Misrepresentation of Marijuana - Shrink (2009) Discussion

[–] indynick-1 15 years ago

Uhh the guy wasn't addicted to pot, you can't get addicted to pot. Not like heroin anyways... Besides, the way he acts and how he thinks is definately a pot related high. There are movies where hollywood makes pot look like LSD... look at some of the episodes from That 70's Show or Half Baked, these people made weed look like a problem.

If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late?

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[–] setzslow 15 years ago

No he was addicted to pot. You can get addicted to anything. There may not be a chemical in marijuana that gets you addicted, but you certainly can become addicted. But I agree with your second point.

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[–] noproblempablo 15 years ago

He was addicted to grief. Not marijuana.

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[–] SerialConsumer311 15 years ago

That's heavy man

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[–] rohit_sidhu 14 years ago

You cannot get physiologically addicted to pot.
The only addiction is in your head, a mental one.
Fvacking tool.

But on the other hand drugs like heroin, cocaine and the like are physiologically addictive and your body gets addicted.

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[–] imdb-20-fcasparx 14 years ago

You're right with pot, but you're wrong with cocaine. If cocaine is physiologically addictive at all, it is a very mild one. You'll get depressed and tired for a rather short while. But physiologically that's about it.

OTOH cocaine is hell of addictive psychologically, especially when inhaled (crack) or shot intravenously. The mechanism is similar to - but much stronger than - nicotine addiction.

Substances that are PHYSIOlogically addictive - in addition to opiates like heroin - are e.g. benzodiazepine tranquilizers/sleeping pills, barbiturates, and of course ethanol (drinking alcohol). If one is hooked on any of these, the withdrawal symptoms are terrifying.

Each shows its own profile of symptoms, but what they have in common is extreme anxiety, insomnia, freaking nightmares at any time of the day if able to drift into sleep, serious vegetative dysfunction (profuse sweating, vomiting, p1ss1ng, diarrhoea, general restlessness).

Opiate withdrawal adds strong pain without any external stimuli (hyperalgesia). Sudden benzodiazepine withdrawal often causes grand mal seizures, like in epilepsy. Alcohol withdrawal can cause a state of delusion (delirium tremens) that is especially life threatening due to dehydration and loss of electrolytes. All these symptoms vanish once the addict gets a sufficient dose of the substance he/she is addicted to.

THIS IS what 'PHYSIOLOGICAL ADDICTION' actually means.

I am just sick of people that talk about psychotropic substances and addiction as if it was all just one thing and all the same.

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[–] chrishansen11289 14 years ago

All this information has nothing to do with the movie...
The point of it all is that he constantly used marijuana to cope with the grief of his wife killing herself.
They held the intervention because he had a "problem" with substance abuse, and they knew it was because the wife died. It doesn't matter whether it was an addiction to marijuana (regardless if there is such thing). He was also abusing prescription pills, which they show him dump down the toilet.

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[–] steiner444 14 years ago

Is it a California thing when you buy weed it comes rolled in joints?

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[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] beecee101 12 years ago

You forgot alcohol. As bad if not worse than heroin withdrawal. Cocaine is another mental drug. Extremely rare from someone dying from coming off cocaine. Top killers from withdrawal are alcohol and benzos. What is crazy is they treat the patient w/ alcohol withdrawal with benzos. (Valium or Librium mostly) Anyhow, that pot Spacey was smokin' was not your hippy father's dope, but some serious stuff. Yes, I understand about his wife and his deep pain....I totally loved the movie. That OCD guy was way awesome. Great film.

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[–] a10t2 15 years ago

Way to harsh my mellow, bra.

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[–] cozmcchuck 15 years ago

a psychological addition is common. I equate pot "addiction" to blackberry "addiction." Will you break out in cold sweats if you put either down? Probably not, but it will itch your mind and annoy the fck out of you until you can pick either up again.

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[–] lilsummit 15 years ago

actually i just started in the recovery process for marijuana and there are alot of ppl that are psychologically addicted no you dont get the shakes but the mental obsession the dreams its not fun... not fun at all

06.26.09 sobriety give it a chance...
116 days strong

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] deaner-569-720485 14 years ago

Let's just say pot didn't really help this guy dealing with emotions. I've come to the point where i ask myself why i smoke, and i really can't come up with an answer. So i jumped off the train before i've realized i never really had one.

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[–] johnhughes1977 14 years ago

All of this about marijuana being addictive is off the point. everything is bad for you in excess. i'm just saying that this movie made pot seem like a horrible drug, when in fact its not that horrible.

