuana. It also provides you an opportunity to start building better, healthier coping mechanisms. This is typically accomplished with a cross-section of therapy approaches, such as:
- CBT and DBT
- Family Therapy
- Psychotherapy
- Group Therapy
Crest View Recovery Center for Marijuana Overdose
Crest View Recovery center runs a marijuana addiction treatment center. Moreover, we are located in Asheville, North Carolina.
While the answer to can you overdose on weed is a solid no, it doesn’t make marijuana abuse a wise lifestyle choice. Marijuana abuse can ruin your life in other ways, but you overcome marijuana addiction with help from a rehab center. Call Crest View Recovery Center at 866.327.2505 and learn how we can help with your marijuana addiction.