Addiction or medicine
 

Try quitting. A lot of answers could be found in the struggle to do so.

People try it, sure. I've yet to hear someone report that it is a path to success for permanent recovery.

What I hear you asking is not about using pot for medical purposes. Replacing one addiction with another is a bad idea for us alcoholics.

I’m sure that quitting will be difficult as I will fall back into depression. But the same would happen if I stopped any antidepressant. I really do feel better with MMJ just having a hard time since being in recovery so long. I’d love to hear some success stories or some failure stories to give me some perspective. I’m not looking to get super high, just take the edge off and help me enjoy life. I hope I am not posting in the wrong place I am just looking for some answers.. I have been unhappy in sobriety for a very long time

Well...this is a Recovery community. Sobriety from mind altering drugs is the goal here. It's against site guidelines to recommend using it and in fact you've posted in the subforum regarding stopping marijuana.

Maybe read the other threads in this forum.

Replacing one addiction for another isn't any kind of life. Sure, it will work for a minute but lots of people have serious problems with marijuana.

I have never been an alcoholic so my case might be different from yours, but I can't recommend using one substance to eleviate the problems that quitting another substance have caused. Even if your problems have a broader nature I still cannot give the thumbs-up to using MJ.

I used MJ for a very long time (22 years daily) without any real problems, or so it seemed. I felt it only took off the edge a little bit, I thought it brought me the things I naturally lacked. At first it did but things didn't stay the same. Over time and without me noticing it, the addiction grew stronger and by the time I wanted to quit, I found it very hard to do so. I am nearly two years sober now and the habit is still there, sometimes very much so. I associate it with so many things it's scary every now and then.

I think the best thing you can do for yourself is try to become happy sober. This might seem as a daunting task. It might even be one. But using a substance to tackle problems is not a long time solution. And it won't give you the satisfaction you'd get from solving issues sober.

Hope this helps. Wishing you the best!

You'll find people here whose lives were destroyed by pot addiction so 'no real consequences', although we hear it a lot in the media etc, doesn't really apply here.

I pretty much never met a drug I couldn't abuse.

Marijuana destroyed my life the way alcohol did - the obsession, the desire for escape, the trying to keep my addiction a secret, draining my back balance, forgetting my responsibilities, hurting those I loved...all those things happened on either drug,

Weed ended up being very bad for my anxiety and depression,

I self medicated so much that when I wasn't high I was miserable, sad and anxious as heck.

My mental health was never so bad as when I was self medicating with pot.

Anxiety is pretty much a given for a while when you quit alcohol.

If your anxiety is debilitating and you're through the initial withdrawal phase from alcohol, my advice is stop medicating and see your doctor instead.
how long is that blusteele?

D

Consequences are very real, trust me.
In my personal experience, eventually the relief turned into suffering.
And then it becomes pure hell, very hard to get out. I would advise you to not go down that path.

Thanks all I threw all my weed away today. Not worth the risk I think

I think that was an awesome decision blusteele :)

D

Yeah we will see how it goes. If it’s in the house I will smoke it. It’s in some random trash bin across town now.

I'm still wondering about your statement about being unhappy in recovery for a long time - why do you think that is blusteele? :dunno

D

That's great! And I echo Dee's question - being sober and in real recovery (those are very different for me) brings me true joy. Reality and clarity sure, and things aren't perfect by any means, but 'unhappy' isn't a word I can truly apply to my life.

What's next for you, in addition to not smoking?

I have trauma and a chemical imbalance. I am unable to be happy in sobriety. I started buying into the marijuana miracle drug so decided to try it. It hasn’t helped that everywhere I go it’s on the cover of magazines with articles about how it is healing people and saving lives. It did really help but I couldn’t take the feeling that I was ******* up. Maybe I am just meant to be a happy stoner. At what point does it become a quality of life issue ? Maybe full sobriety isn’t meant for everyone. I want to enjoy my life and have been unable to :-(. I haven’t used today but really feel depressed and fragile.

You sound exactly like me when I just quit. The feelings you are experiencing are not uncommon. I'd say they are pretty universal. The goods news is that they will vanish pretty quickly. Hang in there! I hope you can make it stick.

Gently....you didn't let us know how long you have been 'unhappy sober' - ? I'm asking again because I certainly had to stay sober awhile to get in recovery - and I also had to be completely sober.

Hope you stay around.

I'm sorry for your trauma and your chemical imbalance. I expect you've seen someone professionally about both those things at some time?

I don't think pot is a solution...most of my friends in my smoking days were long term smokers like me (20-30 years).

None of us were happy stoners. We were all very unhappy and not in great mental health.

If you have a chemical imbalance already, adding in a do it yourself fix like pot isn't likely to work out great.

I hope you stick around too, and I hope things change for you with a little more clean and sober time.

D

Thanks everyone. It’s so hard when society is co-signing the ******** that MJ is a harmless wonder plant placed on Gods earth to help the suffering. Part of me buys into it and part of me doesn’t. I really don’t know what the truth is anymore. I had a very bad bottom with alcohol and other drugs so it’s hard for me to trust the MMJ maintenance plan although it does seem to work for some people. I’m really feeling lost I guess I need to pray and meditate about it to see what the truth is for me.

An alcohol maintenance plan does seem to work for some people. I just know that I am not one of them!

I think people will eventually realise pot is as great a public health problem as alcohol is.

But...really the bottom line, and the way I look at it is, I'm the problem.

I can't drink and I can't smoke pot without them taking over my life and destroying it.

I can't moderate my use - I'd have to smoke that quarter in 2 days and go get another one tomorrow.

I've tried enough times to know ,whatever my problems are, they're not solved by me getting high or wasted.

D