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[–] robert_lorello 14 years ago

Here's the thing. Some people have personalities in which they need to blame something for their problems, then get rid of it to 'make a change' and get better. While this works, I assure you, pot had nothing to do with your addiction. It could have just as well been driving fast, eating carrots, or anything else. I personally have stopped smoking pot for months, and sometimes even years at a time because I either needed to, or just didn't have the time for it in my life. I've had friends who have had to do the same thing, and the one thing we were all very amazed about was how easy it was to do so. Even with friends right around us smoking the good ol' ganja, we were able to fully resist with only the slightest temptation at times, such as the temptation to rob a bank. You personally had a problem, and you used marijuana as the scape goat, but that is probably only stemming from your negative view on marijuana in the first place. I have done extensive research on the subject of marijuana and have had a lot of experience and I promise you that the stereotypes the people you know were fulfilling are not the actual affects of marijuana but instead just what certain people attempt to find through marijuana. Your friends probably wanted to not care, wanted to seem dazed and confused, and, like yourself, had a mental problem they were just trying to not face head on.

"Travelling, Swallowing, Dramamine."

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[–] justanuva 14 years ago

You're right. Just because a drug is not physically addictive, it does not mean it is not psychologically addictive. I was a chainer for years.

Yep, stay strong, hope it goes well

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[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cormac_zoso 9 years ago

you cannot get PHYSICALLY addicted to marijuana (unlike heroin/narcotics) ... you can get MENTALLY addicted to anything (such as work, posting on IMDB, etc) ...

but yes, how TV, hollywood, the USA Gov't, high school health classes, any organized religion, almost any media outlet, and even a college-level drug course that was a required class ALL portray marijuana as the bogey-man drug "with its roots in hell" as advertised in the drug-ploitation movie we all have probably seen or heard of, "Reefer Madness", released in 1936 ... not much has changed about the attitude of this herb in the USA certainly ... even using marijuana in a medicinal way is demonized by this collective and seemingly self-perpetuating ignorance that is described as "common knowledge" by the previously-mentioned groups (btw, "common knowledge" may be common but it more often than not is not knowledge) ...

why people will not accept the true facts about marijuana is beyond me save for the fact that as an American i can attest to the fact that Americans will almost never change their mindset about anything they already think is true, even if it is presented in the most obvious propaganda methods ...

i am not an innocent bystander who has never succombed to these propaganda methods as evidenced by my many years as a fan of the Chicago Cubs and believing that this is the year they will finally win it all ... sad but true ... i am currently undergoing reprogramming therapy for this problem so i have sought out professional help ...

but just one more serious comment: please seek out the true truth when some talking head on TV, etc, maintain that they are the one and only truth in the matter ...

take care,
cormac

"I don't do chatty. Quiet and mean ... these are my people."
-- Nurse Jackie

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[–] crazy-dany 14 years ago

The reason he was so down and looked like *beep* was because of his wife not because of the pot, if anything pot was helping him cope and get through a day of misery.

And you guys saying it's not addictive is *beep* it's totally addictive, just like sugar and caffein. People just have to stop comparing or even associating weed with stronger drugs.

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[–] monk420_uk 14 years ago

You can be very dependent on marijuana I know that from personal experiences. It's not an addiction but it's a dependency. He was self medicating and i think it showed it pretty well

I really enjoyed this film.

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[–] jimjobob 14 years ago

I think, and I could be wrong, please correct me if I am; but I think I get what you are trying to say in that marijuana does not cause physical addiction. I will grant you that. But to conclude, in light of this fact, that it is not an addiction is misleading. An addiction doesn't have to have physical symptoms for it to be classified as such. That can be a part of it, but it isn't a requirement.

I'm not just trying to nitpick either. I'm not trying to prove you wrong or anything. I just think when you qualify it with a statement such as "it's not an addiction, but it's a dependency," you downplay the situation. Not EVERYONE gets crazy addicted to drugs. In fact, most people who do drugs don't. But for those who do, it doesn't really matter what the drug is, just anything that makes you feel different. Which is exactly what we saw in this movie: he didn't want to face the feelings about his wife committing suicide.

So while the OP may be right in his(her?) technical assertion that marijuana isn't "that bad of a drug" as far as physical consequences, sure I can agree with that. But what is more important is how it affects the person's life. In the case of the movie, he was really falling apart and seemed on the edge of losing it. It doesn't matter if he wasn't OD'ing from it, his life was in shambles nonetheless.

So while marijuana may not be a problem for the OP and it's no big deal or whatever, great. But just recognize that it doesn't have to be some "hard" drug with major physical consequences to *beep* your life up.

