this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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[โ€“] isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

With drug addiction, it is often very much literally not your choice.

[โ€“] obvs@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
  1. The human body naturally produces endocannabinoids.

  2. Endocannabinoids are something that helps the person calm down, reduce stress, and deal with pain.

  3. Marijuana has two main things in it: THC, and CBD.

  4. OMG THC GETS YOU HIGH!

  5. But CBD is Cannabidiol, which acts on the body in the same way that endocannabinoids do.

  6. There are groups of people whose bodies congenitally have fewer endocannabinods than most other people. Starting day one of their lives. Naturally. People who have never touched marjiuana since the day they were born. (Oh, and this group of people also tends to be congenitally extremely forgetful because their brain naturally doesn't have enough dopamine, and also tends to be congenitally lacking motivation because their brain naturally doesn't have enough noreperinepherine.)

So if one of these people uses marijuana and their body then has the cannabinoids that other people just naturally have, do you believe that person is an addict, or do you believe that person is basically taking a supplement for something their body doesn't naturally produce?

And if they're just trying to get to the level that other people naturally already have in their body?

Or how about this:

Meth has two main effects:

Remember the two chemicals I referenced above?

(Oh, and this group of people also tends to be congenitally extremely forgetful because their brain naturally doesn't have enough dopamine, and also tends to be congenitally lacking motivation because their brain naturally doesn't have enough norepinephrine.)

Well, funny coincidence. Because those are the two chemicals that meth affects. Meth has two effects:

  1. Meth tells a person's brain "Don't use all of this up." And then the dopamine and norepinephrine stick around for a lot longer.

  2. But meth also tells a person's brain "Release as much dopamine and norepinephrine as possible."

Usually, when people have a natural dopamine deficiency and norepinephrine deficiency, doctors give them a drug called "methylphenidate". And wouldn't you know it, methylphenidate treats the symptoms by doing the same as number one.

Isn't that a weird coincidence? That people are becoming addicted to the thing that treats the congenital deficiency they had from the first moment of their life?

Or maybe a significant number of people whose body has chronic shortages of a certain chemical might not be "addicted" to that chemical as much as they are just finding out that their body would prefer to have the one chemical that everybody naturally has and their own doesn't?