Marijuana and finding an acceptable balance

J

jack1986

New Member
Too much of anything can be a bad thing. And I can certainly speak out of experience that this is the case for weed. I've been smoking for about 10 years and while it used to be at "acceptable" levels, I do feel it's gotten a bit out of hand. So the goal of this thread is to get some tips to smoking at acceptable levels and also perhaps trying to figure out how dire my situation is.

What is "acceptable levels of smoking"? In short, your smoking should not:
  • Affect your social life (in a negative way)
  • Cripple you financially
  • Mess with your head (or affect your overall mental health)
In the first 2 years I smoked 1 joint every other day. Which for most people is probably already too much. This eventually built up to one every single day. Which eventually lead to a point where I could easily smoke 2 - 5 grams in a day (4 - 10 joints a day). This is obviously way too much. Not only do I need to smoke a lot more to even feel anything (due to tolerance building up), but I also don't get a quality high and I end up smoking way more than is needed. Which means I am wasting money. This becomes abundantly clear if I quit for only 1 week. And to make matters worse, I mix tobacco with my bud, which I assume is worst than smoking bud only. (correct me if I'm wrong?)

I would love to be able to go back to the days where I only smoked 1 a day or less. But I've tried numerous times and I can't. This is where the addiction part comes in. In the last 10 years, the longest I stopped for was 6 months. But I missed smoking after 6 months and started again. If I could stop and then start but keep my smoking down to a minimum, then I'd be fine. But that never happens. My problem is that while day 1 might start with good intentions and I might only smoke 1 or 2, it will only be a few days where I am back to just smoking as much as I want to for as long as I want to. Often resulting in me skipping out on social events because I'd rather smoke than go hang out with people.

Other problems with my smoking:
  • Whether or not I can smoke plays a big role in me deciding where I go on holiday
  • My throat hurts sometimes. If this happened when I was a regular cigarette smoker, I would simply not smoke for a few days. I am unable to do this with weed. I will smoke even if my throat is sore (which is most likely due to the numbing effect weed has, meaning I'm probably giving my throat a hard time)
  • The only time I stop smoking weed, is if I run out. And that's only for a day or two until I get more.
When I run out, or stop smoking for a few days:
  • The first day is usually really really bad for everyone. I'm beyond rude and irritated. Often picking fights and very much regretting it afterwards. These fights have had serious negative effects on some relationships.
  • My energy levels are gone. I can easily fall asleep at 1 in the afternoon, wake up at 5, function for an hour and then fall asleep again til the next morning. And mornings I easily sleep late because there isn't that first smoke to look forward to.
  • If I don't smoke, I can easily lose 3 to 8kgs in a week from not eating. When I stop smoking, food makes me seriously nauseous and my appetite is gone. It takes anything between 1 week and 3 weeks for my appetite to get back to normal.
  • I find myself drinking more alcohol when I stop smoking. That combined with low appetite means that I've gotten sloshed very quickly at a few occasions which also went South because alcohol + a bad temper = chaos. I'm not going to elaborate on this, but I am actually avoiding booze overall because it just isn't good for me. The "low" from not smoking weed combined with alcohol always gets me in trouble. And it's taken as little as a single beer to trigger the initial negative state of mind, which quickly escalates into arguments about the dumbest things.
  • Even after 3 weeks of not smoking, I'm still not really the normal happy guy I usually find myself being. I would assume that it will probably take me 3 - 6 months to really get 'over' smoking. And last time I got to month 6, I thought to myself, surely I am strong enough not to get beat by a plant. But sadly, that was 3 years ago.
I know that based on what I am saying above, I'm probably a very extreme case. And I can see the damage that it's doing to my life. And it's a damn shame, because if I can figure out how to do this moderately, I can not only gain more control of my life, but I can also avoid having to kick weed out of my life. I can honestly say that when I was smoking moderately, it only brought benefits to my life. But when I started abusing it, that's when things went downhill for me. I need to either stop completely, or find a true and long-lasting way to insure my smoking remains moderate.