Oh, and BTW in case you were wondering about it not being an addiction, don't take my word for it. Refer to the DSM-IV:

DSM-IV Substance Dependence Criteria
Substance dependence is defined as a maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring any time in the same 12-month period:

1. Tolerance, as defined by either of the following: (a) A need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or the desired effect or (b) Markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance.
2. Withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following: (a) The characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance or (b) The same (or closely related) substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.
3. The substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended.
4. There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use.
5. A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain the substance, use the substance, or recover from its effects.
6. Important social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use.
7. The substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance (for example, current cocaine use despite recognition of cocaine-induced depression or continued drinking despite recognition that an ulcer was made worse by alcohol consumption).

http://www.sis.indiana.edu/DSM-IV-Criteria.aspx

Substance abuse/dependence/addiction we are just playing semantics if we try to differentiate.

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[–] blammo_kaboom 14 years ago

well, to put it simply...

using ANYTHING to escape from your problems is a bad idea..

pot is habit forming but not addictive and it's NOT at all like Tobacco addiction, you can get Dependant on ANYTHING, exercise, sex, food and feel awful when you are deprived of that crutch as you no longer have that "emotional masking agent" so called "protecting you" from the problems that you are trying to avoid..

but POT is hands down the LEAST harmful intoxicating drug there is, safer than smoking and alcohol... that's a clinical and scientific fact.

can smoking too much pot cause mental and health problems? yes! so can too much COFFEE! (and coffee can cause dramatic health and mental problems, ever get a caffeine headache cause you are in withdrawal? ever get the depression of the low that comes after coffee's high?

anything can be abused and misused, and anything can be used as an avoidance with dealing with deeper emotional problems.. even video games, masturbation, exercise.... but all those also have HEALTHY uses as well, so does POT, or Alcohol... if USED properly and NOT abused...

the plain and simple fact here is that POT isn't the problem in this man's life, as in that it's not the CAUSE of it at all, his ABUSE of pot is just a symptom of a deeper emotional problem... Yes, he would need to stop using POT as a way to avoid dealing with his problems and his depression but POT isn't what's causing this man's problems, it's his depression which he's self medicating WITH the Pot to try and relieve...

I don't even smoke pot and haven't for over 12 years and even before that I wasn't ever a big pot smoker but I lived with and were friends with heavy pot smokers and saw it's effects on them first hand... not really a bad thing, yeah, if you smoke it all the time for an extended period of time, your body will get used to being that way and it will rebel when you change your routine (Ie. stop smoking pot).. but POT even as an escape or an addiction (and I've seen some of the nastiest one's happen to people I've known), is STILL the least harmful of anything else out there... to the person themselves or to the people around them... in fact, I'd much rather catch my daughter, when she grows up as she's 4, smoking pot than drinking!

do I think everyone should be stoned 24/7? no! do I think that people with important jobs such as bus drivers or the like go to work stoned? Hell NO! but do I find any sort of problem with someone coming home from a hard day of work and toking up or occationally toking up on the weekends? not one bit, people already do it with alcohol.. is it for everybody? Nope! it's not even for me, tho I might again smoke it if the mood hits me...

and I'm not even going into the medical benefits of it, cause I saw that first hand with my wife who went through three cancers and almost a year straight of radiation therapy in under three years with whom the compazine shots did absolutely NOTHING for her and she was totally miserable and wasting away but I'd make her a batch of brownies or cookies with pot in them or in emergency cases have a small bit of pot for her to smoke and the beneficial effect was amazing.. I wasn't even a total believer in the medical pot issue and we didn't do it for a few months at first but then decided "what the hell, nothing else has been working" and now I'm a true believer in it. I saw it first hand. she could live her life, eat, and not be constantly puking or so nauseous that all she could do was lay down...

the fact that this drug is still demonized is totally amazing to me... I've tried it, I've seen it's effects, I've felt it's effects, and I've seen it's benefits for those who need it medically... I'm not some hippy stoner or a teenager or even a pot smoker and even I can see that it's not a bad thing at all... when used correctly, like anything else...

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[–] alchemist83 14 years ago

HEELLLLLOOOOO! moron. it doesn't make weed look like heroin. go smoke some weed. if u cant understand the effects portrayed by kevin spacey's character then u obviously havent snmoked that much weed, lightweight. please cease from making any further comments on things u no nothing about. why? cos thats "BULLSH*T".

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[–] frequency-2 14 years ago

At least it showed that reefer is something that won't kill you just because you abuse it, as opposed to alcohol or cigarettes, or alcohol AND cigarettes, or my personal favorite- coffee and brandy and cream and an unfiltered Camel.

