This was very true for me as well. I lost all my friends when I decided to quit. They were all heavy tokers and refused to see how it was affecting their lives negatively. They were unbelievably lazy and quick to anger. They would forget what they were saying in mid sentence, and none of them could remember the last time they could recall a dream. I experienced much of the same crap as they did. When I told them I had quit and brought up all the negative aspects I noticed they flat out called me a pussy and said, "Call us when you want a bong hit." Haven't spoken to them since, that was several years ago.

After a while I did start to use cannabis again, but approached it very differently. I only took it orally and in rather large quantities. It effectively becomes a psychedelic that way, and doesn't lend itself to overuse/abuse.

I agree completely with juremania here. After I stopped I discovered my life again. I began taking care of myself again. My whole diet changed and I started working out and exercising daily. My creativity was increased threefold. My dreams came back in full force and I rediscovered my ability to have lucid dreams. I was far more social and compassionate of others.

Once I felt I had my life back in order, that I had healed from the many years of abusing this plant so horribly, I approached it again with a new intent and respect. Now I enjoy it more than I ever have before.

Don't give up, you can achieve it. Just take care of yourself and heal from the addictions and one day you'll be able to experience it again with respect and love

I could not have said it better myself.! It's definitely possible to abuse it and let it make your life unproductive. It just tends to distract us from what's important to our bodies. And the exercise and fitness and inner glow is hugely worth it. Good luck! You can totally do it.

I feel like many natural drugs, it opens the doors and serves a purpose. Weed in particular is definitely what I consider the can opening drug, it enhances your thinking, makes you think more, puts a sense of healthy paranoia into your mind but when you keep smoking and smoking it just fills the room of the door you opened with smoke and you kind of loose sight of why you was in there.

With everything you need a balance and it is good you found yours Dioxippus.

Looking into the eyes of most chronic smoker's makes me sad these days, you can feel how lost they are, you can see how after opening the mind, the mind starts to close again, as if the door was opened and you walked in, realised its quite a comfy spot then shut the door and remained for years.

Quitting is easy, it really is. Have faith, love in your heart, breathe again. There is a fantastic book called The breathe of Life by a man called Yogi Ramachakra, it is a book of practical meditation which I highly recommend.

Once your lungs detox and you feel the alchemy of fire within, you wont need anything but air to replace it.

All the best friend and you are stronger than you think.

I couldnt do it I had really bad withdrawal symptoms. Way worse than I could have imagined. It is 6pm here and I just had 1st toke of the day. I guess it is better than the 3.5 grams I would have smoked through by now. I think because of all the abuse my body and mind has been through I need to taper off weed as stupid as it sounds. I felt like I was dieing and going into shock again. I was shaky and my back pain came back full force and delusional rage that was painful to sit through.

I think I'm going to do controlled doses 1g a day for 2 weeks than .5g a day for 2 weeks and see if helps me. I know everyone doesn't experience withdrawal this bad, but I do!!!!!

As the saying goes, if you have not failed, you have not tried.

Its your first day and you might not feel proud but you have made a vast improvement. Dont go cold turkey otherwise you will be trying to push a boulder up a hill, take it easy and I believe your 1g a day idea will be more beneficial. You can do this, it wont be easy, but impossible is nothing.

Stay stronger friend.

Blessings

I dont know if this would work for you, but, have you tried eating it an hour before you go to bed?

It worked for my back pain. and I didnt feel like smoking in the morning.

Like Rick Simpson ,a little like a dab of oil or one cookie.

honeslty dude just quit. Yes there are withdralws many of us have been throught it and know that when others laugh about it etc they have no idea how physically unconfortable quitting can be for some people after heavy use.

Cutting back is something I tried so many times lol..IME it never worked AND just smoking once a day did not help me when I managed to do it for small lengths of time. It was that solid 6 months away from it entirely that helped me.

The withdrawls from cannabis do not last long. It can be bad for a few days then it gets pretty easy.

I believe very strongly in medical cannabis and I also believe that intake of cannabinoids is a healthy thing that every human can benefit from..but I also think that heavy daily use for prolonged periods of time is not so benign as some would suggest..though it is still pretty benign in the long run compared to caffine/nicotione etc. I will always grow and use this plant in some way or another, I just had to rethink everything about how I relate to it and for me that required me to no touch it at all for a long time..after that it was easy to smoke it and then leave it for a week or 2 without any negative side effects etc. The only way I plan on using it daily again is drinking raw leaf juice.

Weekly ayahuasca sessions helped.

I'd take a hybrid approach.

Smoke the 0.5 - 1g a day for a week.
Then go cold turkey.

I have gone cold turkey when I was a heavy smoker and I had severe withdrawals for almost a week. Cold night sweats. I couldn't sleep all night, barely stay awake all day. Literaly slept like 3-4 hours a night for the first week. This obviously played havoc with my moods, though as long as you are aware that your moods will be effected you can control them...IMHO.

I do still smoke pot, and mostly daily, but I smoke far far less than I did before and honestly can't imagine myself getting back to the point of wanting to be 'high' all day long again. If anything I'm noticing my relationship with the plant just naturally declining with time. It's the same with alcohol...I rarely drink now. When I do I notice the after effects for up to 4-5 day's sometimes. Around day three I'm usually in a pretty bad mood. I hate this about alcohol, but I digress...

