Marijuana Maintenance
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 81
Marijuana Maintenance
Hey everyone,
A question about marijuana use when getting sober, I know that it can be a controversial topic. I've heard different opinions from different circles. I have a friend in AA who does it regularly and has years of sobriety in, and seems very well progressed in the program. It's something that I've always enjoyed as well but am also afraid it might trigger bad ideas...any thoughts?
K
A question about marijuana use when getting sober, I know that it can be a controversial topic. I've heard different opinions from different circles. I have a friend in AA who does it regularly and has years of sobriety in, and seems very well progressed in the program. It's something that I've always enjoyed as well but am also afraid it might trigger bad ideas...any thoughts?
K
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
ive heard people in AA who smoke it. people in NA even because it wasn't there DOC.
ive also heard people in AA who said they tried the marijuana maintenance thing and ended up drunk.
personally I don't find it wise to ask God to lead me from temptation,then walk right into it.
ive also heard people in AA who said they tried the marijuana maintenance thing and ended up drunk.
personally I don't find it wise to ask God to lead me from temptation,then walk right into it.
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
You are correct that this is a controversial topic around here. My view of sobriety doesnt allow for the use of any drugs. Marijuana can be very addicitve too, we have a separate forum on the very subject if you would like to check it out.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Washington state
Posts: 571
Speaking from personal experience here. I started pot when young and I believe it lead to alcoholism. When I couldn't score, booze replaced it. Then booze became my go to, even after legalization here. However, I did smoke for 10 months after quitting alcohol and I'm not sure I could have quit the sauce without it. But then the consumption just kept increasing and I wasn't sober. It just seemed like such a farce. It wasn't sobriety and I have discovered that is what I truely wanted. I don't think anyone who uses anything can call themselves sober.
Rehydrating to Oblivion.
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 1,332
It seems like playing with fire to me. In my opinion, if you are smoking pot then you are still dependent on a drug, whether it be your DOC or not. I guess it depends, as an individual, what you want out of sobriety. As Scott says, we have a subforum with many posters who find pot addictive.
Psalm 118:24
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 15,203
It's still not legal where I live unless you have a prescription from a dr .
If, I could get pot to alieviate pain from arthritis without making me high, I could entertain the thought. I don't even like taking aspirin too often..
If, I could get pot to alieviate pain from arthritis without making me high, I could entertain the thought. I don't even like taking aspirin too often..
Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: San Antonio TX
Posts: 6
It's hard to say what 'sober' is. I do know for a fact that sober at least means that you can operate a vehicle at any given moment. Alcohol and pot both make it so that you cannot drive for a given period of time and hence you are not sober.
Then there is the question of being purified from drugs. I take concerta (I have ADHD dxed as a kid), have coffee and I vape nicotine. Caffeine and nicotine are definitely okay in AA (or else most would be gone) and legitimately prescribed psych meds are also okay. An ideal would be to be pure from those drugs; but that's tough.
Technically the one requirement of AA is a desire to quit drinking so you could slide by with that. If you can smoke only occasionally, it's possible you could enjoy it like a coffee or a cigarette (as just another vice). But then again, I think you will find (if you are like me) that you end up smoking way too much way too often and still wanting alcohol.
When I 'went out' of AA the first time and then came back, the people were like "I see you had to do a little more 'research' before getting fully involved with the program. " Incidentally, my one and only relapse from AA started with pot (speaking from experience, not calling it a gateway drug).
You're the boss. If AA and pot works for you, great. Enjoy. However, I think you will find that you won't have a sense of peace regarding the use of pot and being sober until you stop both pot and alcohol and move on to better things. You are the driver. Best of luck.
Then there is the question of being purified from drugs. I take concerta (I have ADHD dxed as a kid), have coffee and I vape nicotine. Caffeine and nicotine are definitely okay in AA (or else most would be gone) and legitimately prescribed psych meds are also okay. An ideal would be to be pure from those drugs; but that's tough.
