Do you get addicted after the first time?

Specifically about marijuana : Please read http://www.soberrecovery.com/articles-library/marijuana_wake.html Many people who use marijuana have trouble quitting and experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, difficulty sleeping and anxiety. * Marijuana can lead to a host of health, social and behavioral problems at a crucial time in kids' lives. * Marijuana today is more potent and its effects can be more intense. The alleged addictive nature of drugs varies from substance to substance, and from individual to individual. Drugs such as codeine or alcohol, for instance, typically require many more exposures to addict their users than drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Likewise, a person who is psychologically or genetically predisposed to addiction is much more likely to suffer from it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_addiction No one knows how many times a person can use a drug without changing his or her brain and becoming addicted. A person's genetic makeup probably plays a role. But after enough doses, an individual's limbic system craves the drug as it craves food, water, or friends. Drug craving is made worse because of down regulation. Without a dose of the drug, dopamine levels in the drug abuser's brain are low. The abuser feels flat, lifeless, depressed. Without drugs, an abuser's life seems joyless. Now the abuser needs drugs just to bring dopamine levels up to normal levels. Larger amounts of the drug are needed to create a dopamine flood or high, an effect known as tolerance. By abusing drugs, the person has changed the way his or her brain works. Drug abuse and addiction lead to long-term changes in the brain. These changes cause addicted drug users to lose the ability to control their drug use. Drug addiction is a disease. There is no cure for drug addiction, but it is a treatable disease; drug addicts can recover. Drug addiction therapy is a program of behavior change or modification that slowly retrains the brain. Like people with diabetes or heart disease, people in treatment for drug addiction learn behavioral changes and often take medications as part of their treatment regimen. http://www.soberrecovery.com/articles-library/become_addict.html

BmB,

 Although i do agree that the large very well stated answer is in the right direction, it fails to capture the humnan element a bit... I have been around a host of habitual smokers and can tell you that the answer to your question has almost an infinite number of answers. Let me help you understand with a few examples...

 Me, for example - I DO NOT have an addictive personality in the slightest... never have. I have no prblem quitting anything cold turkey. I would say that i found smoking enjoyable, but not addictive. i didnt get cravings for more 20 minutes to an hour later, in fact, might first time i got quite ill... which made me hesitant to try it again. and i didnt.... for a VERY LONG TIME.

 my old room mate on the other hand, TOTALLY FLIPSIDE. you take that guys pipe away for 20 minutes and he'll go lookin for it.  

now i realize you are talking about one time, and a first time i assume, and as a level headed guy, i'm gonna have to lean towards no, you wont get addicted the first time... but that is also assuming you are trying it the first time just to kill some curiosity and help yourself make an informed decision about your feelings on smoking. Yet some people get addicted after thier first time simply because they have a predetermined  thought that smoking is what it takes to fit in, they never planed on stopping in the first place. information here is key. you can't read enough viewpoints.

hope this helps... wanted to give a more personal, not so much textbook answer.

- S! 

Remember this if you remember anything about my message. 
1 is to many and 1,000 is never enough.

I am a recovering adict.  Today I only have 53 days clean. This is the most clean time I have had since I started smoking pot when I was 14 years of age.  I am now 24.  Think about it for a minute... I started with using one time.  That is all it takes, expecially when you like the feelings it brings.  It is true what they say about it being the gateway drug I promise.

In the beging i said I would never do drugs. At 14 I was just going to smoke pot one time. (YEAH RIGHT!)

every time after that whenever it was around I was involved. Then it went to me buying it for me and my friends.  Then I was buying it for myself and smoking alone.

Later I tried alcohol, exstacy, cocain, meth, shrooms, and unawar what was being introduced to me I tried acid and crack!

Even though I was REALLY mad about not knowing what it was I realized that I was the one who put myself in that situation and I was the one dumb enough to trust a drug adict to tell me what I was really trieing.  All he was trying to do was get me hooked on another drug to make even more money and add to his "clientel."

Also know this, it is possible that anyone could have "laced" the weed.

This means that they could have added something like cocain or even rat poison,( I have been in both situations, really)anything to the weed befor you smoke it.  If you ever hear anyone say anything about a 51 run.

You dont have to take my advice, I am not telling you what to do.  Just if you do decide to try it, please, PLEASE!, get it from someone you trust will be honest with you and never except a joint, blunt or whatever that is already rolled up.

Good luck buddy! 

Remember this if you remember anything about my message. 
1 is to many and 1,000 is never enough.

I am a recovering adict.  Today I only have 53 days clean. This is the most clean time I have had since I started smoking pot when I was 14 years of age.  I am now 24.  Think about it for a minute... I started with using one time.  That is all it takes, expecially when you like the feelings it brings.  It is true what they say about it being the gateway drug I promise.

In the beging i said I would never do drugs. At 14 I was just going to smoke pot one time. (YEAH RIGHT!)

every time after that whenever it was around I was involved. Then it went to me buying it for me and my friends.  Then I was buying it for myself and smoking alone.

Later I tried alcohol, exstacy, cocain, meth, shrooms, and unawar what was being introduced to me I tried acid and crack!

Even though I was REALLY mad about not knowing what it was I realized that I was the one who put myself in that situation and I was the one dumb enough to trust a drug adict to tell me what I was really trieing.  All he was trying to do was get me hooked on another drug to make even more money and add to his "clientel."

Also know this, it is possible that anyone could have "laced" the weed.

This means that they could have added something like cocain or even rat poison,( I have been in both situations, really)anything to the weed befor you smoke it.  If you ever hear anyone say anything about a 51 run.

You dont have to take my advice, I am not telling you what to do.  Just if you do decide to try it, please, PLEASE!, get it from someone you trust will be honest with you and never except a joint, blunt or whatever that is already rolled up.

Good luck buddy! 

no.

you dont.

i have done it 4 times.

and seriously i really dont need it to be happy

i have a life but some times i just do it to get away from my usual problems so dont woorry,smoke or not.whatevezzzz.