Arresting people for medicinal ganja use - like "arresting a mother for stealing baby milk for a hungry child", police say

[gemguy]

20 hours ago, JayBeeee said:

 

Hi, Gemguy.

Thanks for your entertaining contribution to the discussion; I thought I was reading something from the Comedy Store at times... no offense, but I have to ask if you were resorting to a  Rick Mayallesque kind of sarcasm (irony to Americans), or were you being serious? Either way, you've clearly given this a lot of thought!

I agree with some of your recommendations, like decriminalising cannabis (with or without the "medicinal" prefix/justification), government promoting it's many uses, and... er!...ummm!  Well those two are very good points indeed!

HOWEVER! regarding a few others, I'm in complete, though respectful, disagreement; like being "a registered card carrying user", the concept of, "legitimate suppliers", or having to be "licensed to make your own", as well as, "licensed to use". Then  there's suppliers being "registered", though I have no problem with them having to declare any profits in their tax return, if that's the preference of the people and that will is being fulfilled by their democratically electected representatives. Then there's the concepts of a "retail price", a "grower's licence"(again), a "licence fee", a "seller's licence" and a limited amount being "allowed"; making it "a legit consumer product"; the use of the words, "ounce" and and "kilo" in the same sentence, and the misuse of the word "confiscation" in that same sentence when 'theft under threat of violence and kidnapping' would be more appropriate.

A well balanced presentation, though many of the 'pot-head-haters' might feel that they were somewhat unrepresented, but all-in-all, a bloody good job!

 

If I may offer a little a few suggestions, should you feel the need to share you ideas on this matter again.

Find a nice quiet spot and have a smoke (only a little if it's your first time, and only if you haven't been drinking alcohol)... re-read your post... sit with it for an hour or two... then come back and share your thoughts with us.

 

Most  of those things that I suggested is what has developed in the USA and Canada

You can obtain a medical users license for a small fee and then buy your grass for medical use or the same marijuana for recreational use...so a percent of the card carrying users obtain a card for medicinal reasons  but actually they have no medical condition while the doctors in general are issuing the licenses without any serious scrutiny.

The pot shops have to be legally registered and they are ...and more than likely insured in some form.

In some states you can obtain a license and grow your own for personal use

If a users is caught with more than a certain amount of Marijuana the marijuana is taken away and the police can choose to reprimand you or fine you....but no jail time... and no prosecution in general...but if you have say 50 kilos of it then you are going to be held accountable for suspected drug trafficking unless you can show them a legit growers license for ( that state.) ...so there is developing a degree of interstate drug trafficking evolving in neighboring states that still remain illegal to cultivate or supply or consume

If it is in another state that remains illegal then you are considered trafficking but in many of those states a small amount of marijuana for personal use is in general ignored and the user is not prosecuted.....but many times the users are apprehended for other crimes, minor or major and found with Marijuana and or other drugs on them and when prosecuted they plead guilty to the marijuana charges and go down on the record as prosecuted and imprisoned for marijuana rather than say the harder drugs or a more serious crime that they have committed and final apprehended for.

If you are a licensed pot grower and a incorporated company then you are required to pay taxes.

At present the retail sales of marijuana is taxed while other business aspects are taxed also generating revenues for the local and state government entities.

If you do not follow the regulations and laws  then you could be fined and or jailed...

The legal age is 21 in the legal states.

Problem is, the underage consumers make up about 10 to 15 % of the users from state to state....so there is a growing black market supplying the underage users as they still buy their drugs...and remain illegal in doing so.

Many pro pot advocated claim that the retail cost of the drug will come way down in price based on the supply and demand theory ...but so far retail prices have not come down too much if you look at the data compiled so it is still lucrative for illegal marijuana traffickers to sell their marijuana to the underage percent and to anyone that wants to buy their drugs at a lower price that is attractive enough for some people to buy off the illegal supplier...because that IS happening ...although it is not significant in the volumes it is happening in the legal states.

If the prices do ever come down to say 20 dollars to maybe 50 dollars an ounce then the illegal drug traffickers will be eliminated.

 

The are now enforcing the drugging and driving laws more often ...now that it is legal in several states while they will come up with more accurate scientific means to detect the level of impairment  ( lets say intoxication ) for obvious safety reason ...but ...the police view the enforcement of the drugging and driving laws as a lucrative source of extra revenues while more than likely you are going to see some stiff fines applied more so than being jailed ...but you will go down on record as having violated a drug consumption law and have a criminal record same as drinking and driving.