I am considering just manning the hell up and forcing myself to not smoke til after 5. I've tried this before, but after day 2 I am back to waking and baking again. So I need to find a way to control myself. Because this option easily turns into torture. Everything I do is easily distracted by the thought that I can smoke again in a few hours. I dont think you are really truly living your life, if your head is occupied of thoughts of when you are going to smoke next. That's surely very bad. So I am not sure if this is going to work for me.

Any suggestions or tips? Anyone else had it this bad and got to acceptable smoking levels? Or is it time for me to seriously call it quits for a couple of months/years?

(It's important for me to get a grip on this, because cultivation is now legal in my country, meaning I am never going to run out of my own personal supply ever again)
 
jack1986 said:
Too much of anything can be a bad thing. And I can certainly speak out of experience that this is the case for weed. I've been smoking for about 10 years and while it used to be at "acceptable" levels, I do feel it's gotten a bit out of hand. So the goal of this thread is to get some tips to smoking at acceptable levels and also perhaps trying to figure out how dire my situation is.

What is "acceptable levels of smoking"? In short, your smoking should not:
  • Affect your social life (in a negative way)
  • Cripple you financially
  • Mess with your head (or affect your overall mental health)
In the first 2 years I smoked 1 joint every other day. Which for most people is probably already too much. This eventually built up to one every single day. Which eventually lead to a point where I could easily smoke 2 - 5 grams in a day (4 - 10 joints a day). This is obviously way too much. Not only do I need to smoke a lot more to even feel anything (due to tolerance building up), but I also don't get a quality high and I end up smoking way more than is needed. Which means I am wasting money. This becomes abundantly clear if I quit for only 1 week. And to make matters worse, I mix tobacco with my bud, which I assume is worst than smoking bud only. (correct me if I'm wrong?)

I would love to be able to go back to the days where I only smoked 1 a day or less. But I've tried numerous times and I can't. This is where the addiction part comes in. In the last 10 years, the longest I stopped for was 6 months. But I missed smoking after 6 months and started again. If I could stop and then start but keep my smoking down to a minimum, then I'd be fine. But that never happens. My problem is that while day 1 might start with good intentions and I might only smoke 1 or 2, it will only be a few days where I am back to just smoking as much as I want to for as long as I want to. Often resulting in me skipping out on social events because I'd rather smoke than go hang out with people.

Other problems with my smoking:
  • Whether or not I can smoke plays a big role in me deciding where I go on holiday
  • My throat hurts sometimes. If this happened when I was a regular cigarette smoker, I would simply not smoke for a few days. I am unable to do this with weed. I will smoke even if my throat is sore (which is most likely due to the numbing effect weed has, meaning I'm probably giving my throat a hard time)
  • The only time I stop smoking weed, is if I run out. And that's only for a day or two until I get more.
When I run out, or stop smoking for a few days:
  • The first day is usually really really bad for everyone. I'm beyond rude and irritated. Often picking fights and very much regretting it afterwards. These fights have had serious negative effects on some relationships.
  • My energy levels are gone. I can easily fall asleep at 1 in the afternoon, wake up at 5, function for an hour and then fall asleep again til the next morning. And mornings I easily sleep late because there isn't that first smoke to look forward to.
  • If I don't smoke, I can easily lose 3 to 8kgs in a week from not eating. When I stop smoking, food makes me seriously nauseous and my appetite is gone. It takes anything between 1 week and 3 weeks for my appetite to get back to normal.
  • I find myself drinking more alcohol when I stop smoking. That combined with low appetite means that I've gotten sloshed very quickly at a few occasions which also went South because alcohol + a bad temper = chaos. I'm not going to elaborate on this, but I am actually avoiding booze overall because it just isn't good for me. The "low" from not smoking weed combined with alcohol always gets me in trouble. And it's taken as little as a single beer to trigger the initial negative state of mind, which quickly escalates into arguments about the dumbest things.
  • Even after 3 weeks of not smoking, I'm still not really the normal happy guy I usually find myself being. I would assume that it will probably take me 3 - 6 months to really get 'over' smoking. And last time I got to month 6, I thought to myself, surely I am strong enough not to get beat by a plant. But sadly, that was 3 years ago.
I know that based on what I am saying above, I'm probably a very extreme case. And I can see the damage that it's doing to my life. And it's a damn shame, because if I can figure out how to do this moderately, I can not only gain more control of my life, but I can also avoid having to kick weed out of my life. I can honestly say that when I was smoking moderately, it only brought benefits to my life. But when I started abusing it, that's when things went downhill for me. I need to either stop completely, or find a true and long-lasting way to insure my smoking remains moderate.

