bellaluna4

hi everyone! i have almost 7 months sober from everything and have no desire to use, however i'm just curious as to what ya'll think about this drug. i am a recovering alcoholic and self-proclaimed pothead and I'm in AA. I'm curious because I usually talk about my drinking at meetings, however I feel like I was worse with pot. I don't talk about it much at meetings because I feel like most people consider marijuana as "not a drug" or "not a big deal", but for me it definitely was. It affected my physical, mental, and spiritual well-being and by the grace of God I never tried harder drugs, because just by judging how addicted I was to pot, I don't know if I would be sober today. I watched my brother slowly die from a serious drug addiction, which I think helped to keep me away from other drugs, but I still consider myself a drug addict.

Thoughts?

Snarf

Hey Bella. I view marijuana much as I view alcohol: some people can handle it, some people can't. Most of my friends can go out on Friday or Saturday night, have a few drinks, go home and it's no big deal. That obviously wasn't my MO. I'd go out, have a LOT, then go home and keep the party going.

I see pot the same way. I know people who smoke a little here and there, at a party or whatever, or they may even keep some at home. But it doesn't affect their day-to-day lives. I also know people who smoke pot all day every day, don't do their homework, show up at work late (and stoned), can't pass a drug test for work/probation...Basically, it does affect these people's lives on a daily basis.

I've found that there are people who can do certain things and people who can't. I can go into a casino and play a little bit, win or lose, and it's no biggie. I cut myself off when I've spent the money I intended to spend. I have friends, however, who can't set foot in a casino, or they'll be there all night and out thousands of dollars.

All depends on the individual, I reckon.

Houndheart

I have a good friend who smokes pot a LOT. The minute she gets home from work...
The minute she gets up on the weekends....all of her non working hours it seems she is lighting up. She used to put me down for having a drinking problem as she toked away....It seemed pretty hypocritical to me, and it pissed me off when she would lecture me about my drinking. I think that smoking pot like that is as much an addiction as my alcohol abuse. I am no longer mad at her...but she's a good friend and I wish for her sake she could see it that way. I know several potheads that smoke pot the majority of the time and consider it just fine. The don't act just fine. They are stoned out. Oh well. Glad you are almost at 7 months clean! I am coming up on 12 months sober.

pinkgurl87

marijuana is just as much a drug as anything else. Though it may not be as bad as some of the harder drugs it still effects people. I think some people can use it and be fine and others can't. I know some people use it for recreationational reasons or for health reasons and I think that is ok. Though if your addicted to alcohol chances are you will get addicted to marijuana as well since it can be addictive. I smoked weed when I could I never got addicted to it the way I got addicted to crack, but I would use it when I couldn't get crack it was better then nothing. I was the same way with alcohol, drank it when I could but craved crack the most, but I know I need to avoid bothe weed and alcohol because I know they will trigger me to want to use crack. I think it's ok to talk about using weed at AA lots of people in AA do drugs too, or why not try going to NA, that might help.

Andi

Hi I agree,

For some it is a big problem, for others it isn't. I broke up with a boyfriend once because his life was about nothing but weed, from morning till night, I mean even his sweat smelled like it!! One night we were on our way to the movies, he looked through his stash and saw he was almost out, turned the car around to go and buy some god knows where...no movies that night.

I used to smoke from time to time, when others offered, but could not combine it with alcohol because it would make me very sick. So I stuck to alcohol...see where that got me hahaha! BUT I could have ended up hooked to both, so have to count my blessings wherever I can find them ;-)

Oh yeah and I think people conviently forget that the weed smoked these days has nothing to do anymore with stuff smoked 20 years ago, it's much stronger and has more addictive rubbish in it.

smacked

If I get high, I'm not sober. I never get the whole seperation thing, but a lot of people think they're two issues. Weed f'd me up worse than alcohol ever did. If I smoke, snort, shoot, drink anything mind altering, I'm not living sober, period. That's all that makes sense to me.. picking it all apart drives me nutty Well nuttier than I am I guess.

littlefish

I'm losing my therapist at my outpatient rehab center because they are moving her and many others from the therapist staff to deal with the explosive growth of weed use amoung teens who find their lives have become unmanageable due to the use of mj and no longer can control their use of it.

pinkgurl87

little that suxs u are losing your therapist that is hard. <3

Snarf

I figure it's like most any other drug or activity or whatever that can be addictive. If you can use it in moderation and not have it have an adverse effect on your life, it's not a big deal. But if you continue to do it in the face of negative consequences (i.e. losing a job, your significant other leaving/having issues with it, violating probation, spending too much money and having not enough left for bills), then it has become a problem.

I like playing video games. Sometimes I'm so busy I go weeks at a time without playing, but I may have a night off work and no homework to do and I'll pop in the Rock Band. But I have a buddy who is obsessed with obtaining gamer trophies or whatever and he'll play all day every day. He's lost a job because he kept giving up his shifts to stay home and level up. Some people just can't do things that most other people can.

Dee74

I destroyed my life and self as comprehensively on weed as I did on alcohol. Same addict, same process, different drug.

Like Smacked said it's all about living sober, period for me

D

Freedom1990

I've used up my right to chemical peace of mind.

Anna

Never used it, but, I believe it can be very dangerous.

yeahgr8

Go to NA too, most of my friends go to AA and NA, and when i was getting sober i was actually a little jealous! They did say i could go too but i was never into drugs...

Honestly thats your answer, go to NA and AA:-)

bellaluna4

Thanks everyone for your input.
I've been told I could try NA too, I think I need to get over my "insecurity" of being "just an ex-pothead." I have no ill judgement towards anyone who is recovering from harder drugs, but I tend to think they will think "this girl isn't a drug addict!" or something like that...

I am definitely powerless over pot, and my life had become unmanageable...
I was the pothead who, if I owned it would smoke constantly every chance I got, at one point smoking everyday before work while working with children, spent wayyy too much money on it, I was having health problems that stopped the week after I quit, and it definitely affected my mental health as well. Very unmanageable. and I could never get high enough.

Thank God I never tried harder drugs.


Yes.

Exactly how I see it.

Tazman53

You know I see pot for me as no different then booze, just a different way of escaping/cushioning/dealing with reality!

I do know one thing for me, I always prefered drinking over smoking dope, I know that if I get stoned that will lead me right back to being a drunk again in a heart beat!

I smoked to get high, being stoned lets me drop my defenses & sure does nothing for my spirituality! I love my sober & clean life today way to much to gamble on losing it.

topspin

Hi Bella, The real reason for me not using anything other than herb and alchohol all day everyday was the financial managability of it. As crazy as it sounds , I was a little envious of a few friends binging every week on coke, booze , weed,etc. weekends after payday, and be totally broke by Tues. LOL I couldnt imagine me scrambling around 3&1/2 Days trying to get high or worse, withdrawals ????? I was obsessed with getting high EVERYDAY of the month . ..... Couldn't imagine a day without it. Of course my bills were always late , bounced checks,etc talk about unmanageable, ............... on soooo many levels !

topspin

Congrats on the 7 months !!!!

Spawn

Pot is a drug,...........and it is bad for recovery.

bellaluna4

Thanks Topspin! I have 7 months officially tomorrow the 12th. Feels so good. I went out last night to a bar for a friend's going away party/to see his band play, which I normally wouldn't do being that I'm sober (I had sober people with me), but it was a good reminder of why I don't want to get back into that. Watching drunk people is good aversion therapy haha.


and yes, pot is a drug. If I did smoke I definitely would not consider myself sober even if I wasn't drinking. I don't need the 'marijuana maintenance program", I like clean and sober much better