Good. Can you also go read some medical literature on cannabis and addiction so when you come back to respond you will not be speaking from a personal bias on the subject?

SpartanII, all the posts here give great advice on letting go your addiction, just pick pieces and bits from each one and you're ready to go!

One very important point, just as others mentioned, is to choose your friends wisely, ditch the ones that keep telling you to do one more hit, one more joint, one more "trouble"... those are not friends, they are just pawns. And keep those that respect your opinion and won't do anything in front of you and won't talk of how good it is/was, in this way, you are actually helping each other

I can talk about the marijuana addiction, I was addicted to it for 13 or 14 years, heavy use, I mean, I would smoke a joint before anything that I would do, and I had no job for awhile, so even more time to smoke it, I would wake up and either take breakfast or smoke one, after breakfast and before reading the email and check for news, another joint, if the high was subsiding, one more joint down the throat, before going out to do whatever, another joint, and it was like this till sleep time, basicly, anytime the high was subsiding I would get another joint just to keep the high going, so I was literally high all day.

How to stop it?
The route I took was first and foremost, leave the group of friends that do it.
Secondly, I started diminishing the amount of joints per day. And this, in my case, was the "holy grail"! Before smoking one, I would ask myself "why am I gonna smoke this one now?" and when the awnser was simply "To get high", then I started rejecting it. And one by one, day after day, the amount I would smoke per day was lesser and lesser till I was smoking around 2 per day, just by night and alone, it was 1 to "chill" from the day, and 1 to help sleep.
With just these 2 per day, you really notice a good amount of energy during the day, you simply got more energy to do whatever needs do be done.
After this I ditched the one before sleep because I couldn't recall any dreams, it was all blank. But still I noticed I would not recall them very good either, so I ditched the one to "chill" and my dreams became all lively and the recall memory started functioning again!

This method of diminishing the amount per day didn't bring any withdrawl symptoms on me. In contrast with a couple attempts I made on just leaving it "cold", I would get irritated at everything.

There's a nice documentary about marijuana and the THC effects on your brain and how it all works, if you wanna watch it, here's the name: National Geographic - Drugged: High on Marijuana.
It explains very well why there are withdrawl symptoms, basicly, the THC is present in every human, it's what makes us get calmer, and since we're taking THC on our own, the brain stops producing it; and when we stop smoking it all abruptly, the brain doesn't immediately produce the amount of THC as it used to, it has to adapt.

After stopping smoking, the amount of energy you get is amazing, you just have to choose how to take the best use of it
Be it running, jogging, doing yoga, meditation, turning to bonsai trees as 7baz did, it's your choice, choose something you enjoy and you're ready to go!

Best of luck SpartanII!

^ it is not THC that we produce as an endogenous cannabinoid..it is anandamide that the body produces and that is the cannabinoid that the body has to build back up once THC is no longer available.

To get over my addiction to weed I had to stop using it completely for about two years. Just quit cold turkey, no weening, just stopped, put up with the withdrawal symptoms (which only last a week or so) and didn't touch it again. I still don't feel comfortable smoking it anymore, so I make cannabutter and eat it. Makes it easier for me to control my compulsion to chronic.

Having another addiction side by side with it might create other problems. Especially something like opiates. I'd say get that in order first. In the past, I did trade addictions to other drugs for weed. It helped me quit them, but I ended up with an addiction to weed. So it's not really the best method, but at that point weed was much preferable to the other drugs I was doing.

here are some studies for those that roll they're eyes at the idea of cannabis withdrawls..

"Kouri and Pope examined withdrawal symptoms over 28 days abstinence from cannabis[4], while Budney et al. looked at a time period of abstinence of 45 days.[5] Their study assessed withdrawal symptoms among chronic cannabis users who were assessed daily on various symptoms while on a hospital ward for 28 days. They rated mood, anxiety, depression and irritability and compared them to those of two control groups of abstinent former heavy cannabis users and non-users of cannabis. Chronic cannabis users showed decreases in mood and appetite and increases in irritability and anxiety and their scores on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scale increased. Both studies used urinalysis to ensure abstinence, and showed that withdrawal symptoms began within 1–3 days of abstinence and lasted for 10–14 days.[3][6][7] According to Budney et al., the withdrawal syndrome associated with cannabis use is similar to that for tobacco but of lesser magnitude than withdrawal from other drugs like opiates or alcohol"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_withdrawal

http://www.cannabis.net/withdrawal/index.html

http://jcp.sagepub.com/c...42/11_suppl/20S.abstract

honestly..I did trade one thing for the other when I quit cannabis..I did drink ayahuasca weekly yes, but I also drank alot of hot chocolate when I quit and it helped. I got dutch powdered cacao, the camino stuff..I dont think it is raw cacao..but it is just cacao and nothing else..strong and bitter..I would add honey and make hot chocolate and just drink it when I felt like smoking pot and it made me feel nice. Ever since then I have LOVED cacao..I never got addicted to it though.

Swim was pretty addicted to weed. Dmt helped swim get off it tremendously

Mind over Matter my friend, Mind over Matter

I do still plan on responding, but this also basically sums it up.

Care to expand? Are you saying there is no physical addiction/withdrawal symptom, or are you saying that even if there is, that with strong will power you can overcome it?

If first option, can you back up what you say with scientific papers or at least some good arguments and comment on fractal's last post, or if second case, is it also the same for all sorts of different physical addictions, and is there a special technique for it that you want to share?