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[–] Phanatic77 14 years ago

First off, the shrink was not addicted to Pot.
He was going through a phase, and the Pot was a component in how he dealt with grief. Pot was proven to not contain addictive chemicals, and any addiction resulting from extensive use of pot is purely psychological. It is no more addictive than playing video-games, internet, instant messaging and even posting on message boards. The physical component is simply not there. However, pot is dangerous because it is generally referred to as the 'gateway' drug. Basically that is the drug which most likely ease one into use of heavier and far more addictive drugs. And further, Cocain and Heroin are very physically addictive, however some scientists assert that Tobacco is actually far more addictive than any of those. The difference in what side-effects those have on humans.

Yes, cutting yourself from pot might be psychologically hard or intense is some cases, but it is no-where nearly as painful as detoxing from a real addiction such tobacco, booze, overeating, and yes even sex (nymphomania)

And there's even a reference in the movie with Robin William's character. He claims he is addicted to Sex while the Shrink insists that he is an Alcoholic.

Carter was not addicted to pot, he was a pothead for a while though.

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[–] beecee101 12 years ago

Let me put it in a nutshell. If you are an alcoholic or a benzo-fiend. If you are suddenly stopped you very well may die from the withdrawals. Pothead like crazy you will live. It will be horrible for awhile but nothing like deaths caused by mismanaged de-tox. from alcohol/benzos. As far as the opiate fiends, at least they can get up and complain instead of puking everything up in an emmisys bowl/bucket.

Back to the movie, I liked it.

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[–] rage3426 14 years ago

johnhughes is one of the only ones talking sense here, i cant even read all the posts. just because something is addictive doesn't mean it's inherently bad. and yes there's no chemical in marijuana that causes physical addiction, but still, people can get psychologically addicted to tv, gambling, internet, of course they can get addicted to marijuana. should we make all these things illegal? no that's retarded. bit of a misrepresentation in this movie, but i still liked it (kevin spacey makes any movie good). at least when cheech and chong make stoners look dumb and lazy, it's meant as satire (sadly not everyone really gets that).

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[–] brian-tipton 14 years ago

Yea, it actually kind of does. I didn't think so until about 1:12:05 but then Spacey goes on TV.

This movie sucks.blah blah blah.

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[–] assassin221 14 years ago

I disagree, I think its representation was entirely believable. Granted, I have never seen or heard of anyone who smoked as regularly as this guy did while maintaining a professional life, but he had major emotional problems and it's a movie so of course they'll dramatize it a little bit.

But the way he was affected by it made sense to me. You'll notice despite constant smoking he was pretty functional for the most part, he could still work and go to the store and do the things he needed to do in life. But he also seemed kind of spacy (no pun intended) and distant and seemed kind of stuck in a rut mentally, and I think all that fits.

Some people have argued on here, and I somewhat agree, that marijuana really doesn't provide an escape from serious emotional problems and could even make them seem more overwhelming. But one of the most interesting things about weed is that it's so hard to sum up it's effects because it affects different people different ways at different times depending on a variety of factors. I smoke pretty often but it would be hard for me to explain to someone who doesn't know exactly what weed does. So while I don't think it would work for me like it did for him, I still found the portrayal pretty plausible.

All that said, I really didn't like the movie all that much, but I didn't have problem with that particular aspect of it. At least they didn't make him all crazy, confused and laughing hysterically for no reason, like so many other films do.

"I am Jack's wasted life."

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[–] rage3426 14 years ago

I disagree, I think its representation was entirely believable. Granted, I have never seen or heard of anyone who smoked as regularly as this guy did while maintaining a professional life, but he had major emotional problems and it's a movie so of course they'll dramatize it a little bit.

what about people who have glaucoma or some other medical condition, where they need to smoke very often? none of these people are able to hold jobs or lead a normal life? i call bullcrap. doctors smoke, lawyers smoke, business executives, etc. I've seen documentaries where people with jobs higher paying than most people ever get, advocate that their medical marijuana is what allows them to be productive and lead a normal life. i doubt all these people are full of crap, there's just too many. there's nothing in marijuana that makes people lazy, that's pretty clear. and thc is thc, there's no variable, sure it may effect people differently, but not that extreme come on! even if you don't have a medical condition, marijuana cannot by itself make people incapable of normal emotional regulation or anything like that. based on what we as a people know of drugs and psychopharmacology, that just doesn't make sense. i think marijuana should be innocent until proven guilty, and the researchers trying to discredit it have thus far been unsuccessful. ironically (to some), the best support for marijuana has been education.

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[–] dark_faith69 14 years ago

The movie actually shows that he is not addicted to weed.
The guy who nearly OD'd had to go to rehab because he was on all kinds of drugs.
Kevin Spacey just flushed his stash, and got on with his life. Because he realized that always being in an altered state was keeping him from moving forward.
I don't think it was an anti-pot movie. But he was hitting those joints like he wanted to die! And he was drinking a lot too, which, in my opinion, is way worse than smoking.

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