Thanks for bringing this up again peeps...

Since the christmas/new year festivities I have been getting back into the weed... been on and off trying to cut down and/or quit for ages.. last couple weeks slipped back into the daily routine. Promised myself last night I would not smoke anything today... well I have had a couple small rollies (Tobacco only) and plan to stay off the weed for a few weeks at least.

MJ is very enticing... and subtle in the way it can affect your life.. I have so many friends that smoke its hard to stay away from it... I just need to pump up the willpower and keep strong even when someone passes a spliff under my nose.

Good luck gammagore! I used to be heavily addicted also, and agree with a lot of rons points. I was also an out of control addict with it and I would just deny the fact. Some folks say it isnt addictive and if you are then its your underlying issues, not their precious plant. I beg to differ and ron makes very good points about it being a problem drug, when I was younger everyone was addicted to it, totalt drug addicts really but we would all deny it because its "just" weed. I have friends who are still like that wiht it and some who are not. Im not a total weed facist like ron but I do empathise with his outlook to something that isnt this benign innocent wee plant folks like to romamticise. I only smoke either when drunk or coming off entheogens, and even then its occasional, isnt like I used to be where weed went with everything, being sober drunk or high. Im glad you make these points ron because you are a respected intelligant board member and its good to see not everyone sees it as a great thing!

Brillant, well done! Keep it up! I hope i have just as much determination when the time comes. Smoking weed does stop a person operating at 100% just like any drug. But thats not to say that its bad for u. Every now and then is fine, in moderation as they say.

R&R
L

Gammagore

That is so awesome dude you should be very proud, as its not an easy thing to do I'm told. Anything that is habitual with any entheogen to a point where it becomes a mental or physical crutch is never a positive thing. Its really easy to become dependant on pretty much anything due to the modern lifestyles that most of us lead. I know how difficult it is to give up a crutch as i have given up quite a few, but it is one of the most freeing and liberating things one can do for ones self. Its life changing the way that letting go of a crutch no matter how small it is can completely transform your life. When you feel completely free you gain such a deep inner strength...


Much Peace and Happiness

Marijuana is definitely addictive.

The important thing with any addiction: When it negatively is influencing an aspect of your life then its time to take a break or stop. This is a personal thing. Some people don't mind being a cloud all the time. Some people can't focus etc. It depends on the person.

I am always happy so see anyone overcome any addiction whether or not I happen to like the substance or not. So good for you and good luck having a child.

Me and my wife tried for a long time to have a child. It started becoming an issue. We saw doctors, tried other things, nothing worked. As soon as we stopped trying to have a child, my wife got pregnant. And then again, and then again. When we were trying to have a child, it seemed impossible, but when we stopped trying, suddenly we had do to things to keep from getting her pregnant.

I think the stress of wanting to have a child is partially the cause of not getting pregnant. A lot of women notice that it’s hard to get pregnant when they feel stress, rushed, etc. It seems that the woman’s body is more accepting of getting pregnant when the women feels at peace with things, and not stressed out.

I don’t know if marijuana has any real link to this or not, but quitting is definitely a good thing. That’s a step in the right direction.

Wow ron, it was easier for you to quit smoking tobacco over MJ? Sounds like you have strong will power to fight physical addiction! I can quit smoking MJ at any time, no withdraws other than sleep problems from extra energy for 2-3 days. I have yet to quit tobbacco, and i try all the time and hate the hell out of it. I hate waking up with my lungs hurting and all i can think about is firing up a cig, i've never had any problem with MJ, i know if you get into the habit of smoking often it does give you a feeling to want to stay high, but in my opinion you already abused it, nothing works out well when you abuse it.

Yes MJ is addictive, but so is bighting you fingernails, buying worthless nick nack items at stores, watching porn, playing golf and on and on. For me, its no more addictive than things you enjoy, maybe its viewed as such addiction because its a feeling most humans would enjoy. If you enjoy something, you'll probably want to do it again, thats what we do, we find things we like and we persue them. And i think some of you really give hallucinogens un called for credit, there are long term effects from them aswell.

As said before, anything you can't control use of should be stopped, i never suggest people need to do any drug, nor suggest they need not to do drugs, but your health should be above any pleasure in the rational mind.

I think MJ does have something to do with reproducing, i know it lowers sperm count, but possibly could even cause birth defects, i would personally be free from all drugs while attempting to have a child. Good job stopping! It should be hard at all to resist going back to it.


Ron, where you a heavy tobacco smoker? I still can't get over that statement, of course i believe you, i've just never heard that, and known many people who want to stop smoking cigs, heavy pot smokers who had to quit for jobs had no hard time, yet even though they quit MJ, they still smoke the cigs they hate because its so addictive, really close to crack even, sadly speaking from experience. I quit smoking crack and still can't stop smoking cigs, though i didn't smoke for long, i sure smoked alot and spent two weeks searching my floor for crumbs, sad times, but there over...never again with that!

Cheeto, SWIM has no problem with physical addictions. It is very easy to quit something that is physically addictive. The mentally and emotionally addictive things were the hardest for him to quit. With quitting tobacco there was a feeling of nervousness, as if you couldn’t feel comfortable no matter what you did, but the mind felt fine. You could still enjoy life, you just felt this unsatisfied nervousness. That was no biggie for SWIM to overcome. But with quitting marijuana, you feel extremely bored no matter what you do, you feel empty, like a robot, as if nothing matters anymore, and that is very hard to get over.

