Thoughts on smoking pot while quitting drinking?
Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Norway
Posts: 169
Yes, there are some forum guidelines telling us not to advocate any type of drugs. However (strong IMHO), weed is much less harmful compared to alcohol. You can never see an aggressive, violent or blacked out smoker. Plus, no hangover or withdrawal whatsoever. Weed just makes you lazy, stupid and hungry. The only thing I wanted was to lay on the sofa watching cartoons and munching chit.
Its a cold and its a broken hallelujah.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,887
I tried once a few it a few months ago when I first got off the hooch.
I wound up having heart palpitations for about 8 hours. And I decided I really hate the feeling of my body being out of control. Even in the comfort of my own home with friends.
For me, a sober life is a sober life. And for the most part, I really love it.
Granted there are days when I want to escape, but I have found that meditation gets me as high as I want to feel anymore. Even sometimes, that is too much. When I close my eyes and surrender, it feels like I'm flying. For me, there is NO DRUG that can get me higher than what is already built into our physiology.
Deep breathing and truly just.....letting go
Now don't ask me to give up my chocolate of coffee. That just ain't happenin'.
Yet.
I wound up having heart palpitations for about 8 hours. And I decided I really hate the feeling of my body being out of control. Even in the comfort of my own home with friends.
For me, a sober life is a sober life. And for the most part, I really love it.
Granted there are days when I want to escape, but I have found that meditation gets me as high as I want to feel anymore. Even sometimes, that is too much. When I close my eyes and surrender, it feels like I'm flying. For me, there is NO DRUG that can get me higher than what is already built into our physiology.
Deep breathing and truly just.....letting go
Now don't ask me to give up my chocolate of coffee. That just ain't happenin'.
Yet.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Midwest, USA
Posts: 1,022
Maybe it works for some people but for me the change was one of mindset. I don't use recreational drugs or substances habitually anymore. My day to day diet just doesn't have room for that stuff. I might smoke it again sometime (although I haven't for quite awhile), I'm not ruling it out, but it's just not part of my agenda.
If you are just subbing in marijuana for your alcohol problem, it's not really a solution, you know? Fixing your problem of being @#$%ed up all the time by getting @#$%ed up isn't making progress.
If you are just subbing in marijuana for your alcohol problem, it's not really a solution, you know? Fixing your problem of being @#$%ed up all the time by getting @#$%ed up isn't making progress.
My brain is trying to kill me
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Palo Alto, ca
Posts: 401
I actively seek two things in my sober travels
#1 Someone who found a solution through alcohol use
#2 Someone who found they could abuse one substance and not another
Still looking for both.
It doesn't work. Logically, how could it?
#1 Someone who found a solution through alcohol use
#2 Someone who found they could abuse one substance and not another
Still looking for both.
It doesn't work. Logically, how could it?
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 11
A good friend of mine quit booze and opiates about 10 months ago. He smokes a lot of weed still. I consider him sober. It may be in his best interest long term to cut down or quit the weed but I'd rather see him with a bong glued to his face than pounding cheap whiskey all day and then chasing the dragon all night. Right now the weed is helping him maintain and stay alive. It may affect his productivity but it won't put him on a slab.
As always though every person is a unique case. For some weed is a quick slide back to the heavy stuff, for some it allows them the time and space to walk away from the heavy stuff. Mind you I grew up on the west coast of Canada so weed hardly seems like a drug to me.
As always though every person is a unique case. For some weed is a quick slide back to the heavy stuff, for some it allows them the time and space to walk away from the heavy stuff. Mind you I grew up on the west coast of Canada so weed hardly seems like a drug to me.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,429
I've had good friends of mine develop mental problems, I believe, from pot use.
Some of them are no longer with us.
Some of the rest have lung diseases like COPD....
most of the smokers group I grew up with and smoked with are nearly 50, yet still live in their mothers basement, having never or rarely held a job and no motivation or ambition to.
and, sure most of the time I was placid - until I ran out of weed...
Then there's all the threads I read here about pot addiction - not onl;y the smokers like me but the families too, down in the FFA forums...
so...nope.
I can't buy the idea that weed is no big deal, or a lesser deal than alcohol.
That's like saying a knife is safer than a gun to me
D
Some of them are no longer with us.
Some of the rest have lung diseases like COPD....
most of the smokers group I grew up with and smoked with are nearly 50, yet still live in their mothers basement, having never or rarely held a job and no motivation or ambition to.
and, sure most of the time I was placid - until I ran out of weed...
Then there's all the threads I read here about pot addiction - not onl;y the smokers like me but the families too, down in the FFA forums...
so...nope.
I can't buy the idea that weed is no big deal, or a lesser deal than alcohol.
