Man, if Deborah Myers is shocked at stick figures having sex, could you imagine her shock of stick figure violence on the net? Now those are disturbing! But fun!!
What? 
Possibly the wrong thread ? 
LOL, maybe I should stop?
Greathouse, I also have to suggest that maybe you’re going to need more than just sheer willpower to kick this habit. I’d definitely recommend an NA meeting or seeing a therapist.
I’ve only been smoking regularly for 3 or 4 years and have quit at certain intervals (3 or 4 weeks, near exams or a particularly time consuming period at work) and even when I’m smoking regularly, it’s only on weekend evenings. Still, it’s always really hard to stop at those intervals, I tend to not be able to wait until I could smoke again.
For how long you’ve been smoking and how early you started, you’re not in a normal “quitting weed” situation. You’re going to need to do something different. I commend you for your decision and think that you’ll be more sucessful seeking help with it.
Greathouse, in my mind willpower is the reflexisive application of intelligence to urges- or it should be IMHO. Also, IMHO it is ultimately undermined by the swearing of oaths. Building that reflex takes time and effort, you’ve got the intelligence you just need to learn to use it in a new way.
Since so many are endorsing NA I’ll just try to gently make these comments:
And recommend you try meditation. It should not be directly used as a mthod of kicking but as a method of getting to personally know how your brain works. And as Alan Watts said, spiritualism can be a fun hobby. 
My b/f refuses to answer the question “what message would you get” in a serious manner. (I’ve shown him the thread. Actually, he’s reading over my shoulder as I type.) So I guess I’ll never know.
And I’m pretty sure you’re right about him feeling the same way as you do about pot. But personally, I think it’s a bad idea. I’ve seen what it can do to people.
Thanks. I now have my boyfriend chanting “I win! I win!” in the background.
It’s not going to backfire, as I’m not going to do it. As he’s already read it. He got the message.
You didn’t offend at all - quite the opposite. I was just doing my usual role-playing of latent Jewish mother tendencies. Take care of yourself.
Ok, that’s good. Sorry if I came off as harsh. All I wanted to do was point out that the weed itself isn’t really a bad thing at all. You said you’ve seen pot do things to people, but I have a good feeling that these people had unresolved issues before using. It’s likely that using for them made things bearable. But I’m not advocating using it to mask other problems, I’m just saying that people who end up being total losers is not necessarily because of the weed, just other shit going on in their lives. Since I’ve started using more, I’ve met a lot of people who I never would have thought even tried it. These people are moderate users who run businesses, have families, and have positive things going on in their lives. With no harm done. YMMV
I agree with ParentalAdvisory that I’ve mostly seen weed itself (as opposed to indirect weed-related issues) do positive or neutral things for myself and others, and that the vast majority of people I know who smoke (including myself) do it moderately and find no negative effect on their lives from it. My experience has also actually been the same with ‘hard’ drugs, although in those cases where the drug takes control it certainly gets nasty.
All that said…
Congrats Greathouse on quitting meth and good luck on what you’re currently facing. One thing that might help is breaking/giving away your dope and paraphernalia (the problem with giving them away is that they might tend to come back to you unless you give them to someone you’re never going to see again). If it gets to the point where smoking pot is really negatively interfering with your life and you really must stop and nothing else works, maybe you should move somewhere where you don’t know any dealers or any way to get weed. That’s what I would suggest, anyway. Again, good luck.
I have to say here that I’ve experimented with meth (the new “guaranteed to fuck your life up type of speed”) and haven’t had any kind of problems with it. I did it pretty regularly for a couple of weeks and then stopped because it got boring. Never had a craving or withdrawal. Something in your individual situation (not your fault) caused methamphetamine to take over your life, and that’s quite tragic, and it’s great (and truly a testament to your strength and willpower) that you were able to get over it. But to say that meth is an evil drug that takes over everyone’s life sounds pretty over-the-top to me. I think the important thing is to make sure that one doesn’t have an addictive personality before trying it. I, for example, didn’t try meth until I had tried several addicting (but less so) drugs several times and knew I didn’t have any problem with them. Again, I’m not saying any of this is your fault. But nobody can tell me meth is some sort of magical evil chemical that enslaves everything it touches, because I know from my own personal experience that it’s just not true; and that sort of mentality is the same thing that got us into the disasters of Prohibition and the War on Drugs. I’ve done coke, meth and other less addictive drugs and never had any problems with them, nor have I ever thought “man, I need some (insert drug here)” about anything or experienced a withdrawal or craving or anything. YMMV (and I know it does for many). I’m just asking people in general to be more careful about sweeping generalizations.
