At the risk of sounding pathetic, I'd have to say I think if I did not self medicate with cannabis there is a good chance I might not be sitting here typing this...the way I see it any psychological dependency I have to it would have to do with it providing relief more effectively than other things I have tried without as much debilitating effects. I don't feel worse going without it due to some stand alone dependence...its more like my default state kinda sucks, it provides relief so thus if I do not have access to it of course I 'crave' it but more due to relief it provides so I can function better and be less on edge. I have valium for anxiety attacks but if I take that then well, I can end up kinda 'drugged' for a while and rather useless when it comes to physical activity. Also its only for sever anxiety/panic attacks....so yeah if I relied only on that for anxiety then I'd still be stuck with feeling on edge the majority of the time just not in full blown panic mode.

I remember even as a kid having anxiety and depression, the stress headaches...when I got older and found cannabis helps that my thought was 'wow there is actually something that relieves this stuff so I feel half way at peace'....lets just say it is not as though I was doing well mentally, started smoking and now I have more severe issues more like I found it before those issues drove me entirely insane. If they can come up with a better anti-depressant/general anxiety relieving drug I would be more than willing to try it....

In any case I'd rather have a psychological dependency to cannabis, than little to no relief of symptoms/mental turmoil, but I also do not nessisarily see dependency as the same thing as addiction....since for instance in the medical sense if someone needs a medication to treat some condition that would otherwise kill them or cause very unpleasant symptoms I'd say they depend on it for that....not that they are 'addicted' in my opinion addiction is specifically if the substance is actually detrimental to the individual and they are unable to stop using it. That is not to say there are no risks/dangers associated with cannabis use or that it cannot be problematic for anyone....but sometimes I wonder what is expected of people who self medicate when the drugs they prescribe don't work.