Nearly destroyed by pot, former addict worries others will be hooked by legal marijuana

An eastern Newfoundland woman, who says marijuana use almost destroyed her, fears legalization of the drug will harm many more people.

• Liberals to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018
• Legalizing recreational marjiuana in Canada and what's at stake

"It makes me scared, angry and disappointed. I turned into an addict from weed and they're going to turn more people into me. Very sick people," she said.

I needed it to survive. I didn't care how it hurt other people. I didn't care what it was doing to me.- Jane Doe

"This is my problem with legalizing weed they are going to turn more people into addicts."

CBC News has agreed to protect her identity and callher Jane Doe.

She saidshe knows that most people who use marijuana don't become addicted to it or even dependent on it but JaneDoe saidshe'sproof that some people can become powerfully addicted to cannabis.

"Anything that you need in order to function is addictive," she said.

"I needed it to survive. I didn't care how it hurt other people. I didn't care what it was doing to me. That's an addict."

Doe has stopped using cannabisbut said there was a time when constant marijuana use had a profound, negative impact on her health. She stopped sleeping and eating and her weight dropped from about 300 pounds to104 pounds.

"All I did all day long was smoke weed.I'm just as bad an addict as a cocaine addict, as a heroinaddict, as an alcoholic."

Addictive personalities

The leader of a Conception Bay Northgroupthat helps people withaddictions said he has no doubt that Jane Doe is right.

"People do get addicted to it," saidJeff Bourne, the executive director of U-Turn, an addictions drop-in centre in Carbonear.

"I've got an addictive personality. So to me a drug is a drug, no matter ifit is alcohol, marijuana or cocaine. It is all addictive. So if some people got an addictive personality, well they're going to get addicted."

Bourne saidhe has mixed emotions about marijuana legalization. He hopes it will mean that people who use it will have access to a safe supply of cannabis that isn't mixed with other potentially dangerous substances.

Supported by science

Anaddictions prevention consultant with Eastern Health saidresearch supports the ideathat marijuana is addictive.

"The answer is yes. Absolutely, marijuana is anaddictive substance," saidWayne Bishop.

"Roughly 12 percent of Canadians used marijuana in the past year. Of that 12 per cent, we know that approximately nineper cent will develop some sort of substance-relateddisorder connected to the marijuana use."

Bishop saidresearch also shows thatmarijuana can be both psychologically and physically addictive.

He added that people who become addicted and then stop using cannabisdo experience withdrawal symptomssuch as body sweats, pain and physical discomfort.

They can also experience anxiety and stress, he said, as they go throughpsychologicalwithdrawal.