How do you deal with legalization?
Not all better, getting better
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Beautiful Inner Banks of NC
Posts: 1,702
How do you deal with legalization?
This is a question for those of you who live in places that have legalized marijuana. How does it work for you?
I suppose it is no different than an alcoholic dealing with a liquor store down the street, but somehow it seems different. I live in North Carolina, so the chances of me having to deal with this anytime in the next 20 years are pretty unlikely!! I think a lot of the reason I have been able to not use has to do with lack of proximity. I don't have any friends who use (or really any friends!!) so I would have to make a decent effort to get it.
It is probably why I have continued to struggle with alcohol while being able to "give up" pot. On the one hand I think pot should probably be legal, as the damage caused by the legal system IMO outweighs the dangers of the actual drug. On the other hand, I think when it is legal many more people will find themselves having a problem with it.
Just curious how people in this situation have dealt with it.
I suppose it is no different than an alcoholic dealing with a liquor store down the street, but somehow it seems different. I live in North Carolina, so the chances of me having to deal with this anytime in the next 20 years are pretty unlikely!! I think a lot of the reason I have been able to not use has to do with lack of proximity. I don't have any friends who use (or really any friends!!) so I would have to make a decent effort to get it.
It is probably why I have continued to struggle with alcohol while being able to "give up" pot. On the one hand I think pot should probably be legal, as the damage caused by the legal system IMO outweighs the dangers of the actual drug. On the other hand, I think when it is legal many more people will find themselves having a problem with it.
Just curious how people in this situation have dealt with it.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,428
This may not answer your question Tyler lol.
Its not legal where I am (except under prescription is certain cases only) but yeah it would be just the same as me as alcohol.
Alcohol and I have a toxic relationship so I don't drink.
I don't smoke for the same reason.
I'm past all the 'maybe if I just...' ideas and tricks to keep booze or pot in my life.
Its legality or not is not really an issue for me.
D
Its not legal where I am (except under prescription is certain cases only) but yeah it would be just the same as me as alcohol.
Alcohol and I have a toxic relationship so I don't drink.
I don't smoke for the same reason.
I'm past all the 'maybe if I just...' ideas and tricks to keep booze or pot in my life.
Its legality or not is not really an issue for me.
D
No Dogma Please
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,562
Avoid Nimbin!
Fortunately I loathe weed, as there are two dispensaries within 100 feet of my house. And my roommates smoke it. And I smell it nearly every time I get on the train, and often walking down my street.
I think it should absolutely be legal. So should psychedelic drugs. And regulated and taxed. People need to be adults and take care of their addictions....the majority CAN enjoy the occasional cocktail or smoke. If we can't, it's up to us to manage our own issues. I've always said that drug use should be dealt with in treatment not in jail.
Fortunately I loathe weed, as there are two dispensaries within 100 feet of my house. And my roommates smoke it. And I smell it nearly every time I get on the train, and often walking down my street.
I think it should absolutely be legal. So should psychedelic drugs. And regulated and taxed. People need to be adults and take care of their addictions....the majority CAN enjoy the occasional cocktail or smoke. If we can't, it's up to us to manage our own issues. I've always said that drug use should be dealt with in treatment not in jail.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 466
My political views on legalization remain separated from my views on my relationship with weed. I'm not a legalization advocate by any means, but I'm a believer in states' rights and am against the criminalization of small drug possession.
My situation is unlike yours Tyler in that weed has always been available to me to a certain extent, and continues to be to this day (not that I'm around it, but I could get it if I wanted to). I went to Seattle for a wedding about 3 months into recovery. When I arrived, I had a brief impulse which subsided once I saw two depressed looking homeless men smoking it on the sidewalk. I've now realized that weed isn't going anywhere so I'll have to deal with its presence wherever I go. Legalization would simplify the process of picking up, that's it. I still know that the second I inhale, that familiar feeling of hopelessness will return, and I'll have a panic attack within an hour, both of which routinely happened during my relapse. It won't matter if I buy it inside an apartment or inside a store, it'll still be weed.
My situation is unlike yours Tyler in that weed has always been available to me to a certain extent, and continues to be to this day (not that I'm around it, but I could get it if I wanted to). I went to Seattle for a wedding about 3 months into recovery. When I arrived, I had a brief impulse which subsided once I saw two depressed looking homeless men smoking it on the sidewalk. I've now realized that weed isn't going anywhere so I'll have to deal with its presence wherever I go. Legalization would simplify the process of picking up, that's it. I still know that the second I inhale, that familiar feeling of hopelessness will return, and I'll have a panic attack within an hour, both of which routinely happened during my relapse. It won't matter if I buy it inside an apartment or inside a store, it'll still be weed.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 232
Tyler, I have a addicted family member(her DOC is what's easiest to get and conceal), and after watching all the fall out of what's it doing to the family, I loathe that the question of legalization may be up for referendum in my state in November.