Technically the one requirement of AA is a desire to quit drinking so you could slide by with that. If you can smoke only occasionally, it's possible you could enjoy it like a coffee or a cigarette (as just another vice). But then again, I think you will find (if you are like me) that you end up smoking way too much way too often and still wanting alcohol.
When I 'went out' of AA the first time and then came back, the people were like "I see you had to do a little more 'research' before getting fully involved with the program. " Incidentally, my one and only relapse from AA started with pot (speaking from experience, not calling it a gateway drug).
You're the boss. If AA and pot works for you, great. Enjoy. However, I think you will find that you won't have a sense of peace regarding the use of pot and being sober until you stop both pot and alcohol and move on to better things. You are the driver. Best of luck.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,442
Really bad Idea.
I used pot the same way I used alcohol - to escape - and I was ruled by my pot use just the same as I was by my alcohol use later.
I also found that really bad ideas sound really good when I'm drunk or high - when I was drunk I wanted to also get high and vice versa.
So my advice is hell no.
Just a slightly different boat on the same sea of crud for me.
D
I used pot the same way I used alcohol - to escape - and I was ruled by my pot use just the same as I was by my alcohol use later.
I also found that really bad ideas sound really good when I'm drunk or high - when I was drunk I wanted to also get high and vice versa.
So my advice is hell no.
Just a slightly different boat on the same sea of crud for me.
D
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 356
My personal experience is that for some people, like me, alcohol and pot were cross addicting. I found that it was best for me not to smoke. But between the two, alcohol was worse. I don't think pot was really addictive to me, but when I drank I liked to smoke pot too. Sadly, I think my alcohol use got so bad because it was legal. When I got older nobody I knew still smoked but they drank. I think that pot might impair me enough to drink and I don't want to go back to drinking.
quat
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: terra (mostly)firma
Posts: 4,823
If you don't like smoking pot, I'd say do it as much as you like. If you like smoking pot I'd say don't it.
I loved getting intoxicated, my Beast still does and always will. I no longer get intoxicated, it costs me too much in mind , body and soul. Pisses my Beast off to no end, but I don't care, I longer get intoxicated , my choice. Be careful what you choose, if you feed the Beast even just 'a little' you are putting IT back in the drivers' seat.
I loved getting intoxicated, my Beast still does and always will. I no longer get intoxicated, it costs me too much in mind , body and soul. Pisses my Beast off to no end, but I don't care, I longer get intoxicated , my choice. Be careful what you choose, if you feed the Beast even just 'a little' you are putting IT back in the drivers' seat.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: North East
Posts: 621
My husband quit smoking when I quit drinking 45 days ago.....he had mental withdrawal alot of anger and a short fuse. Its still altering your brain and the way you think and it is very addictive for some people as is alcohol your just putting one down and picking up another......who wants any monkey on their back not me.
DOS: 08-16-2012
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Central Iowa
Posts: 365
If you smoke pot you are not sober no matter what recovery program you prefer to follow. If your goal it not to be sober but to stop drinking and you smoke pot than so be it but you aren't sober.
Your AA friend doesn't have years of sobriety, he has years of not drinking alcohol. I hope he's honest with other in the program about this. Without rigorous honestly the program will not work for him and he won't be able to help others.
Your AA friend doesn't have years of sobriety, he has years of not drinking alcohol. I hope he's honest with other in the program about this. Without rigorous honestly the program will not work for him and he won't be able to help others.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
here was my personal experience;
when I continued using marijuana in sobriety.... I wound up drinking again. And also wound up using marijuana in the same sort of destructive patterns. It was on a lesser scale because I never got in trouble or blacked out or wound up in jail because of marijuana. But that just became a great rationalization to convince myself it wasn't "a problem". The reality was I was using marijuana daily after a while, and often times all day long. I was just shifting the haze, the medication, the anesthesia of life from one drug to another. And after a while that haze just made it all the easier to let booze back in as well.
