Recoverywarrior

I always thought marijuana was a harmless drug. When I smoked, I usually laid down, watched tv, and passed out. How could that be harmful? For most it's not. However, for the drug addict, marijuana can lead to serious consequences. Most drug users have an all-or-nothing mindset. I was one of these types. If I smoked marijuana in the morning, then I was no longer in recovery mode, and this led to me drinking or doing other drugs later that day. Several times I told myself, I can just smoke pot and nothing else. I will be fine. This never worked out for me. My "just pot" philosophy eventually led to a heroin overdose. When I just took one hit, it led to one drink, then one pill, then one line...then nearly death. It's true that on the scale of dangerous drugs, marijuana doesn't pose much of a threat to the body. However, for someone in recovery, thinking of marijuana in a different category from other drugs will end you right back on the road to addiction. Please beware.

wackybunny

Yep. And also, while it's not like weed causes immediate physical danger (unless you are driving or doing something that requires careful attention) some studies indicate weed may be worse than cigarettes for your lungs. My chronic weed smoking friend (mid 30s) got pneumonia and had tests. His doctor said his lungs were scarred from smoking - and he's never smoked a cigarette. Terrified, he quit weed but his addict mind told him to drink instead. Then he became and alcoholic and his doctor told him he had to quit drinking or face dire consequences. So then he decide to switch to a vaporizer. All the while I'm thinking "Dude, just learn to face (and love) life sober!". I know, easy to say.
I was ok when I quit weed because none of the other drugs I used to take ever got a hold of me like weed did and when I quit, I did not use anything else to cope because the lesson I had set myself was cope without any substance. It worked but was a long road to freedom.

Dee74

Hi and welcome

I think marijuana can actually be harmful to the body - I have several friends with varying lung diseases, and the effect of marijuana on growing brains is still the matter of considerable conjecture.

Whether it's less harmful that something else is kinda like comparing a knife wound to a gun wound and arguing which is worse, I think?

Pot never led me on to anything, unless you count alcohol, but I think it was destructive enough by itself - I wasted nearly 30 years pretty much doing nothing but getting stoned.

I'm glad you're here and ready to put all that behind you

D

gaffo

With the perspective of 8 months pot free after decades of "chronic" use, I believe that weed smoking creates it's own reality, different than the reality that I know now. It never triggered relapses to cig smoking or drinking for me like it did for other people that I've known but it certainly colored how I looked at the world. When I quit drinking it made me realize how strong weed is, especially to be doing all day long, but still users end up convincing themselves that they aren't actually wasted. I know I did. I guess I got good at playing it off, I was never one of those people who looked really stoned so people let me get away with it. Besides, most of the people that I hung out with were also baked all the time. I still wish I could get stoned once in a while, I won't lie, but I am thankful every day that I somehow managed to break the cycle. I got everything out of pot that I was going to get!

fotographia

How much herb, and how often did your friend that has the pneumonia and other issues use?

wackybunny

I answered your pm fotographia, but I'd say 1/8 to 1/4 per day. Many times less because of money or availability issues. Also shared a fair bit with mooching friends (like me).

midnightapt

Agreed - I think marijuana abuse is symptomatic of a larger issue of feeling like you need to alter your state of mind in order feel good. I never had much of a problem with other drugs, mostly because I didn't have access to them, but I can see how once marijuana doesn't get you as high as you'd like, you could turn to other drugs. Sure it's a relatively "safe" intoxicant, but when you look at the larger issue, it is quite scary.

fotographia

The fact that it's illegal or quasi-legal in many places also brings you into contact with people who sell drugs and they have other drugs that you may wind up buying and using.

midnightapt

Yup. In fact, that's a huge reason why I think marijuana needs to be legalized everywhere (not sure if saying this breaks any rules on this forum, my apologies if it does). While I've never had a "problem" with harder drugs (i.e. I never developed an addiction to them like I did with alcohol and pot), every time I tried cocaine/LSD/ecstasy/mushrooms was with people I had acquired pot with/from. I think pot will always be something of a gateway drug, but I do believe that legalization would help curb the bridge to harder drugs to some degree for a lot of people.

fotographia

I'm not sure if decriminalisation or legalising cannabis/hash will curb people from using more illegal drugs?

