Medical scientists consider drug addiction to be a pathological state. The progress is step wise from regular use of drug to drug-seeking behavior. The major symptoms are the vulnerability of the patient to relapses and the slow response of rewarding stimuli.

Experts have diagnosed three stages of drug addiction namely –

1. Preoccupation or anticipation.

2. Binge or intoxication.

3. Withdrawal or negative affect.

Drug addiction is not drug dependence or drug tolerance. It is also different from the physical dependence. The term physical dependence occurs due to prolonged use of any medicine while the addiction is characterized by a psychological need for the drug used. Drug tolerance on the other hand occurs when the reaction and receptiveness of the patient to the drugs increases and as a result he or she does not respond to treatment with the said drug anymore. Such drugs may contain particles of weed seeds or any other cannabis seeds. 

The syndrome “drug onset cues” could be one of the major reasons for drug tolerance in a patient. The mind and body becomes set to a particular response on use of a specific drug. Sometimes when the drug is not the prescribed one like say marijuana seeds or such cannabis or if it is too small in doses, it may cause an intense craving for the drug in the addict. This can cause a relapse in the drug addict who was on his way to be cured.