I am considering just manning the hell up and forcing myself to not smoke til after 5. I've tried this before, but after day 2 I am back to waking and baking again. So I need to find a way to control myself. Because this option easily turns into torture. Everything I do is easily distracted by the thought that I can smoke again in a few hours. I dont think you are really truly living your life, if your head is occupied of thoughts of when you are going to smoke next. That's surely very bad. So I am not sure if this is going to work for me.

Any suggestions or tips? Anyone else had it this bad and got to acceptable smoking levels? Or is it time for me to seriously call it quits for a couple of months/years?

(It's important for me to get a grip on this, because cultivation is now legal in my country, meaning I am never going to run out of my own personal supply ever again)
Click to expand...
 
jack1986 said:
And to make matters worse, I mix tobacco with my bud, which I assume is worst than smoking bud only. (correct me if I'm wrong?)
Click to expand...
Not to make light of your situation (I’m pretty addicted to herbs myself) but you’re mixing your herbs with one of the most addictive substances on earth. If I was you I’d start by not doing that anymore and see how it goes.

:passitleft:
 
Not to be insulting, but you sound like a very addictive type personality and a bit of a hypochondriac. I say this most lovingly, just trying to understand your problems as you see them... you have a lot of things that bother you about yourself, your daily bodily conditions, and your perception of the way things "should" be. You are mixing tobacco, booze and pot, maybe not all at the same time, but you are doing this in your attempts to find relief from those things that bother you about you, your irritability, lack of sleep, etc. etc.
First, pot is not physically addictive. It is possible, without any physical side effects, to totally walk away from pot. It is psychologically addictive to people using it to manage physical effects, pretty much what you are trying to do.
I smoke a lot of pot. I wake up with it, I eat lunch with it, and I go to bed with it. My pot use not only does not slow me down in any way, I totally understand how it makes me smarter and more competent, more creative... and I believe that over time through pot people manage to rewire their brains. It is well known that the psychotropic effects of pot seems to link both hemispheres of the brain and cause an enhancement of total brain activity. It can make people more aware than they would have been without this drug and it can make them smarter and more creative. You can see how I scoff at your fear of smoking a joint in a single day, although to you right now, that does probably seem like a lot.
I can see that you are a very perceptive person who is able to sense many things going on in your body, but you just don't know what to make of them, especially under the influence of pot. Nothing you choose to do should drive you into poverty, that would be silly. You are in charge of your social life, not the pot... so don't use that as a crutch or an excuse... as much pot as I smoke still does not affect my social life in the least, because I don't let it do so. You would be surprised how many people in business suits and uniforms I deal with on a daily basis, and interact with socially... and no one has to know. I tend to think that without pot I would be a very boring person. Making something you want to do as a libation not being able to mess with your head is a hard one, because doesn't everything do that to some extent or another? Doesn't even this conversation mess with your head? So again, let's not blame the pot... of course it messes with your head a bit, that's called getting high... but also it opens up your mind, expands it... and maybe that isn't for you... or maybe you just haven't figured out how to embrace that feeling yet.
So your three criteria of acceptable smoking are tricky... each one has to be judged in light of what you yourself believe. It sounds like you enjoy pot and would like to use it to get away from booze and cigarettes, but you seem to want to beat yourself up for even a miniscule bit of use. I suggest you pick one of the three vices you named... and quit all the others. Whichever one you choose, commit to it and embrace it... get rid of the other two completely in your life.
Again, after reading your opening for the 3rd time, I get the feeling that you really want the pot to win out in this triad of addictions that you wrestle with, so please find comfort in knowing that out of the 3, pot is the least addictive and the least harmful to you. Try to embrace the positive aspects that pot can bring into your life. I found meditation and the love of good music and sex, all are enhanced with good pot, and I find great joy and happiness in embracing my libation of choice. I believe that we humans were given this plant, and that it is here to help us, not harm us. I believe that the symbiotic relationship that we form with cannabis makes us better and keeps us healthy. If you really feel that you need to erase the influence of anything like this in your life and feel that it has a hold of you that you can't break, then by all means walk away from it totally. Walk away from all 3 if you feel so strongly about this... only then you will see how strong you can be. My question is, will that make you happy? I am most happy with a good friend, a good joint, great music and great conversation. I enjoy meditating and talking to my plants. I enjoy writing and expressing my thoughts... and guess what? I do it all while embracing my love of having my brain activated on THC by this magical medicinal plant. I guess it is all about what we let bother us, isn't it?
 
