LiveItFull

Hello.
i mentioned in my other posts i am an 8 years alcoholic although i am 27. i began drinking excessively at the age of 18 when i went to another city to study university, so i was far away from my family and their observation. i was free. i was young. i had no any responsibility without studying but i didn't do that. also i used to use marijuana with alcohol and i still use although i give up alcohol 3.5 months ago. when the beginning of stages of being far away from alcohol, it was like therapy to use marijuana. but that is another addiction. i actually have triple addiction. alcohol, cigarette and alcohol.

i know it seems that marijuana is innocent than alcohol but it's another addiction.

i must study and i must finish the university. i can't motivate myself to study because of using marijuana.

otherwise my life will suck...

doggonecarl

True. It's a drug. An addictive one. The only people who think it is innocent are probably those that use it and that's their justification.

I lost ten years of my life lost in the "innocence" of marijuana. You are wise to quit.

Dee74

I was dealing with entwined addictions too - booze pot and cigs - If I was high I needed booze and smokes, and when I was drunk I needed pot and smokes.

None of the three were good for me in any way.

You're very wise to be this self aware about how insidious and damaging pot can be.

We have a marijuana forum here too if you ever want to visit

NEW! Marijuana Addiction - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

D

Saskia

In my IOP, we were tested at the beginning of each session for drugs and alcohol to determine if we were "clean and sober". That included marijuana. It takes at least a month for the test for pot to become negative!

Although pot seems to be not a problem for some, I have seen a life destroyed because of it (my ex-spouse). I suspect it is similar to alcohol in that some people are normie and some are not. For any of us with alcoholism, I would expect that pot would be a much higher addiction risk.

You noted the lack of motivation and that's exactly what happened to my ex - he quit work and didn't bother to try to find anything else. And that's one of the many reasons he is my ex.

Soberish

I too have struggled with alcohol and marijuana, ive smoked cigarettes too but those were always something I could put down. I'm also a student who just started a university and I was still smoking pot when I started there this semester.

I understand how much quitting can make your desire to do anything cease, but it is only temporary. The hard thing being a student who wishes to quit though is that we have no time for unambitious ways whrn we have to constantly study to keep up. It is very hard.

I was fortunate to be able to take some easy classes this first semester, to help get over the hump of depression, anxiety, not being able to concentrate, and cravings. Maybe you also have the opportunity to take an easier study load for the next semester? Or maybe, and as a student I know it feels like it is not an option, you can perhaps take a semester/quarter off to take time for yourself to get back into the groove without marijuana?

Congrats on quittting alcohol, 3 and a half months is great. Do realize that 3.5 months is also very early still, and that it will only get better as time persists.

wpainterw

LiveitFull wrote: "i can't motivate myself to study because of using marijuana."

To me this sounds familiar. Someone in my family that I was very close to started using marijuana and he sort of turned "blah". Became apathetic, indifferent, spent lots of time just looking out the window, his grades began to plummet.He screwed up the conclusion of a long paper he had to write and I unscrewed before he handed it in. Like you, he started mixing it with booze. Ended up just drifting along. He eventually recovered a bit but it seemed to change his whole life and it still shows. He's not addicted to anything now, thank heaven, since I hear that the marijuana is much stronger than it used to be.
The whole thing comes down to self medicating, or what the stoners back in the 60's called the "Wonderful World of Chemistry". They were called "recreational" drugs, like exercise bikes, rowing machines? Only that kind of 'recreation' seemed to end you up just drifting along, just drifting..............."Don't worry! Be happy!" Lotus land hogwash!

W.

leviathan

Although it REALLY bit the big one at first, I decided to put down the m.j. with the booze and pills. If I hadn't have done so, I would still be smoking daily and watching life fly by in a blur.

Oh yeah, and I'd still be telling myself it was easy to quit- just not something I'm ready for quite yet...

Soberish

"I'll quit in a week, I'll use this last sack to smoke less before I stop"

Would lead to

"I'll buy a little more and just quit after this weekend"

Which would lead to

"I'm smoking less now, I can manage it and keep it under control"

Which would lead back to the first quote up at the top some amount of time later, maybe another week or another 4 months, would never really know when.

I'm here now and its only been a few weeks. Its not perfect but its getting better and I'm out of the cycle now which means progress. I hope you do the same LiveItFull.

wpainterw

Some folks seem to say that marijuana helps you study, helps you "settle down", etc. From what I've seen it does help you "settle down", so much that you end up gazing out the window in a blank state and saying to yourself that you'll get around to studying tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. You've entered the land of the Lotus Eaters, Fugawai territory. The land of Where Ah We? And Who Cares Anyway.! The land of Fuggedaboudid.. Don't worry, be happy! "I'll get by. Take easy courses. Fake it with lots of fill in the boxes, multiple guess or true falsie exams." I'll get a job when I graduate. Don't worry about that. That's a long way away. Have another puff.

W

leviathan

...and I kinda remember having alot of fun. I had alot of fun, DIDNT I???

gaffo

I can still remember the first few times I got stoned in high school. I just couldn't believe how strong it was. It scared me and this was decades ago, before strong weed! I hung out with stoners but almost never partook so when I did it just leveled me. Then when I went to college I started doing it every day and mixing it with drinking. In the beginning I could be creative while drinking but weed has always been another story. It made me feel a little better about getting nothing done, I guess.

Later in life I learned to "power through" the weed and get stuff done but it always seemed like a waste of energy "why did I get stoned before I did this?" I would ask myself but the next day there I would be, stoned again and struggling through the job at hand. In the end it was just another useless addiction that I had to quit. Most of my friends and family all still smoke it and think it's fine. I tell them maybe I'll smoke it again someday. Life goes on.

wpainterw

I remember they used to sing, "I don't take it no mo! Cause I'm tired of waking up on de flo!" ("TGIF! Thank God It's Friday! But how come it's always Friday now?") We're the fugawe? Ahgawananfuggedaboudid!

Soberish

How's it going LiveItFull? Haven't heard back from you, hope all is well.

UnixBer

I had the same experience with m.j. as most described here. Actually last time I tried quitting booze I started smoking m.j. I thought as most at first do that it's innocent and far less dangerous, and could possibly have some boosting properties that help with the recovery from alcohol.

I stopped and found I got subtle and really really annoying withdrawal from it lasting a few weeks even though I only vaporized my m.j. and didn't smoke it.
This was enough to convince me today that it's not innocent at all. Just another drug. Drugs can have health effects that are useful at some time, but they're still drugs.

Having stopped it I find that I am far more capable of creative thinking than ever on m.j.

ACT10Npack

I tried weed about 5 times in my life. I never found it really joyful. Out of the 5 times I tried it, I got high. It was fun for a few hours and then feel like crap. But it was most likely from being drunk at the time and wanted to get a drink. Personal, I see weed like cigarettes. Nothing really useful I got out of it. But I never got addicted to them, so I may be the odd ball in the group. Just alcohol was my poison.