THC has a hold on meeeee

[mindfukked]

Recently I've decided to stop smoking, simply because I feel I rely on it.
The final decision came the other day when I went to "crackhead" levels for a gram, stealing and selling some of my moms pain medicine. For one bag of weed. I felt terribly guilty afterwards.. as I smoked the blunt.

It's soooo difficult though! Honestly, I was a daily cocaine user to the point where it was bad, and I smoked cigarettes for 6 years, and when it came time to stop, I was able to just fucking stop with both of them.

But cannabis.. I don't know why but it's so much more difficult for me. I guess it's because it's waaayy easier to get a hold of than coke, and can be smoked for free with the right people.. and well cigarettes were easy because they made me feel like shit and I knew they would only make me feel worse as time went on. But cannabis isn't like that at all.. I jsut want to stop because I can't stop.

I just ran for 2 miles.. and have been stuffing my face full of food, trying to distract myself. Last night I actually hooked up wtih my ex... just feeling bored and irrational. But nothing dulls the craving. The run actually did help a lil bit so I'm going to keep up with that.


I guess I 'd like to know if anyone has any idea's, maybe something they did to help if they've ever had to stop. I'm mostly perplexed by this seemingly impossible addction. Seriously, cocaine was not this bad. I was in my bed for days without a will to live, but the whole time.. I didnt waaaant it, probably because I had grown to despise it. I only wanted that time period to get over with. I don't despise weed, in fact I'm a huge advocate. Maybe that's the trick, maybe I have to associate it with negative things for myself to get over it mentally. IAlright, I guess I'm gonna go work on that. Thanks.


Oh, does anyone know what the biological action of THC is? I know it's something with neuroreceptors in your bbrain... and then it's stored in your fat cells. But whats happening right now ? Are THC cells falling off of my neuro receptors and causeing me to go crazy? I'm no science student and that sounds silly even to me. But really, what's happening?

 

[Tunnelvision]

you could try to quit smoking during the week and do it only in the weekends

 

[Sticki]

Maybe you should realise you are living beyond your means and smoke only what you can afford?

Get some seeds, Grow a plant?

Failing that quit becuase these so called "Drugs" are tools for personal development, If they are effecting you in the negative aspect I suggest quiting as they arent working for you correctly and will only take you to new lows.

Good luck

 

[VerusDeus]

Try going on vacation to a place where you simply can not obtain any THC product, you will be surprised to see how not-dependant you actually are on it.

The thing with weed for me, is that it just has far too less 'bad' side-effects, thus not providing a proper motivation to quit the habbit.

But yeah, I can tell you from my own experience, the first three days are bad but after that you'll pretty much be rehabillitated and it's not a problem to not smoke anymore.

You can also try doing it in baby steps, smoke a little less each day, then a one-day hiatus, two days etc.

Peace and the best of luck!

 

[tryptonaut]

I know where you are. I have been at the point where I couldn't even think of sleep without weed, and I wouldn't want to think about getting up without it...

I tried to quit more than once, but I just couldn't do it for more than a day. Then suddenly quitting became real easy because I had moved from "oh I really want to quit" to "I hate it, I cannot and must not do it anymore!"

I really can't help you to get there, but when you reach the point where your psyche really tells you to quit, then it becomes easy.

I know this sounds stupid, and it won't help much, but think about it... your psyche needs to really hate your habit, even fear it. Then you can quit.
If you still embrace smoking, you are having a hard time trying to quit...

 

[sopor]

it is a habit, you integrated too much smoking weed into your life. everyday activities can seem so dull without being high. you have to distract your mind with some other activity. i try to just jump into life with both legs. realy feel what you are doing, do it wit whole awareness. when washing the dishes for example, focus only on the task. what moves you do subconsciously, how it makes you feel, observe breathing, ... make your brain busy.

but it is still all about really deciding to stop smoking. intention is what matters the most.

