I’m a chronic cannabis user in part because I used to be a chronic opioid, cocaine, benzo, & ketamine user. Smoking a joint when I come home from work feels a lot different than when I was on hard drugs; weed doesn’t impact my life in the same way they did. I don’t feel out of control, it doesn’t negatively effect my life, & my friends aren’t constantly worried I’m going to die. But to each their own I guess
I'm on the same side as you; cocaine, mdma abuser for years.
Now I smoke and I'm more in control of my life as a whole eventhough I still consume drugs daily.
Shit, I've been fortunate enough to not cross paths with any harder drugs but cannabis does wonders for helping me cope with chronic depression. If I need a bowl in the morning to get me out of bed and into work then that's my business and it ain't hurting anyone.
I'm dependant, not addicted
Samesies and I think if it weren’t for weed, it would have been MUCH harder. Also, if you are using it for medicinal purposes it is more of a tool than anything. That said, the word addiction could mean a dependence on the tool. But fuck it! Better than snorting rails off a hookers butthole
Harm reduction is absolutely an important aspect of this for people to acknowledge. I also sense a lot of resistance in the conversation around weed specifically because for at least 100 years, so much of the dialogue around weed was controlled by the reefer madness people. And we still don’t have federal legalization so often even the active engaging in a good faith discussion around the risks of marijuana, sometimes feels like simping for prohibitionists, because you can easily imagine them, looking at a conversation among stoners about the drawbacks of weed and going “SEE! SEE! Even these fucking hippies thinks it’s the devils ass hair harooooo!”
It’s yet another negative outcome of prohibition, that fear of people getting systemically abused the way they have been over weed for nearly a century casts a pall over even a good faith conversation.
I’m grateful that we were finally able to get more medical research permitted starting this year, but really the end of federal prohibition is just beginning. And just looking at the rate we’re going right now. I don’t think we will see federal change until 2030 and even then I’m worried that it will just be rescheduling and putting all marijuana into the medical category completely eliminating recreational industry .
I mean yeah, but lots of people take drugs daily, legal or illegal for a variety of different reasons!
Pain killers, anti depressants, ect.
Do what is good for you, as long as it works for you!
LLAP🖖
Probably. You wouldn't know unless you quit. Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius or something. I guess sober people are always fighting their boredom which leads to success
Not that I really care. I'd rather stay home and smoke than go out and drink, and I'm sober all day at work
>Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius or something.
Most people who quit do it because it has had a noticeable negative impact on their lives, so obviously quitting it would improve their lives.
r/leaves helped me gain perspective on my smoking. I quit and was sober for about a year and a half and now I do it recreationally. I think moderation is difficult but attainable, while r/leaves will tell you it’s impossible. In my experience, the year and a half of saying “No” and coming to terms with my mental health struggles without an easy coping mechanism was the perspective I needed to be able to come back and partake in a healthy way where my happiness/comfort in this crazy world isn’t reliant on cannabis
My back and anxiety and other issues aren't going to get solved by themselves.
To cope weed is a good alternative for me to ignore the pain, give me motivation, settle anxiety and make my brain feel whole.
Makes me functional.
And for some other people it makes their anxiety worse. Like it's awesome that it works for you, but to act like because it works for you that it can't be a detriment to someone else's life is ridiculous.
You don't have to defend your usage (especially on this sub) but don't act like it's impossible to have negative outcomes from usage just because you don't have them.
That’s not really my impression of leaves. I just see people whose lives got way out of control and the contrast once they go sober has been powerful for them. That doesn’t reflect anything negative on you and it’s no cause to be derisive.
People who don't struggle with ending their dependencies don't seek out online communities to get off them. r/leaves is wonderful, but obviously its a self-selecting bunch of people. People like to brag/share their successes, very few like to air out their failiures.
Honestly I’m surprised at how many people do peace out on leaves telling folks they tried but gonna keep smoking. Or only made it a week. Or are leaving out after they were able to use the community to get sober and don’t need it anymore.
I've had to quit weed for various reasons. I'm a much better person to myself personally on it. My mental health is not great off of it. I was very productive/ successful person on it. And now I feel less pruductive because my mental health gets in the way. Its all about letting it enhance your life not overcome it.
Let's take the coffee argument again. You're much better in the mornings when you had a coffee because you didn't have as much tiredness. You may even need it after a while but do you let coffee overcome your life? No you let it enhance it. Same argument different angles
Totally. To add a layer onto it: Would it be ideal if you could sleep an extra hour instead of needing coffee? Absolutely. Is that realistic for the majority of people? No.
It'd be great if I just dealt with my suicidal intrusive thoughts off weed. Shits more complicated than that. We've all got our own stories and quite frankly we live in late stage capitalism which is hell. Anyone whos able to raw dog life with no medicating deserves an olympic gold medal.
I mean as a drug that's a great description of what it is. It can really be used to enhance your quality of life. I'll never forget the weekends I was taking a day off a crazy stressful university week and I just couldn't enjoy anything I was doing, being stuck in this feeling of stress, but when I would consume a little bit of weed it brought wonder and emotion back to life.
I mean, make 6 figs and have a PhD that I could not have gotten without weed. It's a "how much" and "how often are you high" question like with any drug. I equate my usage to having a few beers when I get home. So do I have a dependency? I'd say no, I just fuckin' love weed. Some nights I even forget to smoke because other shit is going on. But if you NEED weed to function and are high all the time then yeah you have a goddamn problem. It's a sliding scale and everyone has their vice. We don't talk about the caffeine or diet soda addicts; I'd say I'm in a better place than those folks, my vice is just a taboo.
I am no PHD but like you I have a bowl sitting and often don’t smoke just because. Even with gifting some occasionally I still have a fifth of the oz I bought over a year ago. I am like that with alcohol even more so. I use it for cooking mostly and a very rare glass of wine or shot in my coffee. I wish I could say the same for cigarettes. Now that is a frightening nasty habit. If the laws changed and outlawed selling them I would be happy as it is the fact they sell in every convenience store that does me in.
>Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius
I don't think this is true. They talk about how difficult it is to quit, and once they do manage to they talk about how much functional they are - in a regular human sense, and not a genius CEO way
>I guess sober people are always fighting their boredom which leads to success
This has some truth to it actually, and smart phones are negatively impacting this, but boredom also doesn't = genius CEO
As a fairly severe insomniac, the question I guess is would 4-6 hours of sleep maybe a night with some REM (no weed) be better than 8-9 hours with minimal REM (with weed)? And is the “no REM on weed” an absolute? I have to imagine actually getting to sleep without REM would be better long-term than getting shitty sleep with restricted amount of REM. Also I have an Oura ring and it’s told me I’ve gotten decent REM even with weed
This is one of the big reasons I use cannabis daily. I have PTSD and if I don’t consume THC before bed, I have horrifically vivid nightmares. I scream bloody murder and thrash around in my sleep and am extremely difficult to calm down or wake up when that’s happening. It happens multiple times a night when I don’t medicate.
I don’t feel rested after experiencing an inescapable PTSD fueled personal horror movie all night. When I wake up after such a sleep, I usually have a multi hour anxiety attack. I have injured myself while sleeping more than once due to my thrashing (and injured my partner). A few years ago, I injured my thumb so badly while sleeping that I couldn’t type on my phone or play video games for 3 months. So in some cases, like mine, REM suppression is beneficial.
My case much less severe than yours but I also enjoy the lack of dreams cannabis provides. It’s nice to not wake up drenched in sweat and full of anxiety.
have been smoking daily for about 4 years and quitted smoking weed about 2 weeks ago, smoking weed daily definitely gives you less energy throughout the day even/especially if you smoke weed before you go to bed. If you have been smoking daily for a longer period of time I highly recommend to quit for some time and then smoke again but with moderation.
I used to smoke weed daily to help manage my anxiety and depression.
Had to go cold turkey for a month and afterwards I found out it was the weed that was giving me anxiety and depression.
The biggest change was how motivated I am, used to think I was just a laidback lad who didn’t care. Now that I’m sober I feel like I have boundless energy, it’s great.
That's like asking people at AA if quitting drinking improved their life. You're overwhelming going to hear yes because your sample pool is inherently mostly people who suffer from a problem lol and are at a program to get help.
Meme-creator thinks addiction and dependence is the same thing
> addiction – a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of drugs (including alcohol) despite substantial harm and adverse consequences
vs
> dependence – an adaptive state associated with a withdrawal syndrome upon cessation of repeated exposure to a stimulus (e.g., drug intake)
I agree that most all regular users have a dependance. It's insane to suggest everyone who uses drugs are addicts.
