This is called REM rebound. The reason is that in this case the psychoactive drugs in cannabis act as sedatives. Similar to alcohol and other depressants, this makes it easier to fall asleep, but harder to enter the "deeper" stages of sleep like REM. So when you quit ingesting cannabis, your body tries to make up for your ongoing REM sleep deficit, and you have more/stronger dreams as a result

This what is happening to the top level commenter. I don't know if the nightmares in particular are a result of REM rebound, but it could be that the person is simply prone to nightmares, and part of their addiction could be self-medication for their innately nightmarish dreams.

Is there research for that?

I would imagine that people report fewer dreams due to cannabinoids' memory effects, rather than an impact on REM sleep. Failing to remember dreams does not mean an absence of them.

An increase in nightmares could easily be due to increased stress/amygdala function depressed by cannabinoids.

There is research[1] and I have already established that the nightmares come from an unrelated source such as PTSD.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18313952

The latter, many people with PTSD suffer basically flashback dreams. So they may smoke as a self medication, but the fear of an REM rebound causes physical symptoms when they don't smoke.

PTSD weed smoker here. Not the case whatsoever. If I don't smoke I don't suddenly have intense nightmares about my near death experience nor do I have a physical impetus to keep smoking. If I run out of weed I don't slip into the worst stages of PTSD.

It seems that there ate a ton of people speaking on behalf of both actual smokers and people with chronic illnesses and disorders.

If you don't have PTSD, you can't comprehend it, nor should you try to.

Top commenters issue is that they lack self control. Their "addiction" to weed is self imposed and akin to overeating or being addicted to masturbation.

When you stop smoking, you don't have withdrawals. You simply begin experiencing the chronic illnesses that you have been self medicating against.

I'd also like to add that for mental issues like anxiety, PTSD, and depression, weed acts like a mild antidepressant that is extremely manageable compared to the prescription options that typically make people even more unstable. Every antidepressant in America comes with a warning that it can increase suicidal tendencies, and I can tell you from experience that it is very true.

Those kinds of "medicines" work by making you numb, not treating the actual problems. You don't feel normal at all; you don't care about anything, become very reckless and unstable, and many kids end up killing themselves because of this mental state when they had taken the medicine to quell suicidal thoughts in the first place.

First and foremost, you are one person. Your experience does not represent the full range of experience, nor do anecdotes from people you've met.

Next, PTSD can cause flashbacks in several forms. Many people with the illness never have harmful flashback dreams.

I said that this is causing a mental addiction. So on top of everything effecting people differently, these require particular forms of thinking. If you don't know that marijuana can suppress dreams or use it for that purpose, you won't develop this addiction.

A mental addiction isn't a "lack of self control" or "self imposed" as you say. It works by a similar means to the placebo effect, where your belief that something has an effect leads to the effect.

>It seems that there ate a ton of people speaking on behalf of both actual smokers and people with chronic illnesses and disorders.If you don't have PTSD, you can't comprehend it, nor should you try to.

Seems to me that you shouldn't assume what diseases other people have suffered from. As you aren't the only one with first hand experience.

>Those kinds of "medicines" work by making you numb, not treating the actual problems

Though it's true that the prescribed alternatives are not cures, neither is marijuana. Both help you manage symptoms, but can lead to other problems. Therapy has been the only thing shown to be effective as a cure.

Yes. This isn't physical addiction. It can cause a mental addiction if you use it for that purpose, and the anxiety over going without can keep you awake. You see it in people with PTSD.

edit Curious why people are objecting to this as I have personal experience in the area. Vivid dreams are common any time you go without dreaming for a while, it's not a sign of a physical addiction.

Because you're pushing a distinction (physical vs psychological addiction) that is mostly irrelevant but also untrue.

There are many drugs that aren't strongly physically addictive, but most people recognise that the misuse of those drugs can cause severe harm. Cannabis should be in this category.

At no point do I suggest a mental addiction is less harmful, just that a distinction exists.

With a physical addiction, the substance itself becomes necessary to the body. A psychological addiction involves becoming reliant on a perceived effect of some other stimulus. If you give a brain dead person a physically addictive substance and then stop, they will suffer withdrawals while they can't develop a psychological addiction as there is no perception.

Generally, the two will develop together and both are harmful.

Misuse of Tylenol (acetaminophen) can cause severe harm. Doesn't mean it's addictive.

This is BS. Define the "severe harm" or stop making this argument.

There are a lot of people here speaking on behalf of smokers and people with chronic illnesses and disorders.

I happen to fall in both categories and self medicate.

I can and do stop smoking so the time. It is not physically addictive, and you can become mentally addicted to anything that gives you a dopamine release, like eating junk food.

I have never had "withdrawals," nor do I recognize weed "addiction" as anything other than excess, overindulgence, and a lack of self control.

People claiming that they are addicted to weed are simply looking to blame a bad habit for their lack of self control.

The only severe harm you can get from smoking too much weed is to your wallet.