 

There is more but we are finally witnessing the evolution of legally cultivated and supplied and consumed marijuana for both recreational purposes and medicinal purposes

 

Cheers

[nisakiman]

11 hours ago, Inn Between said:

 

You can't put need and want together like they're interchangeable. Sure it's convenient for your argument to do that, but they're vastly different in meaning. 'Need' refers to necessity and requirement whereas  'want' talks only about desire. I need oxygen to live. It's not a matter of wanting it. I may want a fancy and expensive new car, but I certainly don't need one.

 

Hence, the huge difference between physical addiction like you get from habitual use of more harmful things like cigarettes, alcohol, opiates, etc. and psychological addiction. I've seen a relative go through severe DT's from trying to quit alcohol. It can be severe enough to kill. But I don't recall anybody suffering anything like that when dry spells hit and there was no weed around for sometimes weeks at a time. People just accepted it -- with a bit of whining, of course. 

 

Sorry, but although tobacco is habit-forming, it's certainly not addictive. How many pack a day smokers wake every hour during the night for their 'fix'? How many smokers have to be stretchered off a plane after a long-haul flight? How many smokers suffer withdrawal symptoms (I mean real withdrawal symptoms, not just tetchiness) if they don't have a cigarette for 24 hrs? I think you'll find the answer to all those is a definite "NONE".

 

The 'nicotine addicts' meme so beloved of the anti-tobacco mob is a deliberate construct in the propaganda war on smokers, and has as much validity as referring to 'chocolate addicts' in the latest finger-wagging, interfering war by the health fascists on fatties.

[teacherpaul]

On 25/08/2016 at 9:17 PM, nisakiman said:

 

You should perhaps get your facts in order before posting.

 

" ...cigarettes contain thousands of harmful chemicals like arsenic..."

 

Yes, we hear much about chemicals like arsenic and the like in cigarette smoke. What they don't mention, though, is that there is more arsenic in a single glass of water than there is in a pack of 20 cigarettes. The anti-smoking mob are masters of omission. They have developed it into an art form. All effective propaganda must have a grain of truth, however small. You will find that the same applies to just about every 'chemical' found in tobacco smoke. Some of those '4000 chemicals' can't even be detected, they are just theorised. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good propaganda putsch?

 

What you should be saying is that smoking marijuana is no more harmful than smoking tobacco. That is to say, some people will suffer from respiratory problems if they use (smoke) either if they have a genetic susceptibility, but for most people, it won't be a problem if their use is moderate. But despite what pro-dope/anti-tobacco zealots claim, ganja is just as damaging to your lungs as tobacco. That is, not very, but there is that potential.

 

Ganja was widely and easily available in Thailand in the early seventies when I first visited. And excellent quality, too. I was offered a bong just about everywhere I went. There were no kids f*cked up on yaba in those days. But as soon as they decided to clamp down on ganja (doubtless at the behest of the UN, the WHO and similar unaccountable rabble), that's when the 'drug problems' started. Same all over the world. Misguided wannabe Do-Gooders who have no idea of the unintended consequences of their interference in other people's lives. Nor do they have any idea of what it is they want to prohibit, never having tried it. It's enough to know that people enjoy it to want to ban it.

 

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

 

H L Mencken

 

 

My facts are correct. I never said how much arsenic there are in cigarettes. However, it is a scientific fact that smoking cigarettes is far worse than smoking weed. You are clearly one of these individuals who gets some kind of smugness from disagreeing with people just for the sake of it.

[nisakiman]

30 minutes ago, teacherpaul said:

My facts are correct. I never said how much arsenic there are in cigarettes. However, it is a scientific fact that smoking cigarettes is far worse than smoking weed. You are clearly one of these individuals who gets some kind of smugness from disagreeing with people just for the sake of it.

 

Exactly.

You didn't say how much arsenic was in cigarettes.

Just as Tobacco Control never says how much arsenic is in cigarettes.

 

But the inference is, of course, that there are damaging amounts of arsenic in cigarettes, yes? Because otherwise, why mention it?

 

You wouldn't think to comment on the fact that there are measurable amounts of arsenic in water, would you? Why should you? Those measurable amounts are quite within the human body's tolerance. In fact, arsenic is an essential part of our chemical structure. The first rule of toxicology is that 'the dose makes the poison'. But you mentioned it in such a fashion that to the casual reader it would seem that those amounts are dangerous.