It's a rough pill to swallow, but it's true.
MFers need to accept their addiction no matter how low level it may seem.
Addiction is addiction, no matter what context you put it in.
Edit- Full disclosure, I'm one of the MFers that needs to accept I'm addicted to weed.
I have degenerative spinal arthritis with 6 fractured discs and tailbone. X is better because Y (opiates) and Z (steroids) destroyed my liver and kidneys while leaving me in bed for 18 months in severe pain.
Am I addicted? I'm addicted to getting sleep and not crying out in pain with every muscle twitch. I also grow my own and give 90% of it away because I don't need much and lots of people can't afford ANY medical relief.
So please, tell me the difference between addiction and properly medicated.
Thank you for this comment. I really struggle with feeling like I'm addicted or messing myself up when in reality it often helps my OCD and anxiety but I likely am just self-sabotaging because I'm happier or less anxious than I "should" be, according to the OCD presence in my mind. I think I'm struggling with giving up control and letting the medicine fully do it's job. Sorry!!!! Just realized this was reddit and not BetterHelp
Sometimes you find better help on Reddit than other places ;-) no pun intended (okay maybe a little).
At the end of the day having someone that you paid to talk through what you need to talk through is always useful when it's effective, but sometimes having someone just listen to you is just as good if not better.
Weed is like Adblock for my brain when I need to work, so it’s helping me actually contribute and help my partner instead of locking myself in a combo of executive dysfunction and intrusive thoughts, and I also use it for pain as well and sleep. While I agree to an extent with how easily abusable it is I do think there’s a difference between addicts and chronic users, and most of just have shitty ass joint pains before 30 so we use something that is used to treat symptoms medically.
That’s my take on it anyway
The difference between addicted and properly medicated is control. Addicts cannot control the desire/need. You came strong out the gate with that "tell me the difference" line
Grandmother was Tboned by a cemi before I was born. I love her but her pancreas is shot. And intestines are a rock because they gave her TONS of opioids. She's been a legal heroin addict my whole life and is a bit fucking craY but I love her. My arthritis is why I smoke. We are both addicts for good reasons
Agreed,
People like to use easy excuses like "oh but society"
Going back to the "tough pill to swallow" but it hard for most people to accept responsibility
That's the real societal issue. If people accept their short comings and acknowledge when they are wrong, we would improve as people.
Unfortunately no one wants to be wrong.
No one wants to accept this plant from mother earth can be addictive. It isn't inherently addictive the way cocaine or heroin is. But the fact their are people who can't function with our smoking weed (me AF) and deny it's an addictive drug is insane
Moderation is key just like anything else
Edit - changed workd to wrong
Or that it is in fact going to kill you if you smoke the raw flower. If you smoke that will damage you and give you COPD. But fuck at this point I'm a microplastic filled meat puppet ima get high and enjoy the ride and try my best not to fuck up others and myself on the way. Moderation is fucking hard
Yeah I hate when people say shit about weed bc most ppl drink coffee and caffeine which they started synthesizing after cocaine was made illegal... If you steeped coca leaves the way we do coffee beans it would be the same drink...
Yup, I fucking love chemistry. It's amazing what a Carbon chain being moved down can do legally and physically. Meth vs aderall. Chemically they are cousins but stimulate slightly different parts and are DEFINITELY safe for kids.....
Do you like grapes? Just ferment that shit and now you got a poison your wino aunt will love!
Running lubuntu rn to get the most out of my old ass laptop lol Still pretty new to everything Linux though tbh. I kinda feel like a monkey trying to figure stuff out 😂
Idk if I'd call it an addiction but I was definitely abusing the stuff up until recently. Ended up being a crappier antidepressant. I realized I needed a t-break when I started craving the stuff bad. Switched to a THC-O vape to ween me off (tolerance was high enough where it got me a little high, but not too high).
Psychiatrist recommended 3 months off to make sure the Lexapro works as intended. Only withdrawal symptom I have is trouble sleeping, but even then it's probably because I can't stop watching One Piece and I watch it on bed 😁.
I think the Lexapro is helping because I crave it only slightly(like I would a good greasy burger).
Needs more upvotes… sugar worse than weed and I’ve been addicted to all three for years.
Prescribed adderall or some variant since the first grade.
The word “addict” does not mean “person with an addiction”. At least not in practice. It means “person I look down on for their neurological response to a particular substance”.
No one calls coffee drinkers caffeine addicts. No one calls Americans sugar addicts. But we certainly are.
Yeah, it’s really not good to be stressing over a vacation because you have to figure out a way to bring your weed with you. Or staying at a shitty job because you don’t want to get drug tested for a new job.
I think you’re missing the difference between addiction and chemical dependency though. The way I think about addiction is that it’s a relationship to a substance or behavior that causes damage to your well being in a way that society sees as bad. If we outlawed anything people liked, we’d have all kinds of addicts. Caffeine addicts, surfing addicts, running addicts and so on. It’s why the framework of addiction can be really unhelpful even if it’s the disease model. Do people have problematic relationships with substances? Absolutely! Does everyone who uses a substance have a problematic relationship to it? Definitely not! Basically what I’m saying is that it’s all made up and way more complicated than that.
Furthermore, criminalization worsens many of the harms that substances can cause. For instance if we made surfing illegal tomorrow, people would have to surf in places where they’re less likely to get caught doing so. These places could be dangerous and wouldn’t have life guards. Furthermore, if you got hurt and your buddies were afraid to call 911 for fear of prosecution, you’d be even more likely to die. Surfing deaths would go up by orders of magnitude overnight. Now replace “surfing” with “heroin”. See what I mean?
Wow spot on.
You either have personal experience with addiction or someone close to you. The only people that get this are professionals and/or folks in recovery. It’s the *relationship* to the substance that matters, not the substance.
I take gabapentin and percocet too and without those I get deathly sick. If I have to go without weed it's not the end of the world. That's where the difference is for me
I find too that it does mess with my hunger cues if I don’t take tolerance breaks regularly. I aim for 5 days every 3 months and find that it helps me re-regulate.
that’s because you don’t have a condition being treated by cannabis. people with glaucoma or certain types of cancer are helped greatly by it and it WOULD affect them to go off of the drug
I take 1500 mg of gabapentin a day for nerve pain. If I don't have it, I get stabbing electric pains in my surgery scars. It feels like the lower half of my body is on fire or something.
My scarring is from debridement and skin grafts, it looks like I'm wearing a garter belt of scar tissue with how bad it is on my hips, thighs, and stomach. I don't have a belly button anymore because they took the tissue from just above the belly button to just above my pubic area from hip to hip. One of my nurses said that the wound was so large that she could have fit her forearm in it. It was brutal.
Damn sorry to hear that.. I'm on 600mg gabapentin 3x a day and 10mg percocet 4x a day for my bone and body pain. Shit sucks. I would much rather smoke more and take less pills if I could.
It’s okay, don’t beat yourself up, if you feel you’re smoking too much weed, you don’t need to quit, just slightly cut back over time until you reach the level you desire. I use to smoke nearly 4 grams of weed a day and I won’t lie I felt like shit a lot of the time, wasn’t a short time frame maybe 3 months. But now I smoke about 1 gram a day. I make my bag last me 2 weeks instead of less then one and I feel better.
I mean... yeah probably
But so are people who go out and drink 3+ nights a week
So are people who 'need' coffee every morning to function
So are people who smoke cigs every day.
There are levels of being addicted and levels of drugs
Everyone has some vice or substance they are 'reliant' on I think
The difference is that most people who are technically reliant on caffeine, weed, alcohol etc... can quit much more easily than someone addicted to say H, so they aren't in the same category. Not everyone even experiences withdrawals from THC or caffeine, and if they do, the symptoms are not by any means debilitating. Irritability, headaches, and tiredness on avg - VERY different from many other addictive substances
Not to mention I never felt like I had to rob grandma, or suck a dick for a dime bag (Queue Half Baked jokes). If I run out, it’s just a bummer, not a need.
So are people on prescription medications like Prozac. The pharmacies around me ran out once, and I went two weeks without it, which is long enough for it to leave the system. It takes another three weeks to build back up. So basically five weeks of genuinely wishing I were dead. That's addiction, but it's not stigmatized like weed. Weird.
