How addictive is marijuana, and how realistic is the perception that it is a soft drug?
The 2007 NSDUH reported that in 2006, among adults aged 18 or older who first tried marijuana at age 14 or younger, 12.9 percent were classified with illicit drug dependence or abuse, a considerably higher number than the percentage (2.2 percent) who had first used marijuana at age 18 or older. Marijuana also ranked first as the most reported illicit drug resulting in abuse/dependence. Early, frequent use of marijuana may be an independent risk factor for psychosiseven if use precedes the onset of schizophrenia or another form of psychosis. Marijuana may induce acute psychotic symptoms in vulnerable people and a persistent psychosis in some individuals who have not had prior signs of psychosis. Marijuana may also exacerbate psychosis in people with symptoms of schizophrenia, and these effects can persist after the drug is cleared from the body.7 As with other addictive drugs, heavy marijuana use has many health and social consequences. Heavy marijuana use into adulthood creates an expa
