ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the drugs have particular adaptive or defensive functions which help to explain their differential use by particular types of individuals within the overall drug-using population. In spite of the fact that marijuana has consistently been the most widely used of all illicit drugs, relatively little attention has been given to identifying the functions which this substance plays in the adaptation of those who use it. The chapter provides considerable insight into the adaptive significance of marijuana for these young people, the adaptation of adolescents is often highly fluid and this applies to their drug use as well. It also provides a valuable perspective on the adaptive significance and consequences of chronic marijuana usage against which our findings regarding adolescents may be compared and contrasted. The intensive interviews with these youngsters provided psychodynamic evidence of both the self-destructive nature of their marijuana abuse and the sources of that self-destructiveness.