 

That is called lying by omission.

 

I disagree with people not 'for the sake of it', but when they try to deceive. I get no pleasure from it. But I hate being lied to, and I don't see why people like yourself who try to deceive shouldn't be exposed for the deceptive manipulators that you are.

 

Quote

However, it is a scientific fact that smoking cigarettes is far worse than smoking weed.

 

Find me the 'scientific fact', the research that says so.

 

And even if you can, I'm sure a few minutes on the internet will provide me with research that refutes that statement.

[Inn Between]

6 hours ago, nisakiman said:

 

Sorry, but although tobacco is habit-forming, it's certainly not addictive. How many pack a day smokers wake every hour during the night for their 'fix'? How many smokers have to be stretchered off a plane after a long-haul flight? How many smokers suffer withdrawal symptoms (I mean real withdrawal symptoms, not just tetchiness) if they don't have a cigarette for 24 hrs? I think you'll find the answer to all those is a definite "NONE".

 

The 'nicotine addicts' meme so beloved of the anti-tobacco mob is a deliberate construct in the propaganda war on smokers, and has as much validity as referring to 'chocolate addicts' in the latest finger-wagging, interfering war by the health fascists on fatties.

 

It seems that believing cigarettes aren't addictive or even very harmful is important to you, as shown by this statement you made in another post, "...there is more arsenic in a single glass of water than there is in a pack of 20 cigarettes." That's a very broad statement -- inferring that ALL water has that level of arsenic in it. It's true that arsenic is naturally occurring and dangerous levels do show up in some water sources, but certainly not all. 

 

That doesn't really matter though, and I didn't add it to the list of addictive substances to make you or other cigarette smokers feel bad about their "habit". If it makes you feel better believing ciggies aren't addictive or even terribly unhealthy, that's fine. I only ask that you don't try to get children or young non-smokers to believe it as well. I can't help but think that of the 480,000 or so deaths attributed to tobacco use in the USA in 2015, some of those deaths were legitimately caused by cigarettes. 

[Andreas2]

What an "unfortunate" choice to compare

- (medicinal) use of ganja with

- stealing something for whatever reason (e. g. "being forced to").

 

And this from a representative of the crime suppression police... Since when is stealing, any stealing, an acceptable social behaviour? Does this expert not realise that the victim (the person, maybe also very poor, who the baby milk was stolen from) has a financial damage? Which are the circumstances under which it is up to the police (or whichever entity that enforces / represents the rights of a victim) to not enforce legitimate rights?

 

What would be wrong with just saying: " Arresting people for ganja use is like arresting a mother, who can not breast feed (and thus "being forced"), for using baby milk"?

In this case, BOTH examples would represent victimless behaviours... And could explain why it should not be the police's business to go after ganja users in the first place.

 

Quote

Crime Suppression Division police or CSD have clearly stated that ganja use does not promote criminal behavior.

 

Right! Then why destroy this correct reasoning with such an improper example? Sad.

[JayBeeee]

-I don't know why ganja and tobacco are being used as opposing tools of war here. I've been smoking cigarettes since I was 8 yrs old, when it was completely acceptable and enthusiastically glamourised and promoted everywhere my little eyes looked, and most people fell for it. I have never been able to shake the addiction for more than a month. The dangers of smoking tobacco are widely known nowadays and I'm happy to see that a far smaller percentage of younger people have started smoking it. Apart from feeding the addiction there is no benefit to be had from smoking tobacco; well, not to the smoker, that is; governments, global tobacco producers and pharmaceutical giants make vast fortunes from the addiction and ill-health of the victims of tobacco smoking.

While ganja probably does have physical side-effects, I don't really care! The benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. I think what governments and other control-freaks might be scared of is that smoking weed frees the mind and they risk losing their control of the minds of the masses. I'm certainly not the moronic basket case that the multiude of ignorant haters believe smoking ganja has turned me into.

I say, let people alone to live their lives as they choose; if they are aware of the dangers then they can make an informed choice in whatever they do; It's more than I had as a child; but it is their life!

I've been smoking weed for all my adult life. One of the benefits is that I'm no longer the moron that fell for the great tobacco con as a child. I think for myself and ignore any attempt to control me and deny my right to live and think how I choose, not how I'm told.

[ClutchClark]

"Was excelllent for treating children with fits".

 

Great idea.

 

So is a shot of whiskey in their baby formula. 

