{"id":103,"date":"2012-04-10T01:14:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T01:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cannitrol.com\/\/?p=103"},"modified":"2012-04-10T14:16:05","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T14:16:05","slug":"i-cant-stop-smoking-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/i-cant-stop-smoking-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"I can\u2019t stop smoking pot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/i-cant-stop-smoking-pot\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><h2>\u00a0I love smoking pot, but I think I may have a problem. I smoke it every day, and when I can&#8217;t get it, I drink<!--more--><br \/><strong>Dear Cary,<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\n<strong>I smoke marijuana every day. There are times when I don\u2019t smoke, but I\u2019ve definitely smoked almost every day for several years. I\u2019m an extremely functional smoker (stoner?) \u2014 I\u2019m in grad school, I have a part-time job, I have a good relationship with my family, I have a social life, etc. I usually smoke alone \u2014 most of my friends don\u2019t smoke or only smoke occasionally. I usually wait until later on in the day to get high, but I\u2019ll sometimes smoke before I go to school\/work\/coffee\/meet up with friends.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Smoking is relaxing, it\u2019s fantastic, I really love getting high. I don\u2019t do hard drugs \u2014 I only smoke weed. I\u2019ve researched the topic and I\u2019m not overly concerned about the health ramifications. [To the people who are rushing to comment that marijuana is VERY HARMFUL (psychosis! cancer! we don&#8217;t really have proof, but it&#8217;s terrible for you! etc!) &#8212; please don&#8217;t waste your time.]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I have a history of depression \u2014 it\u2019s genetic and occasionally situational. I\u2019m not severely depressed \u2014 but I definitely have depression that waxes and wanes. I\u2019m sure that I\u2019m partially self-medicating, but as medicines go, weed is a pretty good one. I\u2019m definitely psychologically addicted to marijuana.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>My family, employers and some friends would be shocked and upset if they knew how often I smoke. I come from a conservative\/religious background and I feel guilty about the tension I\u2019ve created between my public and private life. I doubt anyone would explicitly say it, but most people I know would prefer that I develop a drinking problem as opposed to being a stoner. More important, they\u2019d prefer I not be addicted to any sort of substance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I enjoy drinking \u2014 but I enjoy smoking far, far more. When I can\u2019t get weed, I use alcohol as a substitute. I\u2019ve started combining the two \u2014 and my drinking has increased. Smoking weed is great, but having a few drinks and smoking is sometimes even better. I\u2019m concerned that I\u2019m developing a drinking problem. I\u2019m pretty sure that I\u2019ve flirted with developing a drinking problem in the past, but smoking weed has helped me avoid that. Should I stop drinking? Should I restrict my drinking? How concerned should I be about this whole situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019d really appreciate your advice.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>J.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/TrayvonHoodie.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TrayvonHoodie\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/TrayvonHoodie.jpg\" alt=\"Stop killing black kids \" width=\"186\" height=\"124\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dear J<\/p>\n<p>How concerned should you be? You should be very concerned. From what you say, it sounds like you\u2019re one of us, an addictive person who probably can\u2019t stop on his own and is headed for trouble. Look at what you\u2019re doing. You\u2019re substituting one drug for another. That\u2019s a sign. You\u2019re doing it every day. That\u2019s a sign. You can\u2019t stop. That\u2019s a sign.<\/p>\n<p>If I were you, I wouldn\u2019t even bother to try and stop on my own. I\u2019d just skip that futile step and get into a program.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, sure, you\u2019re free to try. But here\u2019s the thing. We know an awful lot about this. There are so many of us addicts, and many of us are really smart. We know the ins and outs. We have a vast reservoir of knowledge, firsthand accounts, personal experience, medical data, psychological data, systems, programs, literature, societies, support groups, blogs, forums, meetings, specialists, retreats, rehabs, hospitals, books, tapes, movies \u2026<\/p>\n<p>This is not some mysterious problem you just came up with. If you walk into the world and say, I\u2019m an addict and I\u2019m asking for help, you are going to be showered with help, perhaps more help than you want, and you are going to have the opportunity to get free of this thing and live well and happily without it.<\/p>\n<p>So, frankly, I think you should just get into a program and skip all the intermediate steps of losing your job, losing your friends, crashing cars, being homeless, going to jail, etc. Why bother? Just get into a program now and stop before you really, really, really have a problem.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m speaking from experience. I used to smoke like you do. I hid it and felt guilty about it but I really, really loved it. And I didn\u2019t see anything wrong with it except that I was getting addicted to it. But eventually all the normal things happened to me that happen to most people who get addicted to things. I lost jobs, friends, lovers, places to live, clothing, self-respect, health, energy, dreams, reputation. You name it, I lost it. And I didn\u2019t have to. If I could have stopped earlier, I wouldn\u2019t have had to do that. Of course, there are reasons having to do with character why I didn\u2019t stop. And of course there is the fact that I just fucking didn\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n<p>But, hey. It doesn\u2019t have to be that way. You could get into a program now.<\/p>\n<p>So why not? Why not just say fuck it, it\u2019s clear where this is heading, and I don\u2019t have to go there.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s going to be obvious to everybody else around you where this is headed. If you choose to keep going, you\u2019re going to be the only one pretending that you don\u2019t know where it\u2019s headed.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019re addicted to something, stuff starts to fall apart. Once you\u2019re addicted to something, you\u2019re no longer free, and you\u2019re no longer present. You\u2019re gone somewhere. You begin to lose your life.<\/p>\n<p>That was when I stopped: when I became conscious that I was losing my life. But it took a long time. I was betraying my principles and hiding my real life.<\/p>\n<p>The real damage was that I was losing my self, my soul, this innocent personhood to whom I had pledged myself, that I would be a good person, that I would not be a failure, that I would become good at writing and would be a person I could admire, that I would fulfill some kind of promise.<\/p>\n<p>Where did that promise come from? Where did that inkling of virtue come from? You could call it what you like. You could call it the soul, or the divine, or just innocence, or God, or just moral consciousness, or just man\u2019s innate reason. There was a part of me that knew better. And I didn\u2019t listen to it for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>But finally things got too bad.<\/p>\n<p>So you could stop before things get there. You could just go to a marijuana addicts anonymous meeting and start listening to people\u2019s stories. Many stories start out as yours does. Things change over time. It is hard to maintain an addiction that is steady and does not cause deterioration or does not spread. I think that\u2019s because addiction changes your overall habits in life. It tends to take over. It undermines your reasoning and decision-making.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve got something that you\u2019re lying about, that you can\u2019t control, that is making you feel guilty, and you don\u2019t have to do it.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m going to make this quick because I\u2019m going to the Giants World Series victory parade. You\u2019ve obviously got a problem. These kinds of problems only get worse without intervention. So go get some help. Stop smoking pot and stop drinking. You\u2019ll be glad you did. You\u2019ll be re-integrated into your family and your social world, and you won\u2019t have to be hiding things, and you\u2019ll have more energy and clarity of mind as well.<\/p>\n<p>And don\u2019t try quitting alone because that doesn\u2019t work. You\u2019re going to need help.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s my advice. You can stop. You really don\u2019t have to do it. You can change your life. And you\u2019ll be happier after you do.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0I love smoking pot, but I think I may have a problem. I smoke it every day, and when I can&#8217;t get it, I drink<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,1,3],"tags":[36,37,2627,31,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}