Are there many marijuana addicts at NA meetings?
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Are there many marijuana addicts at NA meetings?
I am on day one of no weed and this time around, I really want to succeed at getting out of the weed trap. As hard as it may be, it's about time. It just is.
There are really no MA meetings in town, which surprises me. A friend of mine who goes to NA tells me that he feels like there are some serious hard-core recovering drug addicts who still seem like they are fiending to use whatever it is they were using.
He said he doesn't relate to that. He went due to he started to have a little problem with crack and meth, that he has gotten over.
However, he is doing E on what I consider to be a semi-regular basis and seems to still gravitate to people who do this on occasion (as he says). It's a little weird listening to him talk about how he still goes to meetings but isn't a hard-core addict like the NA folks.
I'm not into hard drugs, but would like some support for this weed problem. Just wondering....
Thanks,
Cat
There are really no MA meetings in town, which surprises me. A friend of mine who goes to NA tells me that he feels like there are some serious hard-core recovering drug addicts who still seem like they are fiending to use whatever it is they were using.
He said he doesn't relate to that. He went due to he started to have a little problem with crack and meth, that he has gotten over.
However, he is doing E on what I consider to be a semi-regular basis and seems to still gravitate to people who do this on occasion (as he says). It's a little weird listening to him talk about how he still goes to meetings but isn't a hard-core addict like the NA folks.
I'm not into hard drugs, but would like some support for this weed problem. Just wondering....
Thanks,
Cat
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Well, Cat, this is the NA forum. So if you think that NA'ers are a bunch of "serious hard core recovering drug addicts" that you wouldn't feel comfy with, then I don't quite know what to say. We are. Serious. Hard Core Recovering. Drug addicts. Yep to all that!!! Proud and happy to be one! Welcome and keep coming back!
KJ
KJ
We Do Recover
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I think NA is a great choice. NA isn't concerned with what or how much you have used (in the past)...just in what you want to do about you problem and how they can help with it. Yes, there are marijuana addicts in NA. As far as what others do--some still use and go to meetings..hopefully they will get better the longer they hang around and listen in meetings. "E" is a drug--definitely a mind/mood-altering one
...I would have a hard time trying to work a program while still "actively" using. I would suggest going to a NA meeting and see what you think. I find much needed support there. 
...I would have a hard time trying to work a program while still "actively" using. I would suggest going to a NA meeting and see what you think. I find much needed support there. Member
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My DOC is oxycodone and I feel most comfortable in NA meetings with the "hardcore" people. However, I mostly go to AA meetings because the Out To Lunch Bunch are my people. I can't afford to drive 45 min each way with gas prices up here in AK. I'm clean and sober and it works for me.
Whatever works for you.
Whatever works for you.
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i had the issue relating to people in NA at first - I was a sheltered kid growing up who got into perscription drugs -- never bought on the street, never got busted by police, ect. I live in a city so many of those in NA meetings have experianced it all -- I thought I had a drug problem but was not an addict like those guys over there and felt really out of place. Someone told me to stop compairing myself out and start compairing myself in. I didn't relate so much to the actions of many, I related to the emotions and feelings that drove their actions. And as I stuck around, and got to know people, I found those with simular stories to mine, where I could relate to both the emotions and the actions. My advise is to go to a few meetings, listen not only to the actions but the emotions, and look for how you relate.
*Grateful*
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Originally Posted by CatWings 
A friend of mine who goes to NA tells me that he feels like there are some serious hard-core recovering drug addicts who still seem like they are fiending to use whatever it is they were using.
Cat
Cat
However, having said that, as recovering addicts work the steps their lives and additudes should be changing to reflect what they are learning.
Also, with a large increase use of prescription drugs among professionals these days, you meet people from all walks of life.
That is why in NA we are to keep in mind that focusing in similarites rather than differences is key.
In our teeny tiny NA groups up here we actually have 2 recovering MA'ers. One of them is coming over to my house today to do a bathroom remodel.
Give NA a try. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Go with an open mind!
Welcome! Sheila
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Originally Posted by kj3880
Well, Cat, this is the NA forum. So if you think that NA'ers are a bunch of "serious hard core recovering drug addicts" that you wouldn't feel comfy with, then I don't quite know what to say. We are. Serious. Hard Core Recovering. Drug addicts. Yep to all that!!! Proud and happy to be one! Welcome and keep coming back!