When I finally got off the year and a half long bender that resulted.... I got sober this time without marijuana. Now I've been sober for almost three years.
when I continued using marijuana in sobriety.... I wound up drinking again. And also wound up using marijuana in the same sort of destructive patterns. It was on a lesser scale because I never got in trouble or blacked out or wound up in jail because of marijuana. But that just became a great rationalization to convince myself it wasn't "a problem". The reality was I was using marijuana daily after a while, and often times all day long. I was just shifting the haze, the medication, the anesthesia of life from one drug to another. And after a while that haze just made it all the easier to let booze back in as well.
When I finally got off the year and a half long bender that resulted.... I got sober this time without marijuana. Now I've been sober for almost three years.
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1,981
Bill W was a big fan of LSD and also was looking for other substances for alternatives to alcohol. For me, weed just makes me extremely paranoid and I don't like the effects, though I have seen from others that it was very helpful in getting them off the booze, though is no miracle cure.
Just my own personal opinion, if you think it will be a useful stepping stone to get down off the booze, then to move onto sobriety, I say go for it.
Just my own personal opinion, if you think it will be a useful stepping stone to get down off the booze, then to move onto sobriety, I say go for it.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 17
If there's one thing I've learned on SR it's that there are many many commonalities amongst active drinkers but when it comes to quitting there seems to be many more differences. What works for one person may not for the next.
If you think that pot might lead you back to drinking then don't do smoke. You know how you'll probably react.
I've been smoking pot on and off for almost 20 years. I quit drinking 21 days ago today and I've still been smoking pot. However I know that I don't have a particularly addictive personality so I know marijuana won't lead to drinking or worse because it never has. I've also never in 20 years abused marijuana.
There's many that will say if you quit drinking but are smoking than you are not sober. I think you have to ask yourself what quantifies sober? If someone quits drinking but is taking antidepressant are they sober? Plenty of people take prescription anti-anxiety or antidepressants drugs during recovery. Undoubtedly some abuse the medication. Do we say all antidepressants are bad?
This is just the way I look at it. Good luck to you!
If you think that pot might lead you back to drinking then don't do smoke. You know how you'll probably react.
I've been smoking pot on and off for almost 20 years. I quit drinking 21 days ago today and I've still been smoking pot. However I know that I don't have a particularly addictive personality so I know marijuana won't lead to drinking or worse because it never has. I've also never in 20 years abused marijuana.
There's many that will say if you quit drinking but are smoking than you are not sober. I think you have to ask yourself what quantifies sober? If someone quits drinking but is taking antidepressant are they sober? Plenty of people take prescription anti-anxiety or antidepressants drugs during recovery. Undoubtedly some abuse the medication. Do we say all antidepressants are bad?
This is just the way I look at it. Good luck to you!
G-Woman
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Mississauga, ON
Posts: 979
This is MY personal view on MY sobriety - smoking pot is an intoxicant just as alcohol is. It would enable me to escape myself and my life in the exact same way as alcohol did. It would delay me from learning how to live life sober.
Sure, booze was my DOC and I'm not a huge fan of marijuana. So what purpose would it serve me, other than acting as a cheat basically - a replacement of what I've told myself is off limits?
And I don't personally care how AA would view it. It's how *I* view it, and whether or not it would align with my desire to TRULY recover and live honestly.
Sure, booze was my DOC and I'm not a huge fan of marijuana. So what purpose would it serve me, other than acting as a cheat basically - a replacement of what I've told myself is off limits?
And I don't personally care how AA would view it. It's how *I* view it, and whether or not it would align with my desire to TRULY recover and live honestly.
G-Woman
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Mississauga, ON
Posts: 979
Originally Posted by carlfardman 
There's many that will say if you quit drinking but are smoking than you are not sober. I think you have to ask yourself what quantifies sober? If someone quits drinking but is taking antidepressant are they sober? Plenty of people take prescription anti-anxiety or antidepressants drugs during recovery. Undoubtedly some abuse the medication. Do we say all antidepressants are bad?
This is just the way I look at it. Good luck to you!
This is just the way I look at it. Good luck to you!
That's fine that your personal definition of sobriety is different than mine. But the comparison to antidepressants is a false one, and it does not make one a hypocrite for using them.
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