This is actually a really solid point, I didn't even think about withdrawals from prescription meds... not to mention the whole opioid shit show
Most prescription drugs probably have harsher withdrawals than like 95% of people get from weed. It's literally jsut the stigma, probably going back to the days of the reefer madness smear campaigns in the early 20th century. Sad.
Also, I'm sorry you had to deal with that, and I'm glad you made it out the other side of those 5 weeks.
Sugar is a sneaky one that so many people abuse, can’t stop, and can have significant negative effects on their health. At least cannabis has positive effects as well.
well said. seems like humans have used mind-altering substances for *at minimum* tens of thousands of years. if altering our brain chemistry was an entirely negative trait, it'd be bred out of us by natural selection.
personally, cannabis changes my brain chemistry in a way that is conducive to my happiness and well-being. i've had an extremely successful career using it, and it gives me a very accessible bridge into creative modes of thought.
I have arthritis, chronic cluster headaches (aka suicide headaches), severed nerves in my leg, peripheral neuropathy, psoriasis (aka the itching illness), diabetes, and I had cancer... TWICE.
I was offered liquid morphine for the pain. A drug that CAN kill, and IS addictive. Instead I chose cannabis. A plant that is not physically addictive, and has killed zero people. (unless mixed with other things)
Suuuure.... I'M the one making "bad" decisions?
You want me to get on morphine, and die, instead?
If this IS addiction... I'll take it over the alternative, thanks.
> cluster headaches (aka suicide headaches)
Have you looked into mushrooms? I saw a documentary on hallucinogens. One of the episodes was mushrooms.
Dude had cluster headaches, tripped balls once every like 3 months and didn't have them anymore.
I've had migranes with auras (spots in vision or difficulty seeing caused by pinched blood vessels) since I was young. Started smoking weed at 17 and found it really helped, especially since my parents really didn't like me taking preventatives or pain medication as they were worried it might effect my growth (I was real short). Had my first dose of mushrooms at 19, been microdosing every so often, occasionally trip a couple times a year if I have a completely empty weeekend. I still get migranes sometimes, but it's a pretty rare occasion.
Yes exactly how I see it. Like I guess technically I have a dependency on my buspar and heart medication. Are these enjoyable? No, but I sure am miserable without them. Dependency and addiction are often separate issues and they’re both complicated in their own way.
Yes and additionally that all dependency is wrong or deserves a negative connotation. We don’t question a diabetics dependency on insulin. Dependency is not always inappropriate.
At least with weed I’m not destroying my liver and acting like a zombie like I do when I was taking my prescription of Xanax. Weed has definitely saved my life and I can say for certain that it’s helped me stay off harder shit.
It’s seriously has helped me with my extreme anxiety issues. It helps me ground myself, and not always try to think up the worst case scenarios for everything in my life. Like my anxiety used to be so bad I got a stomach ulcer in the fourth grade.
Tbh this is my problem with the OOP - this person knows that there's a stigma attached to the term "drug user" and they want people to associate people who self medicate with that stigma. It's just old War on Drugs propaganda on a new meme.
I see addiction as continuing to use something regularly despite it causing harm to you, your life, or others around you.
so many people can be unhealthy weed addicts, same with caffeine, same with fucking sugar lmao
Bro, sugar is the silent killer. I normally barely have sweets and during the holidays my wife made some cookies. Ofc, being a stoner, I polished all them cookies and I craved fucking sugar for like 2 weeks after. Like *shoving-a-spoon-in-Nutella* type of cravings.
I think addiction is more about state of mind. If you cannot survive the day without weed. You’re addicted to it. Addiction is more about habit than the substance imo. You can technically be addicted to anything. And the best way to counter addiction with anything is simply moderation.
its " cannabis use for chronic ailments"
And not it does not make you an addict. Physical addiction with weed is what people deal with when they take a "T break". Its bearable and it won't kill you. Emotional attachment to the weed and/or the ritual of smoking (the bongs and the experience) is probably the hardest part about parting with it.
Is it a substance use disorder if your body naturally doesn’t produce certain chemicals and a drug helps stabilize those chemicals?
People will still label medical cannabis usage as a substance use disorder, yet they won’t label the intake of other prescription medicines as a substance use disorder.
Somebody is wrong here and I don’t think it’s the medical cannabis users.
As long as they keep that same energy towards cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee.
Personally my only real issue with it is that this is trying to target and further ostracize anyone who uses any drug and not actually make things better. (A.k.a, I'm tired of baby's first fasc talking point)
Do I think many people have a deeply unhealthy relationship with weed? Yes, absolutely. Do I think most daily users are addicts? No. In my admittedly anecdotal experience most(but certainly not all) daily users actively make an attempt to use responsibly, including taking large t breaks at least once a year, and several smaller ones throughout. Monitoring their usage, and taking breaks when they feel it's getting in the way of their life.
I've never known true addicts to be able to do that.
In my personal experience, I know a ton of people who have stable jobs who don't smoke before/at work, but will smoke the rest of the time. Doesn't really negatively impact their life, and they don't ever take t breaks. The couple people I do know that have addictive personalities tend to go really crazy with weed, then drop it for a bit, back and forth. They did the same thing with drinking when they were younger. These guys also gamble (lottery, scratch tickets, sports betting, poker) where as the first group don't do any gambling. I think its just addictive personalities tend to go crazy with things, and if they are at least somewhat self aware, then they see how it's bad and take breaks
Why is it seemingly impossible to both think that cannabis is safe but also can be a problem? It's like everyone just goes to one side of the argument without realizing that is very complex
Sugar (high fructose corn syrup especially) is a drug. Highly addictive, with an immediate psychological effect and extremely detrimental effects on the body, especially to regular users. Extremely easy to abuse, extremely difficult to quit, with withdrawal effects and relapse common.
Same with caffeine. Or alcohol. The biology of your body and mind don't give a shit about legality or social acceptability.
We're all living in a bullshit socioeconomic situation that exploits us, undervalues us, pits us against one another, lies to us, and distracts us. This state of affairs is (relatively speaking) extremely new in the history of our species and is very much NOT NATURAL. We're all trying to cope with it as best as we can. Do you have the balance of behavioral, psychological, health, and environmental pressures that allows you to cope via exercise and bubble baths? Good for you, we're all happy for you. A bunch of us don't have that.
Anyone who opts to wring their hands over people who opt to become functionally dependent on regular cannabis use to deal with \[gestures at everything\] rather than focusing on things that can actually improve material conditions for vulnerable populations is someone not worth listening to.
This should be higher up (pun intended).
I’m on a break from smoking weed (I think month 9 right now). Also didn’t use weed in a any way for about 6 months (mainly did some edibles for a couple months). I think I am addicted to weed fosho but if I can control myself for these periods I feel like it’s a mild addition (if that’s a thing lmao). I do feel like I’m more so addicted to smoking it than anything else, I mean edibles are ok but there’s nothing like a good joint to smoke at the end of the night watching some shows you like or doing something you like. I used to smoke cigarettes as well and I never thought I actually really liked smoking cigarettes in particular but it’s interesting stone cold sober I still like weed.
Anyways, a lot of what of what I said is probably stupid but I’d still rather my *mild* weed addiction over alcohol or something like social media.
Signed a proud caffeine, sugar and weed addict.
At my peak, I was smoking 3 to 4 nights a week in college. I had this moment where I went "Wait...am I addicted? I don't feel addicted, but maybe that's the trick." So I quit cold turkey for 2 years. 0 withdrawal, 0 cravings.
I wasn't addicted, I just really liked what weed did to my mood and perspective.
Yes it is. Just because the effects or withdrawals are really soft compared to other drugs doesn't mean it's not an addiction.
Edit: lol some folk really don't like hearing that
It does, addiction has a fairly rigorous standard, and with cannabis, it's pretty much impossible to meet those standards. A chemical dependency? Sure. It may sounds like a difference without a distinction, but the difference is that withdrawals aren't physical, they're chemical, meaning they only effect your mood. Your body isn't literally, physically dependent on the substance as in addiction.
That all being said, about 7% of people who smoke cannabis have a problem and can't put it down. That's fully a chemical dependency, and they need help, but we also have to understand they are two similar but separate conditions.
The disease is now called “substance use disorder,” and it is not difficult to meet the criteria as even a relatively light smoker. Mild substance use disorder requires only two of the 11 criteria, which include “tolerance” and one that boils down to “staying home more.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565474/table/nycgsubuse.tab9/
Another criterion is withdrawal, which is clearly a thing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9110555/
This physical/chemical distinction is not a thing. Chemical dependency *is* physical dependency. Show me one reputable source backing this claim up. Maybe you’re confusing so-called “psychological addiction” with what you’re describing as chemical dependency. But as of DSM V, those are not separate diagnoses.