 

[Teonanacapilli]

This may sound silly, but is something that helped me stay strong during cannabis "withdrawal". Do you find you remember your dreams? If not, then this may be irrelevant to you, but I will post it anyways in the case that someone else can use it.

Dreams, it is theorized, are caused by a release of DMT by the pineal gland in the brain (and there is no shortage of dream-cause theories). I don't care if that is true, but I lean towards it's potential truth because of the nature of dreams. Anyway, if you interrupt your sleep cycle in the mid-night and allow yourself to go back to sleep (I usually shower between these times), the second sleep interval (for me) is always filled with amazingly vivid and convincing dreams.

These dreams are so powerful that I can sometimes not distinguish if they were dream or experiential memory, even some days after the dream. Upon waking, the feeling is very similar, for me, to a come-down from Psilocybin mushrooms. My emotions are wild and I am passionate, with a slight "buzzing" feeling.

It helps to keep a dream journal and write up what you experience immediately after the sleep, this can also lead to lucid dreams (which you should google, if you do not already understand them). I had a funny thought about this practice of mine the other day. Here I am every night/morning, having intense, perhaps psychedelic (and naturally so), deeply personal experiences. What the fuck are you doing before your day? haha. This system always leaves me with a positive vibe, ready for the day. Which is arguably much better than the doped, sedated, vegetated state that I used cannabis to attain.

At any rate, I thought I would share that method that has worked for me. After having such intense experiences, at no monetary cost, it has been hard to justify smoking weed every day. And really, compared to the truly psychedelic, weed doesn't match up often enough. Sure, its a lot of fun, a hell of a lot of fun, but its potential for abuse is too high for me. My moments of psychedelia, insight and intense creativity under its influence are far too often overshadowed by the unproductive sedative and other negatives. Also, weed suppresses my dreams (maybe it doesn't allow one to reach REM sleep, or perhaps the ability to remember dreams with THC in the system is lacking). So now I visit my friend, Mary Jane, only from time to time, and keep my altered state experiences balanced with other psychedelics too, when I can.

Hope that helps! There is no shortage of things for you to do to help yourself, brother

EDIT: Had to re-word some of that. I made it sound like cannabis doesn't have any potential as a psychedelic (or therapeutic). It simply has to be used in moderation. Proper balance is required in psychonautics, as in life in general.

 

[Voyager. Rabbit hole]

You''re cannabis (addiction) *laughs* is totally what you've made of it, maybe psychologically some of your actions rely on the THC, and as far as the physical part, I would says the the anxiety that comes with the trouble of dealing with out the THC

I've noticed if you can get you;re mind off it you realize how mental the addiction in
I'll go as far as saying it is absolutly 0% addictive with the right mind set.....all in the mind.

that hot confined, on edge feeling you get (if you do) is the same feeling you get when you over think something too much, just forget about it

 

[darkwolfunseen]

Okay this may sound like a bit of a paradox, and a lot of people put in a lot of great comments before me, but here goes... try smoking a few times and then think about what in particular you crave? Marijuana is really not all that physically addictive (if at all) but it has an uncanny ability to make reality all the more bearable, and often quite enjoyable. Sometimes, that's more dangerous then any physical relapse can ever be. For me, MJ is a trusted relationship, and I try not to smoke up out of boredom, or just for fun. Recreationally it's great, but spiritually its fucking amazing (sorry couldn't get any more creative).

That's why if you really don't know how to quit, ask the plant, just get high, take a notepad and write what exactly bothers you about it. Is it a lack of control on your part? Is it that you used to find new highs in it, and now all it does is get you to normal? If you identify the root cause of your opposition to weed, it'll be much easier to focus on how to stop doing it. My guess would be that MJ isn't the only culprit, since often times going through numerous substances is the equivalent of not wanting to admit to yourself that something else is wrong. I'm not going all psychiatrist babble on you, I'm just saying stealing to get high is more believable if the motive is something other then boredom. I wish you luck.

