weed

[Hillarync]

i smoke weed every single day. i stay high constantly.
when i stop for a bit, i am much more clear headed, motivated,
but i dont help myself and would rather spend my time
getting stoned than experience what I perceive to be a
painful experience, such as feeling dysphoric in social situations.

i am holding myself back from moving forward with my life.
i am thinking of cutting back on the amount i smoke
gradually, eventually stopping altogether, but i honestly
can't say that i will.

[cynthialee]

I smoked weed all my life. I tried to quit but right about the time I quit I was diagnosed with some serious issues and one of my specialists prescribed my weed. Go figure. Now I smoke for medical reasons and I distain the high. I would love to be completely strait, but I can not eat without the stuff. I have HIV. At one point I was far gone enough to be diagnosed with full blown AIDS and was put on salvage drugs. The pain from HIV related pain syndrome is so bad that I live on morphiene. I atribute the risky behaivior that got me HIV, on drugs and the poor descisions I made while on them. Ironicly I spent a lifetime chasing the next bag and now I am wishing for sobriety I am permanantly stoned.
I would sugest that unless you have a valid medical reason to use canabis, stop! First it is pot, then acid, pills, X, and the bad choices made while on them.
Dont spend your life a stoner. Wait until you are older and need drugs to live.

[Poseidon]

I used to smoke everyday because I couldn't stand to face reality (I'd blaze in my bathroom with the vent fan at least 3 times a day), and it ->-bleeped-<-ed my head up for a long time (I also got into harder drugs because weed triggered anxiety problems too much).
In all honesty, there really isn't much that I can say other than you can stop at any time, but you have to choose to do so. People tried to help me, and because I refused to help myself, I wallowed in self-pity for months until I tried to kill myself. I chose to get myself out of that, and now I try to stay sober from everything as much as I can (I do smoke occasionally). I can say that you should cut back completely all I want, but it's your decision, and I hope that you choose to help yourself. Good luck, Hillary.

[tekla]

If it's interfering with your life, it's a problem, if it doesn't, then it's not.

Apparently the first is the case here, but the old marijuana leads to harder drugs has been proven to be pretty much a myth.

If you have a problem with it, then cutting back is not an option.  You can't manage problems half-way.

[cynthialee]

If it's interfering with your life, it's a problem, if it doesn't, then it's not.

Apparently the first is the case here, but the old marijuana leads to harder drugs has been proven to be pretty much a myth.

If you have a problem with it, then cutting back is not an option.  You can't manage problems half-way.

hmmmm....
I got my first acid from my weed dealer, I got my first coke from my weed dealer, I got my first everything from my weed dealer.
Myth my ass.

[tekla]

You didn't have to do it, that was your choice,¹ it wasn't the weed, it was you seeking a higher high, some more narcotic painkiller, whatever.  I've been around most of that stuff my entire life, and it never rocked my world.  Most of the people I know who've been around it didn't wind up where you did.  They choose not to.

1 - as Cindy said in another thread, Failure is not an option, it's a choice.

[deviousxen]

Everyones different. Sometimes, there are rare instances in which psychiatry does its job... Now... Its rare, but it CAN happen cause we're all chemically different bodies.


Weed probably does wonders for some people as long as they are tactful with the quantity, timing, etc. For the same reasons it can be bad for some people too. You can't really be CHEMICALLY addicted either... More like addicted to the feeling or mindset you get from the high, versus a direct chemical consequence. The withdrawal for common medications is far worse. You can get addicted to eating food too... Or running. Can't say I blame you though, in being afraid. Maybe try your best to take it easy with the weed or take a break, but ultimately the only way to stop overdoing something in response to dysphoria is to try your best to work on the dysphoria... Which is extremely hard but I dont see any other solutions. Maybe your therapist can help you cope.. Maybe a friend can... Maybe some other kind of distraction to immerse yourself in... Such as a good television show or book or video game. Sometimes it REALLY takes a lot of oomph to get into something, but it helps distract from the dysphoria a lot... Momentum is key right now in continually shattering through dysphoria... Otherwise you'll stop out of nowhere without realizing it and months later you'll wonder what the hell you were doing. You gotta force yourself to get other nourishing forms of media or art or drug like highs (we run off of them... Sorry. Its true. Biological hardwiring)... Which would be exercise, vitamin D (we all lack it) from sunlight, maybe have your significant other go BDSM on you (be careful?), endorphins... Dopamine... Serotonin... Content.


Thats all I can do to stop mine, at least... And mines like... Some of the worst dysphoria ever. Haaaaatte it.

[Janet_Girl]

First up a word from the legal department.  As Marijuana is still illegal in most states, I have to remind everyone that.....

Rule 5. The posting of messages on the chat or forums which are of a threatening tone, obscene, pornographic, intended to titillate, or depict illegal acts will not be permitted.

For now I will let it run because pot is used by some in certain states as legal medication.  But I remind you it is still against Federal law.

There that is done. 

I am like Virginia Marie.  If I smoke it for back pain, I am up cleaning house, or something because it energizes me.  It might because I don't have the pain.

[Cindy]

You didn't have to do it, that was your choice,¹ it wasn't the weed, it was you seeking a higher high, some more narcotic painkiller, whatever.  I've been around most of that stuff my entire life, and it never rocked my world.  Most of the people I know who've been around it didn't wind up where you did.  They choose not to.

1 - as Cindy said in another thread, Failure is not an option, it's a choice.