Everyone's different and are walking their own path in this life.. know your not the only one who feels this way and hopefully others who do, read and can help.. cannabis, like heroin cocain excecise work and everything and anything in life, isn't for everyone. Listen to yourself, honestly, be true to your self.. Be strong.. usually best to beat one Vice by adding a different one to your life.maybe learn that guitar you always wanted to or train and run that Marathon, whatever it is, everyone has something they'd like to learn.. I wish you all the best to beat your demons.
 
jack1986 said:
Too much of anything can be a bad thing. And I can certainly speak out of experience that this is the case for weed. I've been smoking for about 10 years and while it used to be at "acceptable" levels, I do feel it's gotten a bit out of hand. So the goal of this thread is to get some tips to smoking at acceptable levels and also perhaps trying to figure out how dire my situation is.

What is "acceptable levels of smoking"? In short, your smoking should not:
  • Affect your social life (in a negative way)
  • Cripple you financially
  • Mess with your head (or affect your overall mental health)
In the first 2 years I smoked 1 joint every other day. Which for most people is probably already too much. This eventually built up to one every single day. Which eventually lead to a point where I could easily smoke 2 - 5 grams in a day (4 - 10 joints a day). This is obviously way too much. Not only do I need to smoke a lot more to even feel anything (due to tolerance building up), but I also don't get a quality high and I end up smoking way more than is needed. Which means I am wasting money. This becomes abundantly clear if I quit for only 1 week. And to make matters worse, I mix tobacco with my bud, which I assume is worst than smoking bud only. (correct me if I'm wrong?)

I would love to be able to go back to the days where I only smoked 1 a day or less. But I've tried numerous times and I can't. This is where the addiction part comes in. In the last 10 years, the longest I stopped for was 6 months. But I missed smoking after 6 months and started again. If I could stop and then start but keep my smoking down to a minimum, then I'd be fine. But that never happens. My problem is that while day 1 might start with good intentions and I might only smoke 1 or 2, it will only be a few days where I am back to just smoking as much as I want to for as long as I want to. Often resulting in me skipping out on social events because I'd rather smoke than go hang out with people.