Quitting weed is not all that hard if you have made up your mind. You feel shitty for 3 days, then (bang) you're free. Within a week, you'll be feeling great and enjoying a very cool natural high... which will fade eventually, but thems the breaks.

Everytime I quit puffing ganja, I found it best to sleep for as much of the 3 days as possible, and then when emerging from dreamland, starting up a good workout regimine. Long hikes in nature, swimming, tai chi, whatever.

I guess your real problem will be giving up your opiod habit. Maybe kick that one first, and then drop the weed habit later... I would look into some detox modalities if I were you. Plasters, wraps, teas, bentonite clay... (not all at the same time). There are some cool detox sox you can wear when you sleep that pull a lot of junk out of your feet. They can turn completely black. A bit like the Ionic Foot Bath Plates (though those are pretty steep).

Whatever you do... drink LOTS of water. Get plenty of sunshine. You will make it.

In the words of the great Steely Dan:

"Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend...
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again.
When the demon is at your door, in the morning he won't be there no more...
Any major dude will tell ya."

Something tells me that mescaline is very much like a stern Grandma in telling the truth the hard way. She won't quit her message untill it's become clear someone said. And because of this i really would suggest drinking a strong San Pedro tea as part of a "quitting ceremony". From that day onwards you'll decide to stop the smoking of Cannabis, and instead you'll lift weights. Every time you get a craving you'll ask yourself "what could i better do instead, could i sit down and make some future plans about what i want to do, could i do some art, could i arrange to meet a friend and have a meal and a talk, could i do something better than just continue this -that i don't want anymore..."

-There won't be any self pity, or any of that stuff to face, you'll just automatically get your shit together and start to do the right things that you need to do.

--just my 1/2 pence !

I LOVE hot chocolate. I'm definitely going to do this.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. Keep in mind I'm really just trying to moderate it and not quit. It's easy to quit- moderation is the hard part


As for if it's a mental or a physical addiction...I realize some of it may be mental, but mind and body are holistically linked- the mental affects the physical- so from that point of view its both.

-That being the case, Spartan, i would reccomend that you practice a stricter routine, filling in the gaps that you'd be smoking the weed to excess, with something else that is physically engaging,healthier and distracting- such as exercise, or socializing with other people who are clean living. Simple as that really. There isn't any magical advice. If you still can't moderate it, then perhaps quit, etc....

Yes, as christian said, and also as I said before, try to smoke only towards the end of the day.

Another possibility that i've had moderate success with is making a strong attempt at smoking weekends only, so from friday after work till sunday night.

Keep us informed on your attempts

Addiction is a bitch. It knows your weak spots like no-one else does because it's a part of yourself. It's usefull to realise this because especially marihuana addiction works on your psyche: endocannabinoids are an important mechanism in regulating psychological stress.
This means that quitting could cause symptoms of stress to temporarilly increase and make your life hell. So it will likely feel that your psychological weak spots will get hammered by life for a couple of days or weeks.

The major result of this will be that you will try to find a reason not to quit today...and so you will find such a reason everyday. That's all part of the psychological withdrawal symptoms: "I cannot quit today because it's been a real stressfull/lonely/annoying/hot/cold/etc. day and i realy need to relax right now, tomorrow will be a better day".

Be aware of this and don't listen to that little voice inside your head.

-Yes, i think one of the most important things is this: Don't start your day with a spliff. This is perhaps where you have been going wrong, because there is no better way to weaken the days good intentions then by starting the day negatively. Perhaps you could have a smoke at the end of a good day as a sort of celebration ritual. Perhaps allowing yourself 1 spliff, and 1 good bong hit at the end of a day would keep your sweet spot happy??

--Just some more 1/2 pence ideas!

I found that the best way to moderate your cannabis use is to quit 100% for a period of time..for me that was like 6 months..after that 6 months I started to smoke once a month or so and was fine..slowly I worked my way into what I do now..smoking every week or 2 times a week..sometimes I take a break for a few weeks etc..I have no cravings really for it..I can have cannabis sitting there for like 3 weeks without really thinking about it at all..it took months away from it though for my brain to fully reset I think to the point where I could approach it this way..and frequent ayahuasca drinking helped alot.

This is great!

Notice when your stomach is full, you no longer want to eat crappy foods?

Same principle. Weed and cigs create a void in your body's homeostasis that obviously only weed and cigs will perfectly fill up. But that only makes the chasm bigger over time.

Fill the void and then you will be able to let go. Weed is a means to an end, find out what end you are looking for in the weed and follow that.

We chase money thinking it will give us happiness. We chase sex thinking it will give us happiness. We crave sensations, thinking they will give us the sensations of happiness.

When all along one simply must chase happiness itself. Which is found beyond sensation. Happiness doesn't need happiness to be happy.

As for what Polytrip said; that again can be explained by homeostasis. Your body has found a balance in smoking. When you abruptly cease the balance, it's like a fat person hopping off the seesaw. You get thrown into outer space where there is no air to breath and nobody to hear your screams. Don't put yourself there. You don't need to. Crash diets rarely work.

Listen to that little voice in your head and ask it, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT. There is always an answer. You just haven't put it into words yet.

I didn't read the thread but honestly, you can't get addicted to weed. trust me. I smoke weed every single day. every single day. and i'm not addicted, nor will i ever be. Sounds weird, right? put the pipe down smokey the bear, it's not that hard.