Thanks Kat,

The decision to take drugs, any type legal or illegal, is up you. The decision to be obese is up to you.  The decision to be anorexic is up you. The concept that our genome is responsible for our decisions is a cop out. OK I come from a  family that has problems with alcohol abuse, therefore I can blame my genetic background for being alcoholic ? Yes. But it is still my decision to drink. I chose not to. Am I an alcoholic, yes. but I have not allowed it to be my life.
OK that may seem a little obtuse. But what I'm trying to say your choices are your choices. There are strong medical grounds to have cannabis in end of life hospice. There are no medical grounds that I know of to use weed when an aspirin will do.

As far as physiology being different between people; well amazing enough, it isn't. We have quite tight parameters for all of our physiological measurements.  We know what the normal range is. If you fall out of it, it means there is a difference. It does not mean that difference is 'aberrant'  it means it is outside the normal range.

Chemical vs psychological addiction.

The line between this is so tight as to be meaningless. I like to smoke weed every day but it isn't an addiction is such stupidity that anyone writing it in denial (sorry).

Can you give it up? I gave up cigarettes after 25 years overnight. No patches. (over 18 yrs ago). Was I addicted? Hell yes. I craved and lusted a cig. I won. I am me I and I do what I do. (It taught me that) .

Can you give up weed?

The concept of addiction is giving up that activity. This of course does not mean addictions are bad. Our brains are triggered to be addicted, looking after baby, work, etc. If we look at addiction as an evolutionary event it is obvious that it would be a survival benefit.  I would suggest in an argumentative way that addictions are the basis of family grouping.

But weed is of no benefit in the long run. Deal with the problem.

JMO

Cindy

[cynthialee]

Tekla I call BS.
I was 14 when I started doing hard drugs. I was the only person I knew who wasn't doing them. Peer presure is a bitch, and often a teenager has no defense against it. Especially when everyone in my family was addicted to something. If you do not have rolemodels and everyone is doing something stupid around your teen age ass you will be stupid also.

[Jasmine.m]

I read somewhere that smoking marijuana can alleviate some symptoms of borderline OCD. This rational was used to explain why some get 'motivated' when they smoke it rather then the traditional 'unmotivated' feeling most experience. The theory was, it clears the mind of the obsessive needs and allows one to actually focus on the tasks at hand.

As for it being a gateway drug... I just don't see it. Most (not you per say, Cynthia) that use pot as a gateway would probably have discovered other drugs through other means regardless; or in other words, they probably exhibit drug seeking behavior from the start.

To the op... If pot (or anything for that matter) is interfering with your life or makes you feel bad about yourself, you should stop doing it. Seek help from a counselor if you are having a hard time stopping.

[cynthialee]

if we are going to argue gateway drugs we need to go after the real culprits....
nicotiene
alcohol

[Miniar]

As far as I can tell, the gateway isn't the weed, the gateway is the dealer.
Something a change in the legality of things "might" alleviate.

[cynthialee]

As far as I can tell, the gateway isn't the weed, the gateway is the dealer.
Something a change in the legality of things "might" alleviate.

THIS!
I have long argued that weed needs to be legal and in stores. That takes out the drug dealer incentive. Store owners tend to be semi reputable buisness men who tend to follow regulations so they can stay in buisness. Drug dealers have no morals so they have no regulations and as a result will sell to anyone, kids included.
Besides if the stuff became legal then they could hit it with the sales tax like everything else.

[Miniar]

Mhm... no one ever got carded at the dealer's.

[Genevieve Swann]

A person can't get addicted to weed. Many of do something and repeat it because we enjoy it. If that is addiction then I am addicted to chocolate, ice cream, sex,etc.....

[Miniar]

Incorrect.
A person "can" get addicted to pretty much anything,... Psychologically.

A psychological addiction can be as hard to break as a physical one.

I'm totally addicted to the internet ofcourse.

[Hillarync]

I am not trying to express that marijuana is physically addictive, because it isn't.
It has simply become a psychological crutch for coping. I am not opposed to
recreational drug use, to each their own.

I do not blame drugs for my abuse. If there is any blame to be had,
it would be mine. For better or for worse, I am in control of my actions.

Also, weed is only a gateway drug if you want it to be. Take some personal
responsibility.

[Bombi]

I have used cannabis most of my life. I use it mostly as medicine for symptoms associated with MS but on the rare occasion I do get high, I like it. I grow my own.
I'm an advocate for allowing safe access to medical marijuana. I supported the movement and we persevered and eventually won. Now I am working on decriminalization and medical here in the VI.

marijuana is a gift from the gods

[Stella Blue]

I don't buy the whole weed being a gateway drug either....

I know people that smoke and don't drink or do any other drug. I know those that smoke and when asked if they'd ever do acid or any other psychedelic they respond with "hell no"

Personally I never started with a desire to smoke weed, I had an interest in psychedelics, mushrooms specifically... but didn't smoke weed before that interest. You can personally say that smoking weed led to do other drugs that is fine, but it is in no way universal. In fact I'd even say a large amount people that smoke for leisure don't do any other drugs.

But as for the original post cutting back or stopping all together is probably a good idea. I used to smoke pot daily but have stopped doing so to the point where its once in a while. It got to the point where I used to get high and not have to deal with any of my problems... I went through a whole year of partying and being high and lived in a bit of a fantasy land where I thought everything was alright. Obviously it wasn't and I can say from experience there is nothing better than having a clear head, keep the getting high or buzzed part of your life to moderation... as in the right time and the right place and it could all work out. If that is difficult to do then I'd say stop all together.