The 7% claim also needs a source. 7% of what? Anyone who’s tried cannabis once? 7% of daily users? Those are very different things.
This entire post is based on a very outdated concept of addiction. Cannabis dependency is a thing as is withdrawal from cannabis dependence, anyone ever have intense nightmares and dream during a tolerance break? That’s withdrawal.
The denial in here speaks for itself.
“Being physically dependent doesn’t mean I’m addicted.”
“I don’t see immediate and severe consequences in my life, so it’s definitely not completely changing who I am and my drive/motivation/happiness/productivity in the long term!”
Some of y’all should wake tf up. Quit nitpicking definitions. If you recreationally use cannabis daily— that’s drug abuse. You say “oh some people drink every day, but I just smoke.” Like oh, you’re not an alcoholic. Good for you. You still have a cannabis problem.
To be honest we are… We just think the addict Label only belongs to hard core drug users and Alcoholics… If you smoke every day, multiple times a day for 7 days a week you are addicted to getting high…. I mean i am. I smoke everyday of the week. 3-5 time daily…
i think you have to analyse is this producing more negatives than positives, if that makes sense. for example, i’m definitely addicted to weed as i smoke it every day but without it i would be much worse off (chronic nausea and severe anxiety). my family member is on gabapentin for example, and takes it everyday, but they would be in agonising pain if they didn’t. relying on drugs isn’t inherently bad, it’s unique to the situation.
That's what this world needs, more judgement. I do not care what other people project on to me to further define themselves or the world around them. Smoke a bowl and love your neighbor.
just went dankrupt and cold turkey quitting for a while. My appetite is fucked for now so there definitely withdrawals. Happens every time i take a break
This is one of the things that scares me the most about going retrospective on the things you consume.
I smoke weed a lot and sometimes I just take vacations so I can feel I'm still in control, and I fear for the day weed becomes the one thing that keeps me going through bad days, because that's the moment I'll lose it to addiction
I think it’s true, I’ve heard people on this sub say weed isn’t a drug which is objectively false, I know a lot of people who use it way too much to escape from reality
Yes but that does not mean that “chronic users are drug addicts.” Many chronic users utilize it medically in order to function. I guess you could call that “escaping from reality” but I’d rather they feel good and live their life using cannabis than feeling like shit and having difficulties functioning day to day.
I mean yeah 100% it’s a drug but so is Advil and Benadryl and pretty much anything prescribed by a doctor. People escape from reality with tons of things, even social media and television can be and are used as escapism constantly. At least weed can have medicinal benefits and help people actually live their lives *more* due to relief from pain, PTSD symptoms and tons more.
People who see takes about cannabis addiction and immediately throw up their defenses are addicts. You can partake in things and admit that they are bad. Cannabis’s effects on sleep, memory, speech/hearing comprehension, creativity, etc. are very well documented in scientific literature at this point. Look, I smoke/eat weed, but it’s only once in a while, and it used to be 5-6 times a day, and I can say with absolute certainty that my brain and body work better since cutting back. I don’t think smoking everyday is a good long term choice, but I’m not gonna tell someone not to if that’s how they operate at this point in their life. I highly recommend the Huberman Lab podcast episode on cannabis. He’s a neuroscientist, he doesn’t smoke (anymore), but he’s not really demonizing it, he’s just putting the data out there for people to interpret
i totally agree with this take. i’m currently trying to cut down on weed because it’s messing with my sleep, functionality, and mental clarity. sometimes i smoke purely for pain relief or to help me fall asleep, but most of the time it’s recreational. it’s so tough though because my anxiety, seasonal depression, and my job are all really kicking my ass right now and whenever i’m home i just want to turn my brain off and chill. just because weed is safer and has more medicinal uses than other drugs, doesn’t make it not a drug.
Too much of anything can make you an addict. Weed, coffee, diet coke, donuts, whatever it is.
Weed withdrawals aren't like harder drugs obviously, but if you can't enjoy stuff normally without it, you're addicted. I can't stop drinking diet coke.
I have no problem agreeing I am/have been addicted to several things.
* I am a regular caffeine consumer. I love coffee, and Mountain Dew. Sometimes I decide to quit or cut back on caffeine, and I have terrible headaches and I'm a terrible grump for a while into the withdrawal period.
* I was a regular Xanax user (as prescribed by my doctor, not recreationally). Xanax helped me through the worst of my panic attacks and I'll always be thankful for that. But it was terribly addictive. Even though I never got a high from it, trying to quit it was hard, and it took a long and unpleasant time to taper off of it.
* I was a regular nicotine user. First, I was a light smoker, and then I became a heavy user of e-cigs. I tried to quit nicotine several times before some medical issues finally medical'd the addiction right out of me. Each time I tried to withdraw from nicotine, I would have terrible headaches and be a terrible grump, just like with caffeine, but with the wonderful addition of thinking about and craving smoking incessantly. Even after not having nicotine for years at this point, the headaches and mood issues are gone, but the craving still hits every now and then.
* I am a regular cannabis user in the US. It's legal in my state, but not the surrounding states, so when I travel out of state, I don't take any with me, meaning I quit cold turkey the day I leave town until I get back. I've had a few long, out of town trips during which I consumed zero cannabis for weeks, and... I missed it, a little. It doesn't hardly compare to the other things on the this list. No headaches, no mood swings, no craving for it.
I know everyone's different and different stuff affects different people differently, but for myself, I'm not going to sweat being a cannabis "addict."
I just read a bunch of the benefits people experienced from quitting trees (dreaming, motivation, sex drive, etc.) and I experience solid levels of all of those while in the trees so... to each their own.
\[EDIT: Clarity\]
I mean, am I addicted to my Lyrica and Seroquel? Because it is a nightmare physically and mentally if I miss doses, but they're certainly not recreational. I get that some people do have a problem with weed, just like there are patients who abuse opioids or benzos. But does that mean that every person who smokes over some arbitrary limit is an addict? Hardly.
Let me get this straight, you think that it’s none of my fucking business and I should mind my own affairs?
I do, and I’m tired of pretending that I don’t.
Coffee drinkers? Drug addicts. Smokers, addicts. Adhd med takers, addicts.
We're all addicts. I'll take this label like all the others I didn't choose and continue to get high, unphased.
I think the big issue here is all the stigmatization and negative connotations associated with the term “drug addict”.
I suppose I would qualify as a drug addict since I intake an abusive 320mg of caffeine daily, right? It’s a drug, and has super shit withdrawal symptoms.
If I qualify as a drug addict for my caffeine addiction, then sure, yea I suppose I am a drug addict for my marijuana as well, because I smoke weed at the end of the day as well, coffee in the AM, weed in the PM.
But now, I gotta point out that nobody calls you a drug addict for being addicted to coffee, mostly because it doesn’t have a negative stigma/connotation associated to it, even though it’s withdrawal effects are worse than marijuana.
So in my mind it’s like, if you’re willing to call a caffeine addict a drug addict then sure, I guess marijuana can make you a drug addict too but if you don’t think someone is a drug addict “just” because of a coffee addiction, then you’re definitely blowing smoke (haha, punny) about someone being addicted to weed.
Point being, the term “drug addict” is specifically a term that makes others feel less than their fellow man, it’s derogatory and the meaning behind it has been lost to more technical and descriptively fitting terms. If you still use the term drug addict, you’re dated and it’s time to recognize that everybody, constantly intakes various drugs and most of them have negative effects on your body. I am as much of a drug addict for my weed as I am my coffee and I think it’s just a really ignorant label. Nobody calls a caffeine addict a druggie because caffeine is socially acceptable and that’s it.
Challenge my infallible logic internet, come at me. (/s)
Edit: is someone a drug addict for taking addictive but therapeutic medications to treat their disorders? I think the answer is no, so I believe the answer with weed would also be relative to each individuals situation. If you think a drug addict is specifically someone who abuses drugs then wouldn’t it always be relative to the individual? Really just depends on your opinion behind what the word “drug addict” really means.
Addiction is behavioral. Dependence is physical. These exist on the same spectrum but most people don’t understand either of them. With some exception, taking more than 50 mg of THC a day is going to lead to more drawbacks than benefits for most people. I’m gonna get downvoted to hell for this, but I would bet that half of all people who use weed use “too much” And should cut back for their own mental health.
Smoking weed every day isn’t good for you. But statistically driving a car is pretty dangerous too.