 

Maybe some Bendryl for the little one. 

 

There are numerous studies which clearly suggest THC consumption on children while they are still developing is a terrible thing.

[JayBeeee]

It will take generations of free thinking to overcome the brainwashed masses who believe whatever their conditioning has embedded into them.

[JayBeeee]

But first, that free-thinking has to begin, and it starts with what I consider to be the first rule of Buddhism, by questioning our own beliefs.

[charmonman]

Maybe someone more knowledgable on the subject can comment but from what I remember reading in various sources, marijuana was made illegal for very dubious reasons in the first place.

 

In the US it was made illegal in an atmosphere of hysteria and racism about it being brought into the country by Mexicans who were, of course, morally inferior to white Americans (they're murderers, they're rapists).

 

A similar process happened in the UK. 

 

In the most of rest of the world, the legal prohibition against it was brought in largely from outside pressure from the League of Nations, the British Empire, and the power of the US government. If not for that it would probably never have been prohibited in many parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America where it had been used for centuries with no major problems.

 

Also, I believe conservative Islam has long had a problem with it because of its use by the Sufis who they consider to be heretics.

[ThaiTony2]

On August 24, 2016 at 11:03 PM, chefseph said:

With no disrespect, from your post I deduce you're a drawling loud mouthed gum chewing cola drinking Texan  I still say that nature in Thailand has the potential to grow some of the best weed . 

 

Dear Mr. Ridiculous Ridicule,  what's with the personal attack?  "With no disrespect." 

You sir,  have no respect.  People don't just begin their reply with a personal attack unless they have some mental deficiency of the mind.  I'm sorry, normally I don't respond to such an antagonistic person but it's interesting to me when I rarely come across someone like you, that clearly displays ignorance to such a large audience.  I just could not resist to put that mirror of reflection in front of your face, so it becomes clear to you how you treat others. It also makes me curious of what you think of yourself.

 

In your reply, you speak about 'potential.'  Try speaking about current facts. You can't.  You can't prove anything you state. Why is that?  Like I said, mental deficiency and boredom.  Obviously you are so bored with your existence that you feel compelled to write all untruths, disrespect and attempt to ridicule others.  Not one thing that you wrote has any truth or credibility.  Think about it... Very sad is a person such as this.  

 

All talk but you can't back it up. You can't prove anything of what you speak.  You should feel ashamed of what you've become.  You don't even know me and you chose to ridicule a person you know nothing about.  Being judgmental, you have already taken a negative and unhealthy first step to being a decent person of character.  You have taken your second step and clearly have shown that your choices are unwise.  

 

Maybe you are not yet an adult that has grown-up, maybe you're just a teenager, if so, maybe that's your excuse...

 

Oh, and btw, you couldn't be further from the truth.  There's no one here chewing gum and drinking soda, and I'm from NY not Texas. Why would you choose to bash and talk trash about people from Texas?  (Please don't answer me.  You need to ask yourself that question.)

 

Again, it just goes to show how bored you are as a person.  You reply to posts with inaccurate statements and try to make it personal when my initial post had nothing to do with a personal attack.

 

It's people like you that give this site bad publicity.  Try coming back when you grow up a bit more.

 

 

[ClutchClark]

On August 24, 2016 at 11:03 PM, chefseph said:

With no disrespect, from your post I deduce you're a drawling loud mouthed gum chewing cola drinking Texan  I still say that nature in Thailand has the potential to grow some of the best weed . 

 

Which part of this is intended to be insulting?

 

The only part most Texans would find insulting is to be accused of chewing gum.

 

Texans chew tobacco.

[thesetat2013]

Thailand making ganja legal for medical use Is the same as legalizing it to everyone since the only thing you will need is a doctor's prescription which can be easily bought for the price of a visit to the clinic. Since almost all the hospital doctors run their own clinics on the side, it will be impossible to control. So they may as well legalize it it to everyone

[JustNo]

On August 24, 2559 BE at 11:03 PM, chefseph said:

With no disrespect, from your post I deduce you're a drawling loud mouthed gum chewing cola drinking Texan  I still say that nature in Thailand has the potential to grow some of the best weed . 