KJ
KJ
That is not what I said. That is what was related to be my a friend. I have never been to an NA meeting.
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Thanks everyone for the input and the advice to find similarities and not differences. That is a good idea in life anyway a lot of the time. I will check a meeting out - tonight in fact!
Evolving Addict
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WTG, Cat!!
We addicts are a varied bunch. Some of us went to greater extremes than others. We used different drugs and different combinations of drugs, that's why we refer to NA as a "universal program." In NA, it doesn't matter what you used, or how much you used, or who you coped from, or how much or little money you have. Our main concern is what YOU want to do about your problem and how we can help.
I was one of those addicts that disqualified myself from recovery time and time again because I wouldn't allow myself to relate to "those people." Unfortunately, my drug use eventually progressed to the point where I had no choice but to let others help me or die.
Each of us has a "bottom" that we reach that leads us to reach out for help. IMO, for you to come here searching for answers is an indication that a bottom has been reached for you. Don't let hearsay and negativity run you away from a great opportunity to turn your life around. Remember...every bottom has a trap door. You can always fall further if you take no action to stop falling. Give yourself a break - try meetings and try not to compare.
We addicts are a varied bunch. Some of us went to greater extremes than others. We used different drugs and different combinations of drugs, that's why we refer to NA as a "universal program." In NA, it doesn't matter what you used, or how much you used, or who you coped from, or how much or little money you have. Our main concern is what YOU want to do about your problem and how we can help.
I was one of those addicts that disqualified myself from recovery time and time again because I wouldn't allow myself to relate to "those people." Unfortunately, my drug use eventually progressed to the point where I had no choice but to let others help me or die.
Each of us has a "bottom" that we reach that leads us to reach out for help. IMO, for you to come here searching for answers is an indication that a bottom has been reached for you. Don't let hearsay and negativity run you away from a great opportunity to turn your life around. Remember...every bottom has a trap door. You can always fall further if you take no action to stop falling. Give yourself a break - try meetings and try not to compare.
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Marijuana was my drug of choice when I got clean over 24 years ago. I also used alcohol and some other drugs, but I was mostly a pothead. I started going to meetings where most of the people were hard core heroin or cocaine addicts. I had a hard time relating at first, but fortunately I started to see that what we had in common was the disease of addiction, of which drug use is just a symptom. Nowhere in the NA steps does it mention a particular drug--just addiction. I began to see my marijuana use as an addiction. I also began to realize that even if I managed to stop smoking pot, I would probably pick up another drug addiction, such as alcohol. So, I needed to stop using all mind/mood altering drugs.
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There are people in NA that i have known for years and i still do not know what drugs they used. I never asked and they never told.
NA is not concerned with what or how much you used.
Our disease is addiction not marijuana or crack. Our common language is recovery.
In NA I see folks trying to segregate themselves on the basis of what drugs they used. "Terminally unique" comes to mind. It's just silly in my opinion.
NA is not concerned with what or how much you used.
Our disease is addiction not marijuana or crack. Our common language is recovery.
In NA I see folks trying to segregate themselves on the basis of what drugs they used. "Terminally unique" comes to mind. It's just silly in my opinion.
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This is what I think: It doesn't matter how old you are, what color you are, if you have a record or don't have a record, drug addicts all have one thing in common- we feel the need to impair ourselves in order to deal with our everyday lives. We can learn from each other. There are addicts who are further down the tunnel than others but that doesn't mean that you won't learn something from them and maybe they can learn something from you too.
When you are an addict you are not yourself no matter what you think. Drugs turn you into a completely different person and you don't even know who you are anymore. You do things that you never could have imagined doing just to feel better. I am a good person, I went to college, had a great job, never been in trouble, I volunteer at soup kitchens and at the hospital. While I was addicted to Oxycontin I actually stole jewelery from my mother so I could pawn it to get high. If Oxy's weren't around and I was in withdrawal I would snort some Heroin just to make the sickness go away. But that was not the real me, I am a good person and I will be the real me again someday. All of us will.