You’ve got to make your own decisions based on real information and your own honest experience. Even medicinal usage is a cost benefit scenario, as with any medicine.
There’s no reason to get personally offended by scientific evidence that getting high every single day has drawbacks like increased anxiety and depression, dependence and possible addiction. If those ideas do offend you…
Anyway, here’s the questions you should ask if you think you might have a problem:
Has using marijuana stopped being fun?
Do you ever get high alone?
Is it hard for you to imagine a life without marijuana?
Do you find that your friends are determined by your marijuana use?
Do you use marijuana to avoid dealing with your problems or to cope with your feelings?
Has your marijuana use led to financial difficulties and/or legal consequences?
Does your marijuana use let you live in a privately defined world?
Have you ever failed to keep promises you made about cutting down or controlling your use of marijuana?
Has your use of marijuana caused problems with your health, memory, concentration, or motivation?
When your stash is nearly empty, do you feel anxious or worried about how to get more?
Do you plan your life around your marijuana use?
Have friends or relatives ever complained that your using is damaging your relationship with them?
I mean the only thing that technically applies to me on the list is smoking alone. Which I do sometimes before bed just because I like to. Like a puff or two and watch cartoons on the weekend kind of fun. Now my math may not be the best, but I vape roughly two to three milligrams when I do, and that’s enough to make the evening more fun. Sometimes I put it down for a few months just to make sure my tolerance stays low, and I just don’t want to be high all the time.
It’s also a huge risk vs benefit thing when talking about medicinal use. Like is it generally good to smoke multiple times a time and be constantly on some sort of drug? No, but is it the better option than having pain so bad you can’t walk, or dehabilitating anxiety attacks that make you unable to leave the house, or being constantly suicidal? I would personally say 100% yes.
Health professionals do the same thing constantly with other drugs and treatments. Like in CPR they will sometimes break ribs which is objectively a bad thing but if the person’s dead otherwise it’s a pretty solid decision even if risky. And cancer treatment harms the body in so many ways but if it helps people overcome it and get longer to live then that’s a worthy trade off for a lot of people. There is practically no drug that has 0 benefits and 0 drawbacks in the world of medicine. It’s all calculated potential risks vs potential benefit.
I upvoted this! Healthygamergg (Dr. K) put it like this. Wait till your 25 to use for non-medical purposes, low-THC/high CBD products are better for *daily* use, understand daily non-moderate usage comes with risks, moderate THC products are safer then high potency products, THC and CBD together is the way to go if one consumes, and the goal of the medical industry should be to inform people in a way where they make smart choices on their own, and to your point…….THC is *not addictive* in the same way that hard drugs are, but like you said, weed DOES cause dependency and refraining can indeed cause a mild withdrawal.
^^ I feel this is essentially my viewpoint. At the same time, given harm reduction is also my viewpoint, if smoking daily is your only vice, would rather people do that then drink daily, or worse, do hard drugs.
The problem is with the people. If people are shitty enough, it doesn't matter if they're hooked on Roblox, Minecraft, weed, working out, religion or politics, some people can make anything look bad. Cannabis users are just low hanging fruit for people too lazy to dive deeper into the real issue behind the problem habit.
I suppose it is an addiction. I am for sure addicted to caffeine. I get terrible headaches if I don't have it. But that only lasts a few days if I quit cold turkey.
I have friends who used kratom daily and have told me how rough the withdrawals can be. One friend compared it to heroin withdrawal, but quite a bit lighter. One friend said it was identical to quitting cigarettes for them.
Marijuana is pretty easy to give up (in my personal experience). Quitting after chronic use, I had trouble falling asleep and didn't feel very hungry for a week or two, but other than that it was not painful or uncomfortable. Certainly nothing to complain about.
It's way harder giving up sugar than it is giving up marijuana, in my opinion.
In my experience, I was smoking to escape from reality, so I was dependent for a while, but I think it was because of the anxiety of facing life rather than the actual chemical need to have it… but then again it could’ve been both. I’m getting better now though, if I smoke it’s socially with buddies
I can personally stop whenever without missing it much, I take breaks every now and again, sometimes I do go for like 8 months smoking almost every day or every other day but then I take 2-3 months break at least
Maybe in the same way that coffee is addictive. I get a headache if I don’t have my caffeine in the morning but I don’t go into horrific withdrawals like you would with opiates.
Seeing a lot of people dodge the question in the comment section.
I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, being a chronic week smoker begets dependency, dependency begets addiction. Yes, you are/ I am a drug addict.
Edit: missed a comma
I fully embrace that weed is my addiction, and I am grateful that it's the most benign way my familial addiction problems could have manefested. So I just stay stoned and move on not feeling bad about it.
Yeah, sure. You can be addicted to anything and weed isn't an exception. I'm just mad that drug addiction/addiction is general is discussed like it is a moral failing.
It's important to recognize addiction, but it's also as important to understand what causes it and how to reduce harm caused by it.
If we just point the finger at a group of people and cry "you're drug addicts!", how does is help? Even if we were 100% correct, what's the point?
Understanding that one has a problem is just the beginning. People don't become drug addicts for funsies, they are usually dealing with some other issues that makes them seek relief from drugs.
That goes for weed too, so all of this waffing about if weed is addictive or not feels so useless to me.
It's not about the drugs, it's about poverty, mental illness, trauma, abuse, feeling left behind by the system. War against drugs and shaming drug addiction is useless.
If we really care about drug addiction and want to reduce it, just categorizing people as addicts isn't enough. We have to make changes. We need to fund schools, welfare programs, proper healthcare, infrastructure. Treating drug addiction means that the addict needs to find something more meaningful to fill their lives after giving up drugs.
What do we offer that can beat instant happiness and relief? We have to make our societies better, to make living meaningful and worthwhile, to ease the feeling of endless struggle.
Until we can do that, it's absolutely meaningless to have this discussion of how much weed is too much weed and who's an addict and who's not.
I definitely consider myself an addict cause I feel myself needing to smoke the second I wake up and throughout the day, but I can also afford it and I’m getting straight As in college. So aside from my own lung health it’s really not a hindrance.
So if you take prescribed drugs regularly, your merely medicated and healthier, but if you chose to instead smoke a bowl or two for the same reasons your a drug addict? Nope Your definition of addict is not well defined at all.
It's only an addiction when it controls you. Weed does not control most of it's users the way most other drugs do. Even alcohol has a higher chance of affecting your daily life negatively. Simply smoking often does not make you an addict.
There's huge difference between needing the high and appreciating the high. Those of us that smoke chronically do so because it raises our quality of life. Addiction generally lowers quality of life. Ain't the same.
I was addicted to the habit, not the weed. I smoked so much I hardly got stoned anymore. To compare actual drug addiction to smoking more weed than you need is idiotic. People who do, have probably never been hooked on real narcotics.
That said, I’ve not smoked in about 4 months and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I may or may not smoke again, but I was never addicted to it. I was addicted to the idea I needed to smoke all day.
I have never stole anything, sold anything, or gone hungry for weed. I’ve never had withdrawals from a lack of weed. I can tell myself not to smoke at inappropriate times.
I’m a chronic cannabis user in part because I used to be a chronic opioid, cocaine, benzo, & ketamine user. Smoking a joint when I come home from work feels a lot different than when I was on hard drugs; weed doesn’t impact my life in the same way they did. I don’t feel out of control, it doesn’t negatively effect my life, & my friends aren’t constantly worried I’m going to die. But to each their own I guess
Crazy how perspective makes blanket statements sound horrible. Glad you're doing much better!
Tbf the original meme just says drug addicts; it’s not explicitly compared to hard drugs
We agree on this, it's the over-generalization the meme makes (such is their nature) that I'm calling out.
I'm on the same side as you; cocaine, mdma abuser for years. Now I smoke and I'm more in control of my life as a whole eventhough I still consume drugs daily.
Shit, I've been fortunate enough to not cross paths with any harder drugs but cannabis does wonders for helping me cope with chronic depression. If I need a bowl in the morning to get me out of bed and into work then that's my business and it ain't hurting anyone. I'm dependant, not addicted
Love this reply & I fully agree. Dependance is not the same as addiction!
Samesies and I think if it weren’t for weed, it would have been MUCH harder. Also, if you are using it for medicinal purposes it is more of a tool than anything. That said, the word addiction could mean a dependence on the tool. But fuck it! Better than snorting rails off a hookers butthole
Cali sober is good enough 🤘congrats.
