In my view, Oakminster, the OP’s admission that he was about to smoke a joint is more in line with explaining his addiction, not crowing about “current drug use.”
Let’s not post any more about this; ATMB is available if anyone wants to further discuss it.
Thank you,
Ellen
There’s some debate as to whether people can become physically addicted to marijuana. From my life experiences most people are addicted to the behaviour and not the substance.
One thing you’ll probably have to do is if your close circle of friends are marijuana users, you may have to take the step of diplomatically telling them that your going to quit and no offense, they should respect you for that and understand. If they don’t , never where your caring friends in the first place. This is something you’ll have to do if this is your case.
Another thing you may try. I don’t know your routine but if it’s work, come home from work light up a blunt. Change that for awhile. Instead of going right home , go for a walk, bike for an hour or so, join the gym.
When you’re at home you’re probably bored. Get a hobby, join a social group, take a course that interests you.
Best of luck.
There isn’t really any detox, so that part isn’t difficult, it’s more the psychological dependency and learning how to enjoy things without it. At first it feels like you can’t really enjoy this movie or that concert or whatever without getting baked first, and I’m not going to lie, it really isn’t ever going to be the same, but you do get your equilibrium back and do enjoy life again.
In my case, I had to stay away from it completely, and that included being around other people who did it, at least while they were smoking (and really, it’s better not to hang in that culture at all. The temptation will get to you sooner or later, and probably sooner rather than later). I’ll also be honest in saying that you never stop thinking about it from time to time, or stop missing it. I haven’t gotten high in 12 years, but if someone passed me a doobie right now, I’d hit it. Willpower doesn’t do it for me, I had to put myself in a position where I couldn’t easily get it even if I wanted to.
Once you get over the hump with quitting pot, it gets a lot easier. Even a week or so might be enough to fall out of the habit of ‘wake and bake.’ Can you go away for a long weekend to be by yourself in a low stress enviornment to take a break from it for a while?
There is most certainly a detox period. It’s nowhere near heroin and the like, but quitting cold turkey is tough. The brain of someone who smokes that much for that long has most likely stopped producing the chemical the THC simulates/replaces. It helps regulate mood, and without it people experience irritability, restlessness, relentless tension, and insomnia. It can be impossible to relax in any way.
The good news is that the brain picks up production after about a week or so. After that, staying away is relatively easy.
If you can’t do it on your own, try NA.
If that doesn’t work for you, seek a health care professional (counselor, psychiatrist, rehab, whatever).
You’re a drug addict. Most can’t quit on their own. Best of luck to you.
Please keep the insults in The BBQ Pit where they belong. Thank you.
I hope its not too bad for you. I’m 3 days into opiate withdrawls, but I’ve only been on them heavy for about a month. Last year I cold turkeyed after 2 years of fairly heavy use and that was truely a horror show.
I would just cold turkey and get it over with, but thats the way I do everything.
I should add, that I was on oxycontin, oxycodone and vicodin pre and post surgery. I wasnt buying it on the street.
The phyiscal dependency and withdrawal effect of nicotine is not pleasant, but it pales in comparison to the psychological dependency and the social role that cigarettes play in a smoker’s life - or at least, that was my experience (I quit cold turkey some six years ago).
I was never really a pot addict, but I smoked my share when I was a teen and I certainly knew many who fit the discription (indeed, it was mixing tobacco with my hash that got me addicted to tobacco - the hash I could very easily do without, not so the tobacco, eventually!). However, in my admittedly limited experience, the same is I think even more true of pot - that by far the more significant factor is psychological and social. Simply put, for the pot addict, every pleasurable social activity - all sorts of socializing, enjoying music and movies with friends, etc. - comes to be associated with pot smoking. Given that fact, soon all the friends you hang out with share your choice of drug - they are all pot smokers too. So giving up pot smoking means, more or less, giving up many of the social activities you enjoy and many of your friends - and that’s far harder than dealing with any physical effects (which are pretty transitory). Eventually, some get to the point where they are smoking all the time, social activity or not.
This isn’t to say that there are no phyiscal effects. There are, and I’d agree with you it’s a factor. But I do not think that, for most, overcomming the purely physical dependency is going to be the decisive factor. Far more significant is making a lifestyle change, so that pot smoking is not part of one’s routine, and not constantly ‘tweaked’ by social activities featuring getting high.
Are you sure you are getting pure weed, or perhaps other drugs were added for just such a additive effect, or maybe poor quality control of your local dealer causing cross contamination.
Even if it’s illegal where the OP is, it’s not illegal everywhere in the US. I’m in Colorado and could go out and get a “medical” marijuana card from a doctor ($75.00/“diagnosis” in Westword–Denver’s Chicago Reader type paper) in a couple of hours and be buying by this evening*, so not only is your post annoying as hell, it’s completely wrong too.
*Actually, there may be a “mail it in and wait a week” step–I can’t remember if they eliminated that or not–if so, change “this evening” to “send in the form this evening and be toking up in a week or so”
Eh, I’m not sure I’d classify a habitual pot smoker as a drug addict. And of course he can quit on his own. I don’t think N/A or A/A is the answer for pot. I don’t think it’s the answer for any addiction, but that’s a separate thread.
Word. It’s not heroin. Quitting weed really isn’t all that hard. It’s staying away from it and not going back to it that can be difficult.
Well, we’re not talking about you, Fenris, or Colorado. The OP mentions it’s illegal where he is, and it’s illegal many other places too. I asked that this line of discussion cease upthread; you’re hijacking. Please heed this advice.
Ellen Cherry
IMHO Moderator
Will do. Sorry for the hijack.
Hi Scotty Mo,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with this problem. First of all, it would help if you went into more specifics about the nature of your addiction. You mention trying on/off to quit for 10 years, but you don’t mention which strategies, if any, you used when trying to quit on the different occasions. Did you quit cold turkey or try and phase off? Did you distance yourself from other users? Did you try to avoid other contributing factors like alcohol that may lead you to using again? Did you get rid of your dealer’s number?
More importantly, I think it would be helpful to try and isolate why you started to use again after your attempts to quit. Was it boredom? Missing the high? Thinking you could go back to using once or twice and finding it escalate? Being surrounded by other users? Cravings?
There are many strategies you can use to help you quit. You can make a list of all the reasons you want to quit and consult it every time you have a craving; you can delete your dealer’s phone number and distance yourself from users and situational factors that lead to use; you can look for a new hobby or activity to help fill your time/provide meaning in your life; you can attend NA meetings; you can turn to exercise/healthy eating (if not already); you can try to phase back if you’ve only tried quitting cold turkey or you can try quitting cold turkey if you’ve only tried phasing back; you can turn to your friends, support groups, health professionals, or online forums that deal with addiction for support; you can try and find a friend to join you in a quitting pledge.
Good luck to you.
Two other strategies I remembered: you can put aside the amount of money you normally spend on the drug and then spend it at a regular interval on something fun and/or meaningful; you can mark on a calendar a date, perhaps 3 months away, that you promise yourself you won’t smoke before (having an end date may help the process of quitting, and stepping away from the drug for a fairly extensive period of time should help remove the lingering effects of the drug).