Do you understand how hydroponics, HPS lighting and other techniques work? As well as genetic engineering. The cannabis grown indoors on a professional level and even in some kids bedroom will yield a lot higher THC than most outdoor weed you can grow in Thailand. Not only that, pest control outdoors is hard to deal with without using a ton of chemicals. I grew a few strains back when I was a teen in my closet, AK47 being one of them, and that was easy to grow and strong as well 

[mike324]

4 hours ago, JustNo said:

Do you understand how hydroponics, HPS lighting and other techniques work? As well as genetic engineering. The cannabis grown indoors on a professional level and even in some kids bedroom will yield a lot higher THC than most outdoor weed you can grow in Thailand. Not only that, pest control outdoors is hard to deal with without using a ton of chemicals. I grew a few strains back when I was a teen in my closet, AK47 being one of them, and that was easy to grow and strong as well 

 

AK47  I remember my friend growing it in his balcony ....

[lust]

On August 24, 2016 at 9:43 AM, little mary sunshine said:

Pot heads and druggies, all go to

Cambodia.  You won't be missed

and Thailand will be much nicer

and safer....BYE!!!!!!

 

Lol.. I honestly feel bad for you...

[lust]

All the anti- marijuana drones can not be reasoned with. Don't even waste your time. It's funny because many of them drink alcohol. Luckily, most of them are from another era and time will dispose of their ignorance,

[JustNo]

15 minutes ago, lust said:

All the anti- marijuana drones can not be reasoned with. Don't even waste your time. It's funny because many of them drink alcohol. Luckily, most of them are from another era and time will dispose of their ignorance,

All of the stigma attached to weed has been engineered over the past century by specific corporations and people so that they can carry on with their financial gain. Everybody knows it is more or less harmful, and drastically safer than other substances such as alcohol cocaine etc. I think it is time for a change the world over and it has already begun in the US and Portugal, I also hope to add this Kingdom to the list soon enough.. Personally I have not smoked for a fair few years, and even if I wanted to I probably would make some cakes instead anyway lol

 

[Slip]

Quote

He said authorities were also studying the possibility of removing from the narcotics list kratom and marijuana, which could be classified as medicinal herbs.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Justice-minister-suggests-using-Article-44-to-decr-30294057.html

[HooHaa]

On 8/24/2016 at 10:43 AM, mike324 said:

now appointments with Khun Somchai will be 4 hours late instead of the usual 1-2 hours.

I think it should be allowed for medical use, but if they don't regulate it more and more kids will be hooked - its already bad enough in the current state with rampant use among high schoolers where schools don't carry out drug tests

 

hooked?

 

Is that your professional medical opinion, or just you speaking forth on a topic you barely understand?

[mike324]

9 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

 

hooked?

 

Is that your professional medical opinion, or just you speaking forth on a topic you barely understand?

 

I used the term loosely buddy, chill out this is not a medical forum, read page 8 if you didn't for those up in arms about me using the term "hooked".

[ClutchClark]

On August 27, 2016 at 5:44 AM, JayBeeee said:

It will take generations of free thinking to overcome the brainwashed masses who believe whatever their conditioning has embedded into them.

 

No kidding...it seems the hippy movement has left some very strange "urban myths" out there downplaying the dangers of recreational pot use in society. 

 

THC is a drug and needs to be respected like any other drug.

 

 

[ClutchClark]

On August 26, 2016 at 9:33 AM, gemguy said:

Most  of those things that I suggested is what has developed in the USA and Canada

You can obtain a medical users license for a small fee and then buy your grass for medical use or the same marijuana for recreational use...so a percent of the card carrying users obtain a card for medicinal reasons  but actually they have no medical condition while the doctors in general are issuing the licenses without any serious scrutiny.

The pot shops have to be legally registered and they are ...and more than likely insured in some form.

In some states you can obtain a license and grow your own for personal use

If a users is caught with more than a certain amount of Marijuana the marijuana is taken away and the police can choose to reprimand you or fine you....but no jail time... and no prosecution in general...but if you have say 50 kilos of it then you are going to be held accountable for suspected drug trafficking unless you can show them a legit growers license for ( that state.) ...so there is developing a degree of interstate drug trafficking evolving in neighboring states that still remain illegal to cultivate or supply or consume

If it is in another state that remains illegal then you are considered trafficking but in many of those states a small amount of marijuana for personal use is in general ignored and the user is not prosecuted.....but many times the users are apprehended for other crimes, minor or major and found with Marijuana and or other drugs on them and when prosecuted they plead guilty to the marijuana charges and go down on the record as prosecuted and imprisoned for marijuana rather than say the harder drugs or a more serious crime that they have committed and final apprehended for.