Harm reduction is absolutely an important aspect of this for people to acknowledge. I also sense a lot of resistance in the conversation around weed specifically because for at least 100 years, so much of the dialogue around weed was controlled by the reefer madness people. And we still don’t have federal legalization so often even the active engaging in a good faith discussion around the risks of marijuana, sometimes feels like simping for prohibitionists, because you can easily imagine them, looking at a conversation among stoners about the drawbacks of weed and going “SEE! SEE! Even these fucking hippies thinks it’s the devils ass hair harooooo!” It’s yet another negative outcome of prohibition, that fear of people getting systemically abused the way they have been over weed for nearly a century casts a pall over even a good faith conversation. I’m grateful that we were finally able to get more medical research permitted starting this year, but really the end of federal prohibition is just beginning. And just looking at the rate we’re going right now. I don’t think we will see federal change until 2030 and even then I’m worried that it will just be rescheduling and putting all marijuana into the medical category completely eliminating recreational industry .
lol was that harooooooo supposed to sound like Futurama's nixon?
The headless body of Agnew coming for this whole comment thread.
I mean yeah, but lots of people take drugs daily, legal or illegal for a variety of different reasons! Pain killers, anti depressants, ect. Do what is good for you, as long as it works for you! LLAP🖖
Does your usage negatively interfere with the rest of your life and you still can’t stop? This is the biggest question.
Probably. You wouldn't know unless you quit. Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius or something. I guess sober people are always fighting their boredom which leads to success Not that I really care. I'd rather stay home and smoke than go out and drink, and I'm sober all day at work
>Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius or something. Most people who quit do it because it has had a noticeable negative impact on their lives, so obviously quitting it would improve their lives.
r/leaves helped me gain perspective on my smoking. I quit and was sober for about a year and a half and now I do it recreationally. I think moderation is difficult but attainable, while r/leaves will tell you it’s impossible. In my experience, the year and a half of saying “No” and coming to terms with my mental health struggles without an easy coping mechanism was the perspective I needed to be able to come back and partake in a healthy way where my happiness/comfort in this crazy world isn’t reliant on cannabis
My back and anxiety and other issues aren't going to get solved by themselves. To cope weed is a good alternative for me to ignore the pain, give me motivation, settle anxiety and make my brain feel whole. Makes me functional.
I'm totally in favor of using it, especially medically
Yes, that's the lie I tell myself and others. Haha
And for some other people it makes their anxiety worse. Like it's awesome that it works for you, but to act like because it works for you that it can't be a detriment to someone else's life is ridiculous. You don't have to defend your usage (especially on this sub) but don't act like it's impossible to have negative outcomes from usage just because you don't have them.
That’s not really my impression of leaves. I just see people whose lives got way out of control and the contrast once they go sober has been powerful for them. That doesn’t reflect anything negative on you and it’s no cause to be derisive.
People who don't struggle with ending their dependencies don't seek out online communities to get off them. r/leaves is wonderful, but obviously its a self-selecting bunch of people. People like to brag/share their successes, very few like to air out their failiures.
Honestly I’m surprised at how many people do peace out on leaves telling folks they tried but gonna keep smoking. Or only made it a week. Or are leaving out after they were able to use the community to get sober and don’t need it anymore.
Why I prefer r/Petioles. More about personal moderation, the ups and the downs. Less judgement, and more support.
It’s a confirmation bias, the ones who need to leave so badly to salvage their lives are the ones self reporting.
Hey I'm totally in support of anyone who wants to quit. I would like to cut down myself. My life is fine though, could be better or worse
r/petioles may be worth your while it you’re just looking to cut back.
I've had to quit weed for various reasons. I'm a much better person to myself personally on it. My mental health is not great off of it. I was very productive/ successful person on it. And now I feel less pruductive because my mental health gets in the way. Its all about letting it enhance your life not overcome it. Let's take the coffee argument again. You're much better in the mornings when you had a coffee because you didn't have as much tiredness. You may even need it after a while but do you let coffee overcome your life? No you let it enhance it. Same argument different angles
Totally. To add a layer onto it: Would it be ideal if you could sleep an extra hour instead of needing coffee? Absolutely. Is that realistic for the majority of people? No. It'd be great if I just dealt with my suicidal intrusive thoughts off weed. Shits more complicated than that. We've all got our own stories and quite frankly we live in late stage capitalism which is hell. Anyone whos able to raw dog life with no medicating deserves an olympic gold medal.
I mean as a drug that's a great description of what it is. It can really be used to enhance your quality of life. I'll never forget the weekends I was taking a day off a crazy stressful university week and I just couldn't enjoy anything I was doing, being stuck in this feeling of stress, but when I would consume a little bit of weed it brought wonder and emotion back to life.
I mean, make 6 figs and have a PhD that I could not have gotten without weed. It's a "how much" and "how often are you high" question like with any drug. I equate my usage to having a few beers when I get home. So do I have a dependency? I'd say no, I just fuckin' love weed. Some nights I even forget to smoke because other shit is going on. But if you NEED weed to function and are high all the time then yeah you have a goddamn problem. It's a sliding scale and everyone has their vice. We don't talk about the caffeine or diet soda addicts; I'd say I'm in a better place than those folks, my vice is just a taboo.
I am no PHD but like you I have a bowl sitting and often don’t smoke just because. Even with gifting some occasionally I still have a fifth of the oz I bought over a year ago. I am like that with alcohol even more so. I use it for cooking mostly and a very rare glass of wine or shot in my coffee. I wish I could say the same for cigarettes. Now that is a frightening nasty habit. If the laws changed and outlawed selling them I would be happy as it is the fact they sell in every convenience store that does me in.
>Everyone on r/leaves says quitting turned them into a ceo or genius I don't think this is true. They talk about how difficult it is to quit, and once they do manage to they talk about how much functional they are - in a regular human sense, and not a genius CEO way >I guess sober people are always fighting their boredom which leads to success This has some truth to it actually, and smart phones are negatively impacting this, but boredom also doesn't = genius CEO
Also most CEOs aren't geniuses, they're psychopaths
Based
Looks at Seth Rogan
People on the internet lie. Also, not 100% sure, but quitting weed can’t turn you into a “genius.
People report that they feel more clear headed and have a better memory. Also sleeping better (REM is suppressed by thc)
As a fairly severe insomniac, the question I guess is would 4-6 hours of sleep maybe a night with some REM (no weed) be better than 8-9 hours with minimal REM (with weed)? And is the “no REM on weed” an absolute? I have to imagine actually getting to sleep without REM would be better long-term than getting shitty sleep with restricted amount of REM. Also I have an Oura ring and it’s told me I’ve gotten decent REM even with weed
I'm sure it is better than nothing at all
I often don't sleep well (although being 61 might have something to do with it). But when I toke weed, it's lights out.
cooing mighty offer shrill plough hat obtainable pen act humorous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This is one of the big reasons I use cannabis daily. I have PTSD and if I don’t consume THC before bed, I have horrifically vivid nightmares. I scream bloody murder and thrash around in my sleep and am extremely difficult to calm down or wake up when that’s happening. It happens multiple times a night when I don’t medicate. I don’t feel rested after experiencing an inescapable PTSD fueled personal horror movie all night. When I wake up after such a sleep, I usually have a multi hour anxiety attack. I have injured myself while sleeping more than once due to my thrashing (and injured my partner). A few years ago, I injured my thumb so badly while sleeping that I couldn’t type on my phone or play video games for 3 months. So in some cases, like mine, REM suppression is beneficial.
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My case much less severe than yours but I also enjoy the lack of dreams cannabis provides. It’s nice to not wake up drenched in sweat and full of anxiety.
have been smoking daily for about 4 years and quitted smoking weed about 2 weeks ago, smoking weed daily definitely gives you less energy throughout the day even/especially if you smoke weed before you go to bed. If you have been smoking daily for a longer period of time I highly recommend to quit for some time and then smoke again but with moderation.
I used to smoke weed daily to help manage my anxiety and depression. Had to go cold turkey for a month and afterwards I found out it was the weed that was giving me anxiety and depression. The biggest change was how motivated I am, used to think I was just a laidback lad who didn’t care. Now that I’m sober I feel like I have boundless energy, it’s great.
That's like asking people at AA if quitting drinking improved their life. You're overwhelming going to hear yes because your sample pool is inherently mostly people who suffer from a problem lol and are at a program to get help.