To Jamies point in order to regain control you have to get some distance between yourself and the plant. You may very well find that you don't care to ever use it much again or that you go back to using it like Jamie or that you still enjoy a bowl in the evening. The point is right now you aren't making a choice. It's being made for you. You gotta regain some control.

So I do vote for tapering, but I vote for an aggressive tapering.
I also recommend immersing yourself in message boards of others quitting. Something about talking with others going through the same thing helps...and probably the best thing to do is exercise, exercise, exercise. If you are like I was then you will need to completely exhaust your body during the day to have a shot at sleeping any that night.

The good news is 7-14 day's and you'll largely be back to normal. 30 day's later and you will be a different person. Some note that the fog continues to lift even up to a year after the last smoke.

Honestly this whole thread is kinda motivating me to do another mini marijuana detox myself.

Thanks for all the support and insight, I am going to take the hybrid approach for sure.
It is 6pm here and I have only smoked 300mg so far today in 2 pipe hits. Marijuana is much more enjoyable when your not totally wrecked all the time. Going to Try and keep it as close to half a gram a day as I can. No more than a gram. I think I will Try cold turkey again on Friday so I am not going through hell at work .

Keep striving friend, don't give up given up!

You have already gone from 1g to 300mg, so all is well. Another bit of friendly advice is not to be to hard on yourself. When I quit gambling 1 and a half years ago, I had a hiccup on the third month and lost about $800, I felt like a mess, like a failure and just wanted to dive back into the black hole I was once in. Instead, I took it as a positive reminder that I did not want that life and it firmly rooted in my system, I have not played ever since It is really empowering and makes you feel like you can move mountains.

Peace and love

Good luck my friend. I'm happy I'm out of that habit.
But beware that after you get through the physical cold turkey symptoms your brain can take a long time to recover and start to function normally again after such heavy use.
But it will happen and it will be worth it
Normal things might take a bit of time to become fun again
I used to smoke daily but not much. Maybe .5-1gr. a day max. But it made me anxious and my diet was absolute crap.

I haven't used cannabis now for 15 months and life is sweet Much more energy and positive outlook on life I feel more alive now. And waking up early mornings is getting much easier. I've always had problems with that. I'm no morning person

Newfoundland,

I quit for the exact reason you mention: lethargy and an inability to remember my dreams. I quit cold turkey about 8 months ago, and it was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Honestly, it got to the point where I was either smoking, or thinking about smoking. Life between sessions wasn't being lived, it was just being survived until the next session could occur. My personal growth completely stagnated. I now view each day as a chance to learn, grow, and challenge myself.

Use your goal of improving your dream recall as a carrot on a stick. Each time you think about smoking again, focus on the fact that you are trading being high for a minimal amount of time, for having a wild journey into your consciousness that night.

My goal was to gain the ability to lucid dream on a regular basis. I'm still failing miserably, but my recall is great, and I'm gaining a much better understanding of how my day manifests itself in my dreams. It's been an interesting ride.

I experienced pretty awful withdrawals for about 7-10 days, but it was a small price to pay for where I'm at in my life now. As others have said, channel the negative energy into an intense workout regimen. Remember that the best type of exercise is the kind that you'll actually DO! So find a form of physical activity you enjoy.

Lastly, know that after you successfully quit, you will probably run into some peaks and valleys as your brain starts to function differently. I've been constantly humbled since quitting, as I've realized that most/all of my anger and frustrations are a result of what is wrong with me, not the world I'm in. This understanding can really be a kick in the gut (and not as fun as a bong rip), but acknowledging your problems and inadequacies as a human being is the only way to grow and move beyond them.

I now smoke about once a month in extremely small amounts, and.... I actually get high! It is now a full on psychedelic experience. The thought of smoking daily doesn't even seem attractive anymore.

Sorry for the long-winded reply, this topic is pretty close to my heart. I wish you all the luck in the world as your transition to a new a beautiful state of existence.

Quitting weed was hard for me, it's really tough the first month, and a bit less the second but by 3 I've always done well. If you truly truly want to quit, you can. And if you've beaten benzo and opiate addictions then this should be a piece of cake.

When I quit weed for the first time I had REALLY strong withdrawals. I had smoked heavily on a daily basis for about 3 years. The last 6 to 12 months of that it was very common to have wake n bakes since I worked from home.

Initially I quit cold turkey, but I couldn't deal with the frustration, rage and mayhem that followed. I smoked a good 500mg of top notch hash a day and quitting was near impossible. So initially I started tapering down from 500mg a day to 200mg a day and then quit cold turkey. I tapered down for about 2 weeks and that really helped. Sure, you'll be disappointingly high the entire time, especially when you've reached low doses, but it should be enough to keep most of the cravings away until you're at a manageable level of use.

What does help is eating or smoking harmalas. Smoked harmalas make you feel stoned but without the paranoia that comes from weed(according to my friend). I smoked harmalas for a period of 10 days whenever I had cravings.

I stopped smoking a 3 days ago and last night I feel like I remember every bit o every dream I had . So vivid I felt like I had lived a months worth of life when I woke up. Amazing feeling.

OPer I also have quit the opiates and benzodiazepines two years ago after being on em or almost 5 years from17-22 it's not easy am have lost so many friend from them . So feels good to hear someone else that quit . Wish I could give more advise on the weed . Iv been smoking for a long time yet don't have a problem taking breaks or Quito g whe I need to.