If you are a licensed pot grower and a incorporated company then you are required to pay taxes.

At present the retail sales of marijuana is taxed while other business aspects are taxed also generating revenues for the local and state government entities.

If you do not follow the regulations and laws  then you could be fined and or jailed...

The legal age is 21 in the legal states.

Problem is, the underage consumers make up about 10 to 15 % of the users from state to state....so there is a growing black market supplying the underage users as they still buy their drugs...and remain illegal in doing so.

Many pro pot advocated claim that the retail cost of the drug will come way down in price based on the supply and demand theory ...but so far retail prices have not come down too much if you look at the data compiled so it is still lucrative for illegal marijuana traffickers to sell their marijuana to the underage percent and to anyone that wants to buy their drugs at a lower price that is attractive enough for some people to buy off the illegal supplier...because that IS happening ...although it is not significant in the volumes it is happening in the legal states.

If the prices do ever come down to say 20 dollars to maybe 50 dollars an ounce then the illegal drug traffickers will be eliminated.

 

The are now enforcing the drugging and driving laws more often ...now that it is legal in several states while they will come up with more accurate scientific means to detect the level of impairment  ( lets say intoxication ) for obvious safety reason ...but ...the police view the enforcement of the drugging and driving laws as a lucrative source of extra revenues while more than likely you are going to see some stiff fines applied more so than being jailed ...but you will go down on record as having violated a drug consumption law and have a criminal record same as drinking and driving.

 

There is more but we are finally witnessing the evolution of legally cultivated and supplied and consumed marijuana for both recreational purposes and medicinal purposes

 

Cheers

 

I live in the state of Colorado where it is legal and has had much publicity both pro/con for a few years now. 

 

The above post is the most educated post on this thread.

 

thanks for making a great contribution to the thread on this topic.

[cncltd1973]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 10:43 AM, little mary sunshine said:

Pot heads and druggies, all go to

Cambodia.  You won't be missed

and Thailand will be much nicer

and safer....BYE!!!!!!

Thailand will be much nicer and safer if the ego alcoholics left instead. I'll take a pothead with a gun over an alcoholic any day

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If the entire Thai population was high on marijuana, would anyone notice any difference from normal?

 

The only difference I can see would be those now crazed on yabaa probably would be a lot more sane.

 

[little mary sunshine]

9 minutes ago, cncltd1973 said:

Thailand will be much nicer and safer if the ego alcoholics left instead. I'll take a pothead with a gun over an alcoholic any day

DRUGGIES..... Alcohol is a drug...off to Cambodia!!

[cncltd1973]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 1:10 PM, little mary sunshine said:

Teatree.  Those that remain in Thailand

after the druggies leave will be the ones

with money to enjoy fine dining, golf, 

theatre, concerts, with less threats

of being robbed, homes burglarized,

with safer roads because all the freaks

and druggies will be gone.

I get it, you're trolling: Little Mary Sunshine evangelical with the perfect Christmas children and her Reefer Madness era opinions. Busted!

[little mary sunshine]

45 minutes ago, cncltd1973 said:

I get it, you're trolling: Little Mary Sunshine evangelical with the perfect Christmas children and her Reefer Madness era opinions. Busted!

Just looking to have a nicer place to live with

the freaks and criminals that are always high

on come chemical out of the picture!

[shadmo63]

On 8/26/2016 at 0:22 PM, Inn Between said:

 

You can't put need and want together like they're interchangeable. Sure it's convenient for your argument to do that, but they're vastly different in meaning. 'Need' refers to necessity and requirement whereas  'want' talks only about desire. I need oxygen to live. It's not a matter of wanting it. I may want a fancy and expensive new car, but I certainly don't need one.

 

Hence, the huge difference between physical addiction like you get from habitual use of more harmful things like cigarettes, alcohol, opiates, etc. and psychological addiction. I've seen a relative go through severe DT's from trying to quit alcohol. It can be severe enough to kill. But I don't recall anybody suffering anything like that when dry spells hit and there was no weed around for sometimes weeks at a time. People just accepted it -- with a bit of whining, of course. 

Speaking from personal experience,  I would say that it falls somewhere between needing and wanting. There is a difficult period when the dry spell or abstinence hits. I think you are both somewhat correct. I had terrible insomnia and I desperately wanted/needed a good sleep. Certainly the physical addiction is not as strong as alcohol or opiates, but the psychological addiction can be compelling.