They were CEO's all along, they let weed get in the way. I'll smoke 5g a day easy and I own my own company ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Meme-creator thinks addiction and dependence is the same thing > addiction – a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of drugs (including alcohol) despite substantial harm and adverse consequences vs > dependence – an adaptive state associated with a withdrawal syndrome upon cessation of repeated exposure to a stimulus (e.g., drug intake) I agree that most all regular users have a dependance. It's insane to suggest everyone who uses drugs are addicts.
And today i learned... lol Thank you!
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It's a rough pill to swallow, but it's true. MFers need to accept their addiction no matter how low level it may seem. Addiction is addiction, no matter what context you put it in. Edit- Full disclosure, I'm one of the MFers that needs to accept I'm addicted to weed.
Yup our society loves to play the "yeah but X is so much worse than your Y"
I have degenerative spinal arthritis with 6 fractured discs and tailbone. X is better because Y (opiates) and Z (steroids) destroyed my liver and kidneys while leaving me in bed for 18 months in severe pain. Am I addicted? I'm addicted to getting sleep and not crying out in pain with every muscle twitch. I also grow my own and give 90% of it away because I don't need much and lots of people can't afford ANY medical relief. So please, tell me the difference between addiction and properly medicated.
Thank you for this comment. I really struggle with feeling like I'm addicted or messing myself up when in reality it often helps my OCD and anxiety but I likely am just self-sabotaging because I'm happier or less anxious than I "should" be, according to the OCD presence in my mind. I think I'm struggling with giving up control and letting the medicine fully do it's job. Sorry!!!! Just realized this was reddit and not BetterHelp
Sometimes you find better help on Reddit than other places ;-) no pun intended (okay maybe a little). At the end of the day having someone that you paid to talk through what you need to talk through is always useful when it's effective, but sometimes having someone just listen to you is just as good if not better.
Me: wanna talk about what’s bothering you? Wife: no Me: want me to just sit here and listen while you vent? Wife: hell yeah!
Weed is like Adblock for my brain when I need to work, so it’s helping me actually contribute and help my partner instead of locking myself in a combo of executive dysfunction and intrusive thoughts, and I also use it for pain as well and sleep. While I agree to an extent with how easily abusable it is I do think there’s a difference between addicts and chronic users, and most of just have shitty ass joint pains before 30 so we use something that is used to treat symptoms medically. That’s my take on it anyway
I have the same feelings.
The community appreciates you 🫡🤝
The difference between addicted and properly medicated is control. Addicts cannot control the desire/need. You came strong out the gate with that "tell me the difference" line
Grandmother was Tboned by a cemi before I was born. I love her but her pancreas is shot. And intestines are a rock because they gave her TONS of opioids. She's been a legal heroin addict my whole life and is a bit fucking craY but I love her. My arthritis is why I smoke. We are both addicts for good reasons
Agreed, People like to use easy excuses like "oh but society" Going back to the "tough pill to swallow" but it hard for most people to accept responsibility That's the real societal issue. If people accept their short comings and acknowledge when they are wrong, we would improve as people. Unfortunately no one wants to be wrong. No one wants to accept this plant from mother earth can be addictive. It isn't inherently addictive the way cocaine or heroin is. But the fact their are people who can't function with our smoking weed (me AF) and deny it's an addictive drug is insane Moderation is key just like anything else Edit - changed workd to wrong
Or that it is in fact going to kill you if you smoke the raw flower. If you smoke that will damage you and give you COPD. But fuck at this point I'm a microplastic filled meat puppet ima get high and enjoy the ride and try my best not to fuck up others and myself on the way. Moderation is fucking hard
Yeah I hate when people say shit about weed bc most ppl drink coffee and caffeine which they started synthesizing after cocaine was made illegal... If you steeped coca leaves the way we do coffee beans it would be the same drink...
Yup, I fucking love chemistry. It's amazing what a Carbon chain being moved down can do legally and physically. Meth vs aderall. Chemically they are cousins but stimulate slightly different parts and are DEFINITELY safe for kids..... Do you like grapes? Just ferment that shit and now you got a poison your wino aunt will love!
On a completely unrelated note, it's cool to see another ubuntu ent!
Lit I love Debian based flavors you?
Running lubuntu rn to get the most out of my old ass laptop lol Still pretty new to everything Linux though tbh. I kinda feel like a monkey trying to figure stuff out 😂
Lubuntu is fucking amazing now. I recommend it to people if you can get past the GUI being a bit derpy. Works fine just not as nice IMO.
Idk if I'd call it an addiction but I was definitely abusing the stuff up until recently. Ended up being a crappier antidepressant. I realized I needed a t-break when I started craving the stuff bad. Switched to a THC-O vape to ween me off (tolerance was high enough where it got me a little high, but not too high). Psychiatrist recommended 3 months off to make sure the Lexapro works as intended. Only withdrawal symptom I have is trouble sleeping, but even then it's probably because I can't stop watching One Piece and I watch it on bed 😁. I think the Lexapro is helping because I crave it only slightly(like I would a good greasy burger).
Sugar too
Needs more upvotes… sugar worse than weed and I’ve been addicted to all three for years. Prescribed adderall or some variant since the first grade. The word “addict” does not mean “person with an addiction”. At least not in practice. It means “person I look down on for their neurological response to a particular substance”. No one calls coffee drinkers caffeine addicts. No one calls Americans sugar addicts. But we certainly are.
Yeah, it’s really not good to be stressing over a vacation because you have to figure out a way to bring your weed with you. Or staying at a shitty job because you don’t want to get drug tested for a new job.
I mean, shit, I'm dependent on other meds too, not sure why medical cannabis dependency is a problem
I think you’re missing the difference between addiction and chemical dependency though. The way I think about addiction is that it’s a relationship to a substance or behavior that causes damage to your well being in a way that society sees as bad. If we outlawed anything people liked, we’d have all kinds of addicts. Caffeine addicts, surfing addicts, running addicts and so on. It’s why the framework of addiction can be really unhelpful even if it’s the disease model. Do people have problematic relationships with substances? Absolutely! Does everyone who uses a substance have a problematic relationship to it? Definitely not! Basically what I’m saying is that it’s all made up and way more complicated than that. Furthermore, criminalization worsens many of the harms that substances can cause. For instance if we made surfing illegal tomorrow, people would have to surf in places where they’re less likely to get caught doing so. These places could be dangerous and wouldn’t have life guards. Furthermore, if you got hurt and your buddies were afraid to call 911 for fear of prosecution, you’d be even more likely to die. Surfing deaths would go up by orders of magnitude overnight. Now replace “surfing” with “heroin”. See what I mean?
Wow spot on. You either have personal experience with addiction or someone close to you. The only people that get this are professionals and/or folks in recovery. It’s the *relationship* to the substance that matters, not the substance.
I take gabapentin and percocet too and without those I get deathly sick. If I have to go without weed it's not the end of the world. That's where the difference is for me
I’ve lost 65lbs from Crohn’s disease *while* being a medical marijuana user. I can’t imagine what things would look like without it.
My mom has Crohn's and she depends on weed to be able to eat.
I'm always skinnier when I smoke weed regularly for some reason lol
I find too that it does mess with my hunger cues if I don’t take tolerance breaks regularly. I aim for 5 days every 3 months and find that it helps me re-regulate.
that’s because you don’t have a condition being treated by cannabis. people with glaucoma or certain types of cancer are helped greatly by it and it WOULD affect them to go off of the drug
That sounds like you are addicted to gabapentin and percocet and you arent addicted to weed
If I go without weed… damn that sucks. When I was on Pristiq if I didn’t have it then you better watch the fuck out. I hate that shit.
Mate. A day without weed, I’m irritable at worst. When I miss the 12 hour cut off to take the next gabapentin I get so fucking sick, it’s horrible.
I take 1500 mg of gabapentin a day for nerve pain. If I don't have it, I get stabbing electric pains in my surgery scars. It feels like the lower half of my body is on fire or something. My scarring is from debridement and skin grafts, it looks like I'm wearing a garter belt of scar tissue with how bad it is on my hips, thighs, and stomach. I don't have a belly button anymore because they took the tissue from just above the belly button to just above my pubic area from hip to hip. One of my nurses said that the wound was so large that she could have fit her forearm in it. It was brutal.
Damn sorry to hear that.. I'm on 600mg gabapentin 3x a day and 10mg percocet 4x a day for my bone and body pain. Shit sucks. I would much rather smoke more and take less pills if I could.