I wasn't sure at first, then read into studies about legal recreation use and found the most substantial studies and test on human brain reaction/development was done in Europe. The results are not being made here because I believe the findings are alarming (one report of over 50,000 pot users were in one long term study, with a result of over 600% increased chances of developing schizophrenic disorders within 10 years of moderate to heavy use).
Taking also into account the increased numbers of 'drugged relating' driving fatalities involving marijuana in Washington State and Colorado just after 1 year of legalized recreational use.
I know my kids will one day drink because it's legal and socially acceptable. And I find this no way comforting that in doing so, they could become one of those over 88,000 people who will die a year in an alcohol related deaths, let alone being one drink closer to the possibility of becoming an alcoholic.
And AA and Addiction centers aren't crowded enough just with booze? (On a side note: my state recently had casinos legalized and guess what followed? Gambling addiction groups!)
Adding another legalized mind/mood altering substance for recreation use to the mix is lowering the bar for yet another drug we won't be able to deal with and is just unpalatable to me.
I wasn't sure at first, then read into studies about legal recreation use and found the most substantial studies and test on human brain reaction/development was done in Europe. The results are not being made here because I believe the findings are alarming (one report of over 50,000 pot users were in one long term study, with a result of over 600% increased chances of developing schizophrenic disorders within 10 years of moderate to heavy use).
Taking also into account the increased numbers of 'drugged relating' driving fatalities involving marijuana in Washington State and Colorado just after 1 year of legalized recreational use.
I know my kids will one day drink because it's legal and socially acceptable. And I find this no way comforting that in doing so, they could become one of those over 88,000 people who will die a year in an alcohol related deaths, let alone being one drink closer to the possibility of becoming an alcoholic.
And AA and Addiction centers aren't crowded enough just with booze? (On a side note: my state recently had casinos legalized and guess what followed? Gambling addiction groups!)
Adding another legalized mind/mood altering substance for recreation use to the mix is lowering the bar for yet another drug we won't be able to deal with and is just unpalatable to me.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 572
If the edibles were legal where I am, I'd be sure to indulge. As long as the stuff is regulated, I'd know it's pharmaceutical grade. Smoking it used to irritate my lungs but were it not for that, I'd probably ingest regularly.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Washington state
Posts: 571
I live in a state where it is legal.
I deal with it the same way I deal with alcohol, which I also have an addiction to.
It doesn't really matter how available the intoxicants are, they are off limits to me.
I deal with it the same way I deal with alcohol, which I also have an addiction to.
It doesn't really matter how available the intoxicants are, they are off limits to me.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Denmark
Posts: 7
It's not legal in Denmark where I'am from, but we have a place called Freetown where the dealers are having shops. They are raided everyday by the police. Its just like a legal shop in any other place in terms of the availability.
I avoid going there because of the triggers related to it, and its simply not a part of my life anymore, like Dee74 said "I'm over the what if's". I stick to my weekly MA meetings (Just like the Narcotics Anonymous), keep doing my sobriety work, and doing the rutines I have established that keeps me sober one day at a time.
In early sobriety I was tempted a lot just to visit the place for fun, but I knew it was my AV that was talking me in to relapse down the line. Now 6 months sober, I will get uncomfortable if around old behaviour patterns, so its easier to avoid and doing stuff that I actually like from the heart. Hope you can use a bit of it.
Stay Sober
I avoid going there because of the triggers related to it, and its simply not a part of my life anymore, like Dee74 said "I'm over the what if's". I stick to my weekly MA meetings (Just like the Narcotics Anonymous), keep doing my sobriety work, and doing the rutines I have established that keeps me sober one day at a time.
In early sobriety I was tempted a lot just to visit the place for fun, but I knew it was my AV that was talking me in to relapse down the line. Now 6 months sober, I will get uncomfortable if around old behaviour patterns, so its easier to avoid and doing stuff that I actually like from the heart. Hope you can use a bit of it.
Stay Sober
Not all better, getting better
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Beautiful Inner Banks of NC
Posts: 1,702
Thanks for all the replies!! The general consensus seems to be that it is pretty much the same as dealing with liquor stores, which makes a lot of sense. I guess maybe it is because it is not something I have had to deal with in my part of the country that it seems different. I know in the few times I have visited areas where it is legal it was a MAJOR temptation, one that I have given into on several occasions. I guess the thinking going through my head at the time was that it was a "special" occasion that I wouldn't have to deal with long term after I left. I guess I have to learn to adjust my thinking in those situations.
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