GreenAces

I have heard so much about it but I haven't ever known or met anyone who "practiced" it.. But the I recently met a lady who has been going to AA meetings quite often and I have seen her around for quite a long time and she mentioned that she smoke practices her own simpler program..

I was just looking for some discussion on what everyone else thinks of this and if you have ever met anyone who does this...

As for me, the only thing that pops in my mind is the many quotes in the BB about an "easier and softer way" lol...

I have for one contemplated on when I get out of the military if I would be able to smoke weed ever again thinking that "hey atleast I'm not drinking". But I know for atleast myself that it probably wouldn't be a wise choice considering I am striving for a life of sobriety so I myself atleast right now can say I wouldn't work that program lol...

Anyways, discussion?

johndelko408

I'm not sure what this maryjane maintenance program is. But from my understanding if your practicing a recovery program your supposed to have complete abstinence from any mind altering substances. I wouldn't feel right going into AA talking about sobriety when I'm actually smoking bud. Ironically when I first got to AA I wasn't willing to give up bud but I was willing to give up alcohol. I wasn't able to be honest with myself. I wasn't really sober. I was still in addiction, and it eventually led me back to drinking.

GreenAces

[QUOTE=johndelko408;2778412]I'm not sure what this maryjane maintenance program is. But from my understanding if your practicing a recovery program your supposed to have complete abstinence from any mind altering substances. QUOTE]

Thats exactly how I see it and how it is suppose to be.

The marijuana maintenance program is exactly what you said.. Basically giving up drinking, and going to AA but still holding on the weed.. Basically doing something about one problem and not being honest with yourself and not doing anything about the other problem.

I heard about it from a few old timers and I remember it popping up a loooong time ago when I was in rehab when someone asked a question like "does smoking weed count?" and it was a small discussion on that but I don't really remember it much, in rehab I was stuck in my head most of the time.. I'm still stuck in my head most of the time now.. but not as much as I was back then :p

least

I started smoking pot back in the hippie sixties, and on and off since then. Never had any problems with it and can go without it for a long time... but since getting sober must admit I don't want pot anymore as I want to be completely sober.

SteppingItUp

I practice complete abstinence from all mind-altering, mood-changing chemicals. My experience tells me that the use of any mind altering substance can cloud the channels between me and my HP, and whenever that happens, mayhem of one sort or another is often enough not far behind.

I worked with someone recently who had considered himself sober for 11 years while being actively addicted to hashish. He had attempted to write his 4th step with his previous sponsor while simultaneously smoking joints. Needless to say, there came a point when he began to understand that the process just doesn't work that way, and he had to get real and stop using drugs altogether if he truly wanted to get well.

What's our higher power, God as we understand him, or dope? How are we going to find access to our HP with a chemical fog in between us? We really do need to get real with ourselves if we want to become spiritually fit. Marijuana is just not the magic bullet any more than alcohol was.

I spent long enough out of the rooms to come to the conclusion that when the program is worked as it was meant to be worked, living an honest program of recovery is the easier, softer way.

thisisme

I know many who smoke pot and detest alcohol. Are they sober? They think they are and they feel good about themselves so who am I to judge.
I wish pot was not called a drug or chemical.
I do not see pot in the same light as alcohol or any other drug.
"Man made alcohol, God made pot" is often heard.
My only problem with pot is the legality of it which is funny because I feel the same way about the legality of alcohol.

CarolD

Marijuana Maintenance Program ......is total B.S. and
has absolutely nothing to do with following any structured recovery
program that I am aware of.....certainly not AA.

I've been an active AA member since '84....I've not met an AA
member who uses illegal drugs as a supplement to sucessful AA recovery.

Marijuana is considered a gateway drug in the studies
I've read on addiction. I have no reason to doubt that.

totfit

I agree. The biggest gateway drug however is smoking cigarettes, yet this is overlooked. I think being clean is being clean. Anything a person is doing that is altering their mind and is physically addictive and harmful does not go in line with sobriety. Yet, in some places there are still "smoking" meetings oblivious to the harm they are doing themselves or others in the room. When I attended AA, there were some that said when the topic was brought up, "if they want it bad enough the smoke won't bother them". You would think they could turn that around, "if you want it bad enough it won't bother you not to smoke for an hour". Addiction AND denial are insidious beasts.

CarolD

totfit........You have not been in meetings for quite awhile.....
I don't know of a meeting that allows smoking any more.

Yes....I am now a non smoker....my surgeon just
gave me a "lung cancer is dead" news yesterday.......