When you are an addict you are not yourself no matter what you think. Drugs turn you into a completely different person and you don't even know who you are anymore. You do things that you never could have imagined doing just to feel better. I am a good person, I went to college, had a great job, never been in trouble, I volunteer at soup kitchens and at the hospital. While I was addicted to Oxycontin I actually stole jewelery from my mother so I could pawn it to get high. If Oxy's weren't around and I was in withdrawal I would snort some Heroin just to make the sickness go away. But that was not the real me, I am a good person and I will be the real me again someday. All of us will.
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I went to my first NA meeting tonight and I am glad I went. There were some things about it that bugged me (mostly because I am an atheist), but I was able to translate what they suggested about God's will, etc. into something I could understand. The main thing for me right now is that I need support in order to get clean.
Interestingly enough, this one meeting I went to was not at all like what my friend said. It was mostly people around my age and older - and two women were clean from weed and were cool to talk to after the meetings.
I think I am old enough now and adaptable enough to where I can make the situation work with my particular beliefs, etc. I have done lot of self-work as is and it kind of all relates in the end. The re-enforcement aspect seems pretty helpful to me there.
As far as my friend goes, the more I think of it, I am not going to talk to him about NA, because he has too much negative to say about it and yet he goes all the time. He keeps saying he's not an addict like "those people" and I have reminded him a few times that there is a reason he goes. But that reason was a short, but costly stint with crack that he is now over.
Now he says he has no problem going out and doing E now and again except I reminded him just last night that since I have known him since last July, I have heard him talk about having done E about six times.
I think what you guys said was smart - get rid of the "terminal uniqueness thing" and thinking your addiction is not as bad as the other person's addiction.
I was really feeling quite depressed tonight and I'm an isolator, so it really was something for me to get in my car and go to this meeting. I did feel better for a bit though now I am in the dumps again, but I am clean for the rest of the today.
Oh, another thing I thought was great is that they did not say "The Lord's Prayer" at this meeting. They did something else that I can't quite remember. That was refreshing.
Interestingly enough, this one meeting I went to was not at all like what my friend said. It was mostly people around my age and older - and two women were clean from weed and were cool to talk to after the meetings.
I think I am old enough now and adaptable enough to where I can make the situation work with my particular beliefs, etc. I have done lot of self-work as is and it kind of all relates in the end. The re-enforcement aspect seems pretty helpful to me there.
As far as my friend goes, the more I think of it, I am not going to talk to him about NA, because he has too much negative to say about it and yet he goes all the time. He keeps saying he's not an addict like "those people" and I have reminded him a few times that there is a reason he goes. But that reason was a short, but costly stint with crack that he is now over.
Now he says he has no problem going out and doing E now and again except I reminded him just last night that since I have known him since last July, I have heard him talk about having done E about six times.
I think what you guys said was smart - get rid of the "terminal uniqueness thing" and thinking your addiction is not as bad as the other person's addiction.
I was really feeling quite depressed tonight and I'm an isolator, so it really was something for me to get in my car and go to this meeting. I did feel better for a bit though now I am in the dumps again, but I am clean for the rest of the today.
Oh, another thing I thought was great is that they did not say "The Lord's Prayer" at this meeting. They did something else that I can't quite remember. That was refreshing.
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Intuition was talked about some at this meeting and I think that is what I decided a while back, is my version of God's will. It either feels right or it does not. Having a clear enough head to be able to pay attention to what is really going on and what signals I am getting from a situation, can only help.
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Originally Posted by REZ
Marijuana was my drug of choice when I got clean .... Nowhere in the NA steps does it mention a particular drug--just addiction. I began to see my marijuana use as an addiction. I also began to realize that even if I managed to stop smoking pot, I would probably pick up another drug addiction, such as alcohol. So, I needed to stop using all mind/mood altering drugs.
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Glad you went to an NA meeting. You can be an atheist in NA. All you need to believe in is something that can help you stay clean. It could be the group, the steps, whatever.
Be careful about alcohol. I have known many addicts who thought they could have a drink every now and then, but they were wrong. The bottom line in NA is that alcohol is a drug. Though alcohol was not my drug of choice, when I did not have my drug of choice, I turned to alcohol. I needed something to get me high, to feel different.
Be careful about alcohol. I have known many addicts who thought they could have a drink every now and then, but they were wrong. The bottom line in NA is that alcohol is a drug. Though alcohol was not my drug of choice, when I did not have my drug of choice, I turned to alcohol. I needed something to get me high, to feel different.
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