When you’re addicted to marijuana, everything is more fun when you’re stoned. You can’t even hardly enjoy a good movie unless you’re stoned. Everything seems enhanced, more fun, and then when you run out, it’s like no matter what you do, you are rock solid bored out of your mind.

SWIM can stand physical withdrawal, but mental and emotional withdrawal was super tough for SWIM.

Kind of pedantic, but fun to think about: mental addictions are physical addictions.

Wow. so much respect to all that have taken the time to post about this change im going through.

Its funny how during my years of smoking weed, I always thought "im not addicted, I just enjoy smoking weed and being a pot head". Now I truly understand.

Ron, you have said so many true words. Thank you, thank you to all.

I believe this is the final step in me giving up my dirty habits, cocaine, exctacy, mdma and weed have all been abolished from my life in the past few years, and finaly I can think cleary now.

Its a nice feeling finaly to start thinking clearly, dreaming again, getting woken up in the middle of the night by my wife screaming from the dreams she is having. I think my wife is having a bit of a harder time letting go, but we must both be strong during this period.

Not to upset anyone, but it is very easy to say that weed is not addictive while you are smoking it all the time. Only once you give it up do you realise the effects its had on you. I think of all the wasted years ive had, stoned, every day. such a waste.

So heres to brighter days and happier times for me and the missus.

She is still having troubles sleeping? The nightmares usualy go away after few nights..

High (double) dose of Valerian officinalis could help
I love that plant ... so easy and smooth
Subtle anxiolytic indeed

All addicitve drugs is enticing. If you are serious about quiting any kind of drugs habit, its means you will have to leave the scene and dump some friends (not real friends anyway cause there not very supportive by using in front of you, now are they). Im sorry to say, your just gonna use the "they were passing spliffs under my nose" excuse at every corner.

If there real mates, you can tell them you wanna hangout with them but that your trying to quit MJ and would appriciate it if dope doesn't come into the mix. If they bollock you about it there not real mates but just dope friends.

You don't need a pump in willpower, you need stop making excuses and accept what it really means to stop an addicition. Quiting isn't hard, accepting how much its dominating and has shaped your life is, having to create a new life without the dope, thats the hard thing.

If your not ready to make more of a sacrifice then just the discomfort of not using, you will fail.

V

Some good points made...

The boredom thing is the killer.... Over the years I've got so used to getting stoned and making beats in the studio, sometimes when I am sitting there working on something, and have not been smoking for a few days or so .. I feel really flat and empty. Smoking weed seems to make everything come alive.

Best of luck Gammagore and congrats - hope you can keep it up.

69ron I am so glad that somebody here (besides me) is willing to voice unpopular opinions!

I only wish my hatred of anti-depressants could be met in the same way...

Wow, Ron you just completely summarized what I was going to post. I just quit smoking cigarettes a couple of weeks ago, though I am vaping an e-cigarette a few times a day. I totally agree that the psychological addictions are more difficult to break than physical ones. For me the e-cig only works because I get to puff on it like a cigarette. I tried chew and snus that gave me plenty of nicotine, but there was nothing to do with my hands. I plan to go through the stages of the different nicotine levels available and eventually I will be vaping 0mg nicotine ejuice.

MJ on the other hand is out of control difficult to give up. My neighbour Eddie has been smoking pot for about 18 or 19 years, he is 31. He's been smoking multiple (5+) times per day for at least 13 of those. He has given up smoking in the AM, because he has a pretty demanding job and needs to be as agile and quick thinking as possible. The main reason (or so he tells himself) for his continued use is because of insomnia, and he doesn't like how vivid and realistic his dreams become when he doesn't smoke. After a sweaty night of "lucid" dreaming he feels he might as well have been awake vaping DMT all night. He gets up in the AM and feels like he didn't get a wink of sleep.

For him it was just like Ron said about it's sneaky (opium-like) nature. At first it is no big deal, it feels great but you are OK with keeping it to the weekend. Then you start smoking at night during the week because your favorite tv show seems SO much funnier. After that you get the bright idea to wake-n-bake. At first it makes you fall back asleep, which you don't mind. After a while you don't fall back asleep, you just go about your daily activities. That is where the problems seem to begin. After even just a little while of waking up and getting stoned every morning it is like your body "needs it" to actually wake up. So many times I heard him say "Oh, I don't want to get out of bed yet... Nope I'm staying right here. At least I have some kind nugs to puff on when I do get up... I think I'll get up."



You hit the bong right on the head. It is like you just can't be happy and excited without it.

After all that blabbering What I really want to say is keep it up gammagore, you can do it.

BTW, Eddie doesn't know I posted this so don't tell him!

Congrats!

Quitting smoking weed was a big step forward in my life. Like you said, you don't realize how much it is affecting you until you quit. I feel so much sharper and confident now that I am out of the cloud. I quit a few years ago when I began getting very high anxiety every time I smoked, it was just screaming at me to STOP! So I did, and no regrets.

Good luck,
Once