My cancer was directly caused by my cigarette smoking.
Nothing to do with Alcohol... Marijuana is or AA.

Stang

The only gateway drug is alcohol. I would still smoke pot if I didn't have drug testing at work. Glad to hear your cancer is gone Carol. It's rare to live through lung cancer.

Mark75

Doesn't one get stoned when he or she smokes a joint... at least that would always happen to me.... Anyone who thinks that they are recovering, in the program of AA, while smoking dope is in full and complete denial.

yeahgr8

That has to be in the top ten of BS posts since i've been on SR...smoking is not permitted in most AA rooms now, hence why some choose to have a smoking break mid way through!

To say smoking is a gateway drug is insane and i dont mean to say that as an opinion it is insane, objectively speaking a child could see how insane that statement is...pls think about these things...

GreenAces smoking pot is a substituation for alcohol...AA is working the steps to get a spiritual awakening torecover fully from alcoholism and to be restored to sanity...if all you are doing is going to meetings and talking to the non-recovered crazies i wish you the best of luck...cmon man you know smoking pot as a solution isn't one:-)

flutter

LOL Carol.. that's the first time I've ever seen you bluntly call something total BS!! You're awesome, lady.

And to the original post, I agree that it's BS..I know I wouldn't consider myself in any sort of recovery if I smoked weed, snorted coke, shot up some heroin or any other mind/mood altering chemicals. Recovery is about learning how to live life on life's terms, with a clear head and new tools. Least that's how I feel about it

Benowhere

Hmmm,
I wouldn't dismiss smoking cigarettes being a gateway drug. Studies have shown that the majority of really heavy smokers have a drink problem. And also, that it is often easier to stay sober if you quit smoking at the same time. Therefore, there may well be a connection. Both are addictions which fire along similar parts of the brain. I quit both at the same time successfully, and one success reinforced the other.

Also, I think it's a valid point to make, that Bill Wilson regularly took large doses of LSD whilst 'sober'...

GreenAces

That's the same way I see it and I mentioned that in the opening post. I know there would be no way I would even get through step 4 if I was using, and step 5-7 would be a joke to me if I was aswell. I just thought I'd get some discussion going on the topic because I met someone doing that type of "program" and my sponsor and I and one of his good friends were talking about it because she had called my sponsors friend early in the morning one night and he started on his rant about how she works the "marijuana maintenance program" and yadda yadda, etc..etc..

Another reason why I wanted to bring this topic up which I hadn't stated before was because my brother quit drinking around the second time that I came in the program last winter and hasn't had a drink since... The only problem is that he still smokes weed, atleast to my knowledge.. (I haven't been home in sometime now but I will be around christmas) and I wanted to bring him to a meeting and introduce him to the program but I am afraid he isn't willing to give up his smoke yet.

Timebuster

Just imagine getting toked up to sitting through an hour and a half around old-timers.The word 'parinod' springs to mind!!!

In my opinion. Clean & sober means clean & sober

Happy Thanksgiving

TB

GreenAces

Haha I know right!

NewMe11109

For me, the main point of recovery is personal growth. My personal growth was stopped while I was drinking. Using any substance (and for me that includes pain meds beyond very short-term use), stints my personal growth. The joys of recovery have come from my new thinking as to how to live my life. I wouldn't want to give that up for any substance, regardless of whether I thought I could control it.

GreenAces

Well put.. That goes pretty much the same for me.. I remember back in my highschool days and shortly there after when I use to smoke weed and I thought it was completely harmless and I was in complete control of it... It was quite a differently story when I was out of weed or no one else had it.. I was a mess, I wouldn't want to do anything at all, it made me stuck in my own head, it was like I could only function on weed...

Hmmmm... funny... kind of sounds like my alcohol problem!

TheEnd

I used to love to smoke pot, and I could see why some people would choose this as an alternative. As I have never had any problems with pot that I have had with alcohol. It's just a totally different ball game.

In fact I probably would start smoking pot again, except for all the legal problems that I am in with my DUI. Now, I am seeing the real dangers and problems that drugs can bring into one's life from a legal stand point. I mean simple pot possession alone could get your license suspended for 2 years, crazy crap like that, not too mention being arrested again. I'm going to walk on the straight and narrow from now on.

However, that being said, if it were to ever become legal, I might have to seriously consider having a toke. My intentions weren't to become some saintly type person, I was trying to end the insanity in my life, but for right now I am currently happy being clean and sober.