When I would use drugs besides cannabis or hash it was because I wanted to; but having access to them from a dealer who I bought cannabis from did not help.

Dee74

Guys please remember the forum rules

gaffo

I've done mushrooms/LSD/drinking/cigs because there wasn't any pot around and they were all lousy substitutes. IMO pot is a stand alone drug, not a gateway in and of itself. Not to say other drugs aren't "approved" and available in the world of pot users...

wackybunny

My friends and I (when we were teenagers) used to resort to smoking heroin when there was no weed. It was easier to get at the time ("dry" spells for weed would last weeks) and it gave us the most similar feeling. I am very glad I escaped the scene and moved far far away or I might be in the same boat as them now. The higher up dealers were pretty scary indeed and the various connections my friends were making in that scene were chilling.

racingthoughts

I used to do a lot of crap when there was no weed too. Then it got to the point where I didn't want to do anything else unless I had weed to accompany it. This was pretty much all before I started smoking daily though. The last two years of my smoking, I made sure not to run out of weed. When I absolutely couldn't get it however, spice was the answer as it eliminated the withdrawal.

happycampers

how are you feeling these days,RT? I know you were saying that you were having some challenging moments - getting any better ?

ostrichess

I am a smoker. I know i am addicted but i can go without, i go to work knowing i can look forward to a nice smoke when i get back home, but the reason i smoke is my issue. I think if i could cope with my fiances alcohol addiction, then i could stop, but i cant cope with it, him drinking spirits daily makes me want to smoke til i'm floating...just to take away the pain of it.
I'm not making excuses, i just needed to share my reasons .

Dee74

Welcome to the forum Ostrichess

Does it really take the pain away tho?

D

happycampers

and do you really want to marry an alcoholic ??? I would suggest you go over to the Friends and Family of Alcoholics Forum and read the future you'll have if you do. You can't use another's addiction as an excuse for your own . The underlying problem is you're with an alcoholic and you're doing the same to go along with him. Get ready for the roller coaster life coming if you don't look at the experience of others who have been there and learn from them. I think many of their stories will enlighten you before it's too late !

wackybunny

I agree with Dee and Happy. Time for some questions. I know I used to tell myself that pot took away pain, boredom, frustration, etc. Instead it just added to them and made me "content" with less. "Content" was more like too lazy and confused to do anything other than veg out and do mindless tasks or sit and think in circles. It was an excuse not to address things, put them off till later. I also felt trapped because "looking forward" to smoking that joint after work was really just addiction. Now I don't have to smoke a joint to feel the way I wanted to feel. Joints never worked anyway, true relaxation for me came in the form of a clear mind. I have never been in a relationship with an alcoholic (if you don't count parental figures) but, like Happy said, the friends and family section is an eye opener.

zerothehero

Touching on a few issues discussed above:

Weed was a gateway for me. It was clear at the time that I wanted to be high, but I didn't really like weed. It makes me go full Soprano sometimes, like on the floor unable to get up with muscle spasms and asthma-like symptoms. I could never tell if the symptoms caused panic or if the panic caused the symptoms. Regardless, I graduated from weed pronto and moved on to drugs that made me feel more comfortable. For those that say weed isn't dangerous I can tell you I would probably drive better on LSD than on marijuana. Seriously. Marijuana is about the scariest and most unpredictable drug I've done, and I've done most street drugs (prior to more recent designer inventions). So for me, it's a hard drug and I think if I kept at it I would have been institutionalized.

The fact that people build a tolerance to it leads me to think weed is physically as well as psychologically addictive.

I don't want to debate legalization here, but regarding addiction, I do believe legal weed here in Colorado is increasing addiction, but like the end of alcohol prohibition, there will likely be a spike and then use will slowly decline.