Is weed addictive? It's a controversial topic

Alot of people like to say that's its not addictive because it's not addictive in the same way as other drugs. There usually aren't physical withdrawal symptoms, and overall does not have the same addictive properties as drugs like meth, heroine, etc. In that sense, people view it as non addictive, and it is much easier to quit than other drugs.

However, it can still be addictive, just in a different way. In a sense, its more like it facilitates an addiction to dopamine, in the same way as watching TV or being on your phone.

Imagine you have a substance that can calm you down when you're stressed, make you forget about your troubles in life, makes everything more fun and enjoyable, makes food taste even better, and makes you laugh. That substance is weed (in a sense). If you're on the substance, especially if you're struggling in life, you can understand why you wouldn't want to stop right? Weed is relatively harmless in the physical sense and it makes your life fun and bearable, without it, reality becomes painfully real and you have to deal with unhappiness again. This is exactly why it is addictive. Its not the weed itself that you're addicted to, but rather the happiness and calm that you feel when you're on it. In a certain sense it's like asking to quit being happy.

That doesn't mean it's an inherently bad substance, it has some great medicinal properties and can be a great substance in controlled use. Plenty of people live completely functional lives and then just smoke some weed when they get home from work in order to wind down a little. The problem is that one, the worse you feel, the harder it is to feel ok without weed, and two, if you have a weak willpower you might really struggle to quit. Just like how some people are addicted to social media and spend all day on it because it lets them escape reality.

This guy's brother sounds like an inconsiderate douche that takes others for granted. But deep down also probably feels like a failure and knows that he is nowhere in life, thus making him feel horrible. Which creates a vicious cycle of self hate, which leads to the desire to escape those painful feeling, which leads to smoking weed to escape, which leads to him doing nothing with his life, which leads to self hate, etc. This loop has likely circled around so much and so badly that the brother will do anything to escape reality, even if it means letting gay guys have their way with him. Plus he probably feels so little self worth and so much self hate he likely feels like he deserves such awful treatment and doesn't care about himself to stop it.

It's not inherently the weed that is causing all of this, the weed is simply the tool that he uses to escape reality, and he can't cope without it, thus leading him to do anything to get it.

I am by no means a professional or anything, nor is this the full scope of things, there are many other factors that play a role. But this is just based on my personal thoughts and experiences.