skg

alcohol is legal and I abuse it.
caffeine is legal and I abuse it (remember NoDoze?).
sex is legal and I abuse it.
exercize is legal and I abused it.
nicotine is legal and I abuse it.
coke is illegal and I abuse it.
marijuana is illegal and I abuse it.
a prescribed drug is legal and I abuse it.
someone else's prescribed drug is illegal and I abuse it.
I've never done heroine, but I would abuse it.

abstinence is legal. I haven't abused it.

Any questions?

Latte

I take medication for my mental illness. I am still clean and sober although it does alter my mind but my brain is broken so there you go.

I live in a state where it is legal. I know that it will lead me back to my drug of choice so I stay away from MJ. Honestly, I don't have time for drugs and alcohol anymore. I still have these behaviors hanging around that I am not proud of so I follow a program to treat those.

Pacc1986

Well I'll admit that if they legalize MJ for medical use in Pa where I live I would consider it. I think its safer than the prescription meds I take. Like I stated on a previous post I worked the MJ maintenance program for a number of years when I was younger and my life was great. I was ambitions, happy, and grateful for everything I had. As previously noted I did end up abusing opiates again but I didn't have a program back then either. When I smoked weed I wasn't a chronic pot head. An 1/8 lasted me about a week. About 1/2 oz a month. Since getting sober I have dealt with sever anxiety and I have a number of nervous ticks that I did not have before getting sober. Its been killing me since I got sober. I work a program to the best of my ability and I have sought outside help as well. If ans when it becomes legal in Pa for medical use I am going to consider it.

Boleo

http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/P-35_...hanAlcohol.pdf

NoelleR

AA has no opinion on other drugs....? Well, AA has no opinion on outside issues (only on alcohol, alcoholics, and alcoholism).

Unfortunately, AA is filled with alcoholics (active, recovering, recovered), and alcoholics have LOTS of opinions.............happy swimming through the muck 'n the mire.

(o:
NoelleR

Tommyh

we alcoholics cannot smoke ourselves sober or happy

Gottalife

That is certainly my experience. The distance between a smoke and a drink was, in my case, about 5 seconds.

SoberCAH

If marijuana was the only mood altering substance out there, I wouldn't be in recovery today.

It never did anything good for me.

If someone else wants it in his or her recovery, that person can have at it.

But I don't want it in my recovery.

miko67

Finding moods and anxiety very difficult to deal with. In recovery.
On beta blockers and take valerian but I'm looking into cbd oils too if anyone has any experience of them.
Thanks

Dee74

Are they prescribed, Miko?

D

miamifella

It is easier to give up one addiction if you can replace it with another.

The problem is you still have an addiction.

I think if you use any mind altering substance without medical supervision, you are not sober.

But a number of people in AA will disagree with me.

Sometimes you have to follow your own personal integrity rather than the group consensus.

Db1105

All I know is every time I tried to just smoke pot, I got drunk. I also know that I'm totally unqualified to be the AA police. I have a hard enough time keeping myself in line.

miko67

Yes beta blockers are prescribed D.
Taking valerian now and again as a supplement.
I am looking into cbd oils and see it isn't mind aktering but can help you relax so I'm thinking it's win win.
I Exersice a lot, eat well and get to meetings and keep my sobriety number one priority.

Mountainmanbob

With what will probably be more States in a short while with legal pot, kind of puts a twist on the sobriety thing for some in AA. I'm hearing of more and more people in AA who do the marijuana maintenance Program.

Personally -- just for me -- if I smoked pot for any reason other than a medical reason -- I could not and would not call myself sober.

Many years ago I took some dirty tokens. I wasn't drinking but, I was abusing perscription drugs (in a big way). I knew inside that I was deceiving myself, which only leads to more of the same.

A fool is one who fools themself.

M-Bob

Ken33xx

I don't smoke pot because I believe it would lead back to drinking.

Now, I have heard members share they still get high and consider themselves sober. I also heard a member this past summer talk about having a few gulps of beer and not call it a slip. Whatever. I`m not going to judge one way or the other. You do you and I`ll do me.

mfanch

I do a motive check.
I talk to my sponsor.
I apply the program to it.

If I need a medication, have scrubbed it against the steps, and it is deemed necessary, I am willing to take a medication. Now at 7 years of sobriety, I don't run to my sponsor when I take a tylenol/ibuprofen/Allegra, but I did in the beginning.

I am very careful about meds. FOR ME.

As for other people or an opinion about smoking pot....not my circus, not my monkeys. My side of the street is clean and that gives me serenity.

AA always seems to take care of itself just fine without me having an opinion. lol :-)

ETA: Today's Daily Reflections reading talks about this. Very timely.

Ken33xx

Exactly right. Once pot becomes legal throughout the States things might well get twisted with regards to smoking dope.

Drink was my downfall not pot. However, I don't ever recall smoking dope without drinking whenever possible. If I were to get high it would be only a matter of time before I grabbed a drink. No doubt. The only questions is how long it would take.

Besides I abused everything. Give me an ounce of weed and it'll be gone in no time.

Best that I stay away from both the drink and weed.

August252015

Marijuana was something I could always take or leave and I really only had a pot "phase" when dating one serious boyfriend and spending time with our group of friends, mostly together through work. None of us had any "addiction" issues.

But escapism is one of the hallmarks of addiction- my alcoholism included, for sure. So, I really don't care about legality and I am someone who thinks OTC meds or such with alcohol are ok, and I take prescribed mind-effecting (altering? dunno, it is semantics on that one, to me) drugs for mental illness, including a benzo for anxiety. So with that perhaps "mixed bag," I always circle back to motive/intent/need.

Ice cream is my biggest addiction these days. I am only half kidding about seeking solace and "relief" there, and that's an issue I DO think I need to address.

AA's opinion is beside the point on this one, IMO. The important part is what are you (any individual) doing with your recovery and life? Is it the best and most rigorously honest program it can be? Your answer is the key.

Mountainmanbob

We had a secretary for a year or two at my home group AA meeting that smoked pot. True, the lady had some medical problems. In her case was smoking pot a necessity -- I don't know. One thing for sure this caused much controversy within the AA room and outside the room. Many wanted her to step down from her position and although her pot issue did not directly effect me, I thought it best that she step down and be replaced -- which in time she was.

It would have been best if she would have kept this secret and far from the rooms.

Possibly some would think, "hey, if an AA secretary smokes pot why not me?"

M-Bob

Dave42001

I was taught and i don't take any mind altering drugs..

Pot is legal in Colorado, most companies still do drug testing. And you can get a DWAI for driving under the influence of pot. They do a blood test.. JFYI!

I think pot is less harmful than booze but I'm an old fart and done mess with it.. They have 8 foot tall pot trees growing in the window next to the grocery store, beautiful plants.. The whole city smells like buds.. It's a trip