That's like saying a knife is safer than a gun to me
D
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: San Diego, ca
Posts: 128
I don't know it seems pretty benign to me, I feel like it will help me from wanting to go out and party. It doesn't really seem like a drug to me, I've never felt addicted to it, that's for sure and I've smoked on and off for years. Typically the times I've smoked instead of drank were much more stable and productive for me. I mean as long as you don't get carried away with it I think it's ok for me. It doesn't make me want to drink that's for sure.
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
Originally Posted by Erik1980 
I don't know it seems pretty benign to me, I feel like it will help me from wanting to go out and party. It doesn't really seem like a drug to me, I've never felt addicted to it, that's for sure and I've smoked on and off for years. Typically the times I've smoked instead of drank were much more stable and productive for me. I mean as long as you don't get carried away with it I think it's ok for me. It doesn't make me want to drink that's for sure.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,949
Like Dee I have also known a couple guys that developed major mental problems from smoking marijuana. I'm talking about delusions and hallucinations all day long for years until I lost contact with them. One guy actually thought there was a tiny person living in his head. this is not a joke and I thought I'd just let you know that
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Australia
Posts: 11,351
People that say pot smoking isn't an issue are either still smoking it or haven't been burnt by it.
It IS a drug and ruins lives.
My son has been smoking it since 15 . He used to have such an easy going placid nature , but over the years weed has taken that from him.
He is now 34 and has mental issues caused by the constant use . He is short tempered and can fly off the handle for the slightest little thing. When he ran out of his stash it was unbearable.
I have seen first hand what it has done to my brothers and how different they became once weaned off it.
They don't have hospital psych wards dedicated to marijuana usage for nothing. It IS a big deal . Xx
It IS a drug and ruins lives.
My son has been smoking it since 15 . He used to have such an easy going placid nature , but over the years weed has taken that from him.
He is now 34 and has mental issues caused by the constant use . He is short tempered and can fly off the handle for the slightest little thing. When he ran out of his stash it was unbearable.
I have seen first hand what it has done to my brothers and how different they became once weaned off it.
They don't have hospital psych wards dedicated to marijuana usage for nothing. It IS a big deal . Xx
Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Probably my living room. Maybe my bedroom if I'm feeling lazy
Posts: 1,085
I smoked every day for 10 years, then quit for a few year, and finally picked up drinking in my late 20s.
Yes, if you're doing a direct comparison of harm, alcohol is more dangerous.
I used to think my smoking wasn't a big deal. I still fulfilled my scholastic and career obligations. I never got into trouble. I wasn't having horrible withdrawals like I did from alcohol. I knew I couldn't die from it.
As a member of AA, I did my fourth step a little while back (moral inventory), and my sponsor told me to add stuff related to pot as well.
I quickly realized how it really did have a negative effect on me. The bottom line is that I'm an addict. It doesn't really matter what the substance is. When I am in my active addiction, I engage in behaviors that I would not normally do if I was sober. When I was smoking, I was still lying and manipulating people. I was still not being empathetic and engaged with with my family and friends. I still had a tendency to isolate and self medicate. I still chose pot over things that should have been a higher priority. These are the same behaviors that I later repeated with my alcohol use, albeit on a grander scale.
I could not begin to work on correcting these character flaws until I was free of all mind-altering substances.
Looking back, pot was not as benign as I had originally thought. My addict brain just can't handle it and still be a good person.
Yes, if you're doing a direct comparison of harm, alcohol is more dangerous.
I used to think my smoking wasn't a big deal. I still fulfilled my scholastic and career obligations. I never got into trouble. I wasn't having horrible withdrawals like I did from alcohol. I knew I couldn't die from it.
As a member of AA, I did my fourth step a little while back (moral inventory), and my sponsor told me to add stuff related to pot as well.
I quickly realized how it really did have a negative effect on me. The bottom line is that I'm an addict. It doesn't really matter what the substance is. When I am in my active addiction, I engage in behaviors that I would not normally do if I was sober. When I was smoking, I was still lying and manipulating people. I was still not being empathetic and engaged with with my family and friends. I still had a tendency to isolate and self medicate. I still chose pot over things that should have been a higher priority. These are the same behaviors that I later repeated with my alcohol use, albeit on a grander scale.
I could not begin to work on correcting these character flaws until I was free of all mind-altering substances.
Looking back, pot was not as benign as I had originally thought. My addict brain just can't handle it and still be a good person.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,785
Unlike booze, I could take it leave it. It never really had its hooks in me. I enjoyed it but I liked alcohol more. I could go years and years without it or even thinking about it.
That said, I could never do the "marijuana maintenance" program as I know I would drink. I always did the two together. Just like if I went to a bar. I can't do one without the other.
One would lead me to the other.
That said, I could never do the "marijuana maintenance" program as I know I would drink. I always did the two together. Just like if I went to a bar. I can't do one without the other.
One would lead me to the other.
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