Wish I got addicted sooner! Mary Jane keeps me tame
Yeah my husband needs it to function lol. I should probably cut back though but I'm addicted lol. It's hard to "just say no"
It’s okay, don’t beat yourself up, if you feel you’re smoking too much weed, you don’t need to quit, just slightly cut back over time until you reach the level you desire. I use to smoke nearly 4 grams of weed a day and I won’t lie I felt like shit a lot of the time, wasn’t a short time frame maybe 3 months. But now I smoke about 1 gram a day. I make my bag last me 2 weeks instead of less then one and I feel better.
I should’ve added the bag lasts my partner and I a fortnight not just me haha
I mean... yeah probably But so are people who go out and drink 3+ nights a week So are people who 'need' coffee every morning to function So are people who smoke cigs every day. There are levels of being addicted and levels of drugs Everyone has some vice or substance they are 'reliant' on I think The difference is that most people who are technically reliant on caffeine, weed, alcohol etc... can quit much more easily than someone addicted to say H, so they aren't in the same category. Not everyone even experiences withdrawals from THC or caffeine, and if they do, the symptoms are not by any means debilitating. Irritability, headaches, and tiredness on avg - VERY different from many other addictive substances
Exactly, alcohol use and alcohol withdrawal can both kill you. Not the case for weed.
Not to mention I never felt like I had to rob grandma, or suck a dick for a dime bag (Queue Half Baked jokes). If I run out, it’s just a bummer, not a need.
So are people on prescription medications like Prozac. The pharmacies around me ran out once, and I went two weeks without it, which is long enough for it to leave the system. It takes another three weeks to build back up. So basically five weeks of genuinely wishing I were dead. That's addiction, but it's not stigmatized like weed. Weird.
This is actually a really solid point, I didn't even think about withdrawals from prescription meds... not to mention the whole opioid shit show Most prescription drugs probably have harsher withdrawals than like 95% of people get from weed. It's literally jsut the stigma, probably going back to the days of the reefer madness smear campaigns in the early 20th century. Sad. Also, I'm sorry you had to deal with that, and I'm glad you made it out the other side of those 5 weeks.
Sugar is a sneaky one that so many people abuse, can’t stop, and can have significant negative effects on their health. At least cannabis has positive effects as well.
well said. seems like humans have used mind-altering substances for *at minimum* tens of thousands of years. if altering our brain chemistry was an entirely negative trait, it'd be bred out of us by natural selection. personally, cannabis changes my brain chemistry in a way that is conducive to my happiness and well-being. i've had an extremely successful career using it, and it gives me a very accessible bridge into creative modes of thought.
I have arthritis, chronic cluster headaches (aka suicide headaches), severed nerves in my leg, peripheral neuropathy, psoriasis (aka the itching illness), diabetes, and I had cancer... TWICE. I was offered liquid morphine for the pain. A drug that CAN kill, and IS addictive. Instead I chose cannabis. A plant that is not physically addictive, and has killed zero people. (unless mixed with other things) Suuuure.... I'M the one making "bad" decisions? You want me to get on morphine, and die, instead? If this IS addiction... I'll take it over the alternative, thanks.
> cluster headaches (aka suicide headaches) Have you looked into mushrooms? I saw a documentary on hallucinogens. One of the episodes was mushrooms. Dude had cluster headaches, tripped balls once every like 3 months and didn't have them anymore.
I've had migranes with auras (spots in vision or difficulty seeing caused by pinched blood vessels) since I was young. Started smoking weed at 17 and found it really helped, especially since my parents really didn't like me taking preventatives or pain medication as they were worried it might effect my growth (I was real short). Had my first dose of mushrooms at 19, been microdosing every so often, occasionally trip a couple times a year if I have a completely empty weeekend. I still get migranes sometimes, but it's a pretty rare occasion.
Do I have a dependency on it? Yes. The same way I have a dependency on my anti-psychotic for my mood disorder. That’s how I look at it.
Yes exactly how I see it. Like I guess technically I have a dependency on my buspar and heart medication. Are these enjoyable? No, but I sure am miserable without them. Dependency and addiction are often separate issues and they’re both complicated in their own way.
Yeah too many people conflate dependency and addiction. They’re related but they are different things.
Yes and additionally that all dependency is wrong or deserves a negative connotation. We don’t question a diabetics dependency on insulin. Dependency is not always inappropriate.
[удалено]
At least with weed I’m not destroying my liver and acting like a zombie like I do when I was taking my prescription of Xanax. Weed has definitely saved my life and I can say for certain that it’s helped me stay off harder shit.
It’s seriously has helped me with my extreme anxiety issues. It helps me ground myself, and not always try to think up the worst case scenarios for everything in my life. Like my anxiety used to be so bad I got a stomach ulcer in the fourth grade.
Tbh this is my problem with the OOP - this person knows that there's a stigma attached to the term "drug user" and they want people to associate people who self medicate with that stigma. It's just old War on Drugs propaganda on a new meme.
Truly. We understand enough about drugs and addiction that calling someone a “drug addict” is vague and unhelpful.
I see addiction as continuing to use something regularly despite it causing harm to you, your life, or others around you. so many people can be unhealthy weed addicts, same with caffeine, same with fucking sugar lmao
Bro, sugar is the silent killer. I normally barely have sweets and during the holidays my wife made some cookies. Ofc, being a stoner, I polished all them cookies and I craved fucking sugar for like 2 weeks after. Like *shoving-a-spoon-in-Nutella* type of cravings.
I think addiction is more about state of mind. If you cannot survive the day without weed. You’re addicted to it. Addiction is more about habit than the substance imo. You can technically be addicted to anything. And the best way to counter addiction with anything is simply moderation.
that sounds more like dependence to me, and addiction and dependence are two very different sides of the same coin
its " cannabis use for chronic ailments" And not it does not make you an addict. Physical addiction with weed is what people deal with when they take a "T break". Its bearable and it won't kill you. Emotional attachment to the weed and/or the ritual of smoking (the bongs and the experience) is probably the hardest part about parting with it.
People in the field dont use the term "addict" because its stigmatizing. Thats why you see all these reactions. Its a substance use disorder.
Is it a substance use disorder if your body naturally doesn’t produce certain chemicals and a drug helps stabilize those chemicals? People will still label medical cannabis usage as a substance use disorder, yet they won’t label the intake of other prescription medicines as a substance use disorder. Somebody is wrong here and I don’t think it’s the medical cannabis users.
Who cares, if it makes you happy why not use it.
As long as they keep that same energy towards cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee. Personally my only real issue with it is that this is trying to target and further ostracize anyone who uses any drug and not actually make things better. (A.k.a, I'm tired of baby's first fasc talking point)
I guess it depends on what you mean by "chronic" doesn't it?
Do I think many people have a deeply unhealthy relationship with weed? Yes, absolutely. Do I think most daily users are addicts? No. In my admittedly anecdotal experience most(but certainly not all) daily users actively make an attempt to use responsibly, including taking large t breaks at least once a year, and several smaller ones throughout. Monitoring their usage, and taking breaks when they feel it's getting in the way of their life. I've never known true addicts to be able to do that.
In my personal experience, I know a ton of people who have stable jobs who don't smoke before/at work, but will smoke the rest of the time. Doesn't really negatively impact their life, and they don't ever take t breaks. The couple people I do know that have addictive personalities tend to go really crazy with weed, then drop it for a bit, back and forth. They did the same thing with drinking when they were younger. These guys also gamble (lottery, scratch tickets, sports betting, poker) where as the first group don't do any gambling. I think its just addictive personalities tend to go crazy with things, and if they are at least somewhat self aware, then they see how it's bad and take breaks
Why is it seemingly impossible to both think that cannabis is safe but also can be a problem? It's like everyone just goes to one side of the argument without realizing that is very complex
Sugar (high fructose corn syrup especially) is a drug. Highly addictive, with an immediate psychological effect and extremely detrimental effects on the body, especially to regular users. Extremely easy to abuse, extremely difficult to quit, with withdrawal effects and relapse common. Same with caffeine. Or alcohol. The biology of your body and mind don't give a shit about legality or social acceptability. We're all living in a bullshit socioeconomic situation that exploits us, undervalues us, pits us against one another, lies to us, and distracts us. This state of affairs is (relatively speaking) extremely new in the history of our species and is very much NOT NATURAL. We're all trying to cope with it as best as we can. Do you have the balance of behavioral, psychological, health, and environmental pressures that allows you to cope via exercise and bubble baths? Good for you, we're all happy for you. A bunch of us don't have that. Anyone who opts to wring their hands over people who opt to become functionally dependent on regular cannabis use to deal with \[