 

[Straroll]

i don't smoke cigarettes, i smoke only cannabis. But recently i thought to quit. It's very hard

 

[peach]

smoke an ounce as fast as you can, under a week at least, so an eighth plus a day. it'll magically release it's hold on you when you realize how boring it can get

you're right to feel guilty, it's worse than stealing her money if she's using that medicine to deal with pain.

if it needs to be done, piss off the dealers you know so they don't want to know you anymore

 

[rchocobo]

i started to do more physical things and it got me to quit pretty quickly. try quitting with a friend. it helps a lot.

good luck

 

[Ultima]

smoke an ounce as fast as you can, under a week at least, so an eighth plus a day. it'll magically release it's hold on you when you realize how boring it can get

you're right to feel guilty, it's worse than stealing her money if she's using that medicine to deal with pain.

if it needs to be done, piss off the dealers you know so they don't want to know you anymore

uhmm.. that really doesnt get old at all... when SWIM lived in calgary he was smoking an oz a week easily of id say some of the top 5 hes ever smoked for over 4 months.. surely didnt get old.. just ran out of funds once he moved away..

 

[Psychoid]

What helped me quit (well, not completely yet, smoking every 5 days average), was realizing how bad it was affecting me. Unfortunately, the only mean to realize it is... to stop smoking.

So you HAVE to give you a nice kick in the butt and do it. Give you a reasonable objective. Only you know what a reasonable objective can be, depending on your level of addiction. Personally, 3 days without it was hard at the beginning, but enough to see some positive effects. After 3 days, I smoked, and decided to try another 3 days (which I failed). After a while, I did it again, and then succeeded to do another 3 days after. Then went back into my bad habits. Then, later I could do a 12 days break, which was enough to really see how cannabis was affecting me negatively. About a year ago, I decided to try a month without it, and I succeeded (except two puffs after 2 weeks, which isn't too bad). Since then, I don't feel I am addicted anymore to weed, even though I still have periods where I smoke everyday. The difference is that now I don't care if I can smoke or not.

The biggest trap with weed, which I still fall into sometimes in my heavy smoking periods, is thinking you won't be able to sleep without it. You will. You won't sleep as good if you're really addicted, but if you don't smoke the day after the need for weed will keep you awake.

Simplified explanation: Your body naturally produces cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are not stored, they are produced on demand. When you smoke weed daily, you system is constantly flooded with cannabinoids, so your body stops producing them. When you stop, it takes a while before you body realizes it needs to start producing its own cannabinoids again. The period between when you stop smoking and when your body restarts its production is the period when you suffer from withdrawal symptoms, such as insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of the ability to feel pleasure, sweating and feeling very hot.
Once the production is back to normal, these symptoms stop and you are back to normal. You usualy shouldn't feel the need to smoke anymore then.

The key is to focus on the positive changes within you. For example, when I quit smoking weed, I start feeling very energetic, almost like I'm on coke. I use that energy to do all the things that I wasn't doing because of weed's laziness, and everytime I feel the need to smoke, I think to myself that if I smoke I'll lose that energy.

Do the weed help you in any way in your life?
I have ADD, and I'm not taking any medication for it. I find that if I smoke weed reasonably (= once a week), I have a better concentration and fell better in general. This is why I just can't seem to stop completely. I know I should try at least 2 months without any to see if I get better (cause after a month without it my concentration was almost worse then when I smoked all day long), but 2 months is 60 days and 60 days are 1440 hours and that is a long time... Maybe I'll try it soon though...

 

[Psychoid]

After smoking a high dose with my vape, I just decided I'd sell it and stop smoking cannabis. I'm way better without it.
It is not fun anymore... And I get nothing from it.

When I say I have ADD, it is not to a very high degree, and I'm sure it was better before I started smoking weed.

 

[jaywabz]

maybe it is physically addicting. I was watching a recent nat geo on medicinal marijuana and one of the top authorities on psychiatry from nyu, forget his name, said that they are starting to find that there ARE withdrawl symptoms from pot.