Well, I usually agree about broad generalizations. The reason I decided to go ahead and make one here is so that if anybody reading this is unsure or considering trying it, it may persuade them not to try. I understand that everyone is different and some people wouldn’t have a problem with it. But if someone is undecided, then hopefully they won’t try it at all. I can’t really see that as bad thing. But I guess I should retract the generalization since we are about fighting ignorance here, and most if not all generalizations are based in ignorance.
Thank you for your warning. I will never try meth. A friend of mine is currently living in a hell of his own making - lost his mind and his job - after doing two hits of ice at a party a year ago.
I’ve tried speed, and I will never do it again. Another friend of mine threw himself under a train after doing speed every day for two years.
Don’t do it, kids.
“Dump Me”?
Of course, I’d never smoke pot because it’s illegal; but if I did I’m sure I’d find that it makes me more tolerant, especially of frusteration. I certainly never took a high-level stats class and did pretty well in it by getting stoned to the bejesus before doing the homework, because being stoned made me much more able to deal with the frusteration and much more intellectually patient. It reminds me of a factoid reported in an old neural text: Pot doesn’t reduce the amount of pain one experiences, it just makes it more tolerable. So for me, it may not calm the tornado, which I wouldn’t know because I’ve never done anything illegal, except speed once a long time ago and now the statute of limitations has kicked in, but if I did smoke pot, I’d say it just makes it easier to be inside the maelstrom (sp?) of thinking that I can’t escape.
(My mom recently mentioned that my grandpa, a mechanic, used to work himself to death because exhaustion was the only way he could calm his head down enough to get to sleep.)
Booze is good; but it is harsh and hard on the body. I could easily become Micky Rourke’s character in Barfly if I weren’t careful.
FWIW, I burt a lot of ganja between my late teens and early thirties, and even now, almost twenty years later, I have no regrets about that particular aspect of my life. Lots of good times, no physical side-effects and no problems on the social or professional fronts. Never really planned on stopping, never really did, but as marriage and fatherhood took away most of my free time it was just something that tapered off on its own. Of course, the fact that the stuff was and is illegal – as silly as I think that is – also factored in. For going out to ‘cop a dime’ lost any and all of the allure/thrill-seeking rush it might have had in my younger days and simply became a mighty deterrent. IOW, the high wasn’t worth the hassle. So it gradually became a once in a bluemoon type of event for me – friend comes over, sparks one, I’ll take a hit. Thing is, most of my friends didn’t age into Willie Nelson-types. And obviously, neither did I.
However, all things considered, given a choice between a run to the liquor store and an Amsterdam hash-cafe, I’m sure I’d still choose the latter. Because as js_africanus points out above me, I’ve also seen the physical ravages that alcohol can do – and I’ve seen nothing comparable on the stoners side. Hell, make the stuff legal and I might even grow a pony-tail, and wear tye-died T-shirts with the peace logo on them.
Not a bad way to go if you ask me. So mebbe Willie Nelson had it right all along :smack:
Having said that, no doubt, all things in moderation is the best advice anyone can give.
Best of luck.
I doubt it. Because he’s not an idiot.
Firstly, no offense intended.
Secondly, the message I would get in his shoes would be nagnagnagnag. At least when I have had others trying to change me to fit into their view of how I should behave.
Thirdly, once again…no offense intended.
I’m not offended. You were/are being perfectly reasonable.
And it seems like everyone would get a different message.
Cool. I hope he understands the caring behind the message and that everyone lives happily ever after.
Greathouse: what i used to do if i was in need of a break -
- Book a holiday - go stay with friends who dont smoke, if possible go abroad where you dont know how to get any gear and the penalties of getting caught are more draconian. Make it a fortnight holiday too !
- “De-pot” your house ( as was suggested earlier - bin the skinning up box et all ) the day before you leave to go away.
- Smoke remaining gear the night before you leave. ( yup - and the bit you hid last year for emergencies)
I always found many benefits to this method.
1.The break does you good and a new enviroment helps keep your mind off the cravings.
2. After 2 weeks any mild physical craving has normally gone and your mind gets clearer. The habit part is also begining to be forgotten.
3. The fear of being banged up for posseing drugs in a foreign country normally stops you trying to get some !
4. When you return home, the reminders will still be there, but the box and bong will be long gone. Your bedroom will smell fresh (er!) Try and move the furnature around too - it will help convince your brain that things are different now.
Of course after you get back from hols, the tricky bits start. But i found that the phsycological springboard has shot you past the (reallly) hard bit - which propably isnt as hard as the other things you have succeded in binning.
You WILL beat it.
HTH
Sin