University of Buffalo Research Based on Flawed Logic

The University of Buffalo announced a study into endocannabinoid which is a chemical used by the brain to reduce stress. The study rose out of the researchers acknowledgment that cannabis reduces stress. This is wonderful, and I always like when people do more studies into marijuana in hopes that the government will finally admit that weed is relatively harmless. My beef with this study is the following paragraph:

"It is widely accepted that one of the major reasons that people use and abuse marijuana is to relieve stress," according to Samir Haj-Dahmane, Ph.D., neuroscientist and principal investigator on the RIA study. "However, because marijuana can be addictive, it cannot be used to treat stress-related mood disorders such as anxiety. An alternative strategy may be to directly target the 'brain's own marijuana.'"

The reason I object to this is because Dr. Haj-Dahmane's reasoning for not allowing marijuana to be used to treat those with stress related disorders such as anxiety disorder because marijuana is addictive. Has this guy looked at the drugs currently on the market for this purpose? Lets look at a shortlist shall we:

• Benzodiazepines: Amongst the litany of adverse reactions is, "Benzodiazepines usually cause dependence and possible withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued. Dependence can cause patients to deteriorate socially"
• Beta-Blockers: May not be addictive or eve "cause dependence" but it does cause depression, decreased sexual ability, and a host of cardiovascular problems
• Ticyclics: Another technically not addictive, but the side effects are scary such as blurred vision, constipation, sexual dysfunction, weight gain, and more
• Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: While dependence and addiction are not listed in the adverse reactions, anyone who has been on Effexor can tell you that if you go off the drug you get withdrawal symptoms, and last I checked if something gives you withdrawal symptoms then you have an addiction.
  

So if these drugs are so bad, and any pot head can tell you these symptoms don't happen with weed, why isn't it worth looking into, even if it is slightly addictive. Considering how marijuana has been proven time and time again to be only mildly addictive at best I would think the researchers would be glad to look into THC as a possible stress release drug.