Other problems with my smoking:
  • Whether or not I can smoke plays a big role in me deciding where I go on holiday
  • My throat hurts sometimes. If this happened when I was a regular cigarette smoker, I would simply not smoke for a few days. I am unable to do this with weed. I will smoke even if my throat is sore (which is most likely due to the numbing effect weed has, meaning I'm probably giving my throat a hard time)
  • The only time I stop smoking weed, is if I run out. And that's only for a day or two until I get more.
When I run out, or stop smoking for a few days:
  • The first day is usually really really bad for everyone. I'm beyond rude and irritated. Often picking fights and very much regretting it afterwards. These fights have had serious negative effects on some relationships.
  • My energy levels are gone. I can easily fall asleep at 1 in the afternoon, wake up at 5, function for an hour and then fall asleep again til the next morning. And mornings I easily sleep late because there isn't that first smoke to look forward to.
  • If I don't smoke, I can easily lose 3 to 8kgs in a week from not eating. When I stop smoking, food makes me seriously nauseous and my appetite is gone. It takes anything between 1 week and 3 weeks for my appetite to get back to normal.
  • I find myself drinking more alcohol when I stop smoking. That combined with low appetite means that I've gotten sloshed very quickly at a few occasions which also went South because alcohol + a bad temper = chaos. I'm not going to elaborate on this, but I am actually avoiding booze overall because it just isn't good for me. The "low" from not smoking weed combined with alcohol always gets me in trouble. And it's taken as little as a single beer to trigger the initial negative state of mind, which quickly escalates into arguments about the dumbest things.
  • Even after 3 weeks of not smoking, I'm still not really the normal happy guy I usually find myself being. I would assume that it will probably take me 3 - 6 months to really get 'over' smoking. And last time I got to month 6, I thought to myself, surely I am strong enough not to get beat by a plant. But sadly, that was 3 years ago.
I know that based on what I am saying above, I'm probably a very extreme case. And I can see the damage that it's doing to my life. And it's a damn shame, because if I can figure out how to do this moderately, I can not only gain more control of my life, but I can also avoid having to kick weed out of my life. I can honestly say that when I was smoking moderately, it only brought benefits to my life. But when I started abusing it, that's when things went downhill for me. I need to either stop completely, or find a true and long-lasting way to insure my smoking remains moderate.

I am considering just manning the hell up and forcing myself to not smoke til after 5. I've tried this before, but after day 2 I am back to waking and baking again. So I need to find a way to control myself. Because this option easily turns into torture. Everything I do is easily distracted by the thought that I can smoke again in a few hours. I dont think you are really truly living your life, if your head is occupied of thoughts of when you are going to smoke next. That's surely very bad. So I am not sure if this is going to work for me.

Any suggestions or tips? Anyone else had it this bad and got to acceptable smoking levels? Or is it time for me to seriously call it quits for a couple of months/years?

(It's important for me to get a grip on this, because cultivation is now legal in my country, meaning I am never going to run out of my own personal supply ever again)
Click to expand...
I’m on my first ever grow. Little experience concerning addiction to cabbage. But I am addicted to ambien, Zoloft, and an anti-pshycotic med. That’s why I’m reaching out to home grown, however, you need to get professional help. Stop F&$#ing around with hemp and get help. Weed may be a supplement but presently you may need to find a different path, so do that. For what it’s worth...
 
First, I'm very surprised this thread hasn't been killed yet. I once started a similar discussion and it got jumped on almost immediately.

Second, I can relate. I don't think the issue is an addiction so much as a dependence. I work 9-5 and would only smoke when I got home, wake n bake on weekends. But being married and semi responsible its tough on a partner to have a whacked out stoner, plus she doesn't like it when I drive high, so I don't anymore.

A friend of mine once said 'just a dab'll do ya', and these days with the high THC content its true, smoke less and your symptoms when taking a break will go down. I used to get night sweats when taking a break, and high anxiety.

My solution is to smoke less. If I drink, I only have one or two, otherwise I'm whacked, and sometimes physically ill., It's the alcohol. The result is that I drink less - a good thing.

Also, I believe it was Leonard Cohen's autobiography that described his early days of poetry writing in Greece, back in the 60s I believe, and he was big into smoking hash. People he was living with didn't care, as long as channelled that altered state into productive creativity. So rather than getting high and playing video games or something useless, plan on doing something you love to do, while high. Produce something. Use the power of the weed! Otherwise, what's the point? Yes then it becomes just another useless addiction.

Good luck and nice to hear that others have similar issues. Tough to work among those who don't experience weed, they can't relate and will have one look at the droopy eyes, pigeonhole you as a stoner slacker and limit any further career moves. Many times I have wanted to quit and smoke weed 24/7, but thus begins the downward spiral, unless of course your livelihood is directly related.

Moderation my friend. On that note, it's time to blaze!
 
At the end of the day, whatever gets you through. Lots no longer with us because they gave up. If the weed helps you laugh a little thats more that I can say about much of the rest of life these days.
 
I've only been consuming cannabis since 1981 - when does the addiction start, lol?

Keep on adding tobacco to your joints and you will one day find that you're not bothered all that much by your cannabis intake - because your lungs will be shot and won't be able to extract much from the vaporized cannabinoids (I never put tobacco in a joint; after all, there's only so much room :rolleyes: - but have been a lifelong cigarette smoker).

Cannabis leaves you exhausted? <COUGH>sativa<COUGH>

I get... grumpy too, when I have no cannabis. But that's just because I'm a bit of an @sshole, lol, and my ability to overcome that is lessened without a little crutch. Could it be that you're blaming cannabis for what is actually a basic personality trait? I mean... If you don't take aspirin and have a headache, the existence of that headache cannot be blamed on the aspirin.
 
Am I a c##t? YES. Am I more of a c##t without cannabis? HELL YES
 
Having been addicted to a few things in my life (cocaine, vicodin, xanax, tramadol, nicotine, and alcohol) it's my belief that Cannabis isn't addictive,or I'd be addicted to it. (kinda have that tendency, apparently)
I don't smoke Cannabis because I have to,I smoke when I want to-there's nothing about it that even remotely resembles the physical addictions I've been through.

A psychological dependency is a different ball game,because it exists in the person's mind-they've convinced themselves that they NEED something just to make it through the day (or through life), which makes it very hard to kick-there's no "couple weeks of physical withdrawal, then I'm fine" thing that goes on - A persons thinking has to change,and sometimes that is a tough nut to crack.
It can be done,but often some help is required - If someone is still doing it. even though they don't want to still be doing it,then they may be one that needs help.

A Cannabis high is different,at least for me - I personally don't want to be baked ALL the time,just when I choose to be, and If I have a real choice in the matter,then addiction isn't an issue.

These are all just my thoughts,with nothing but personal experience to back them up-but I figured I'd just throw my 2 cents in....

Good Luck to the OP with his problem-he can fix it,but it's going to take some time and commitment.
 
I know for me it was telling me something but i stopped listening and wound up a miserable fuck married to my job and a woman who didnt love me. Thise issues only entered my brain when i was high on columbian. 40 years later i look back and see what mary jane was saying...the same thing all my friends were telling me.
My man Willie says roll up some weed into 20 joints and put them in the same pack your cigarette was in and just switch...it saved his life
 
I'mOne said:
My man Willie says roll up some weed into 20 joints and put them in the same pack your cigarette was in and just switch...it saved his life
Click to expand...
My dad did that... gave up a lifelong menthol cigarette habit by substituting my pot for his addiction. It worked, and he has never gone back and has been getting healthier now at 60 than he has been for years.
 
I'm surprised this thread has lasted as long as it has. The OP brought up quite a few good points from his experience that could also be seen negatively in terms of supporting the cannabis 'lifestyle'. The format of the post is similar to other experiential stories in a book my x gave me to read about how other people 'kicked' the habit. I wouldn't recommend reading it. The book was one of several from the same 'genre' of literature that focused on convincing people how their habits are bad because they impact others. I'm guessing the publisher has other series of books to scare people straight and that sort of thing.

Sadly I don't see any response from the OP as noted elsewhere in this thread.

On the other hand the tune of thread has turned more celebratory. Cheers!

Unlike the OP my experience has been that my drinking has declined. Though one or two drinks with a puff can fuck me up in a nice way I won't be out there driving.

Stay safe, there are plenty of strains out there you have not tried yet! Personally I love experimenting and buy small quantities of several strains to enjoy the variety.
 
Emilya said:
My dad did that... gave up a lifelong menthol cigarette habit by substituting my pot for his addiction. It worked, and he has never gone back and has been getting healthier now at 60 than he has been for years.
Click to expand...
Same with me, i have no GErd no neck pain, no IBS any more....and blood pressure is down and i am losing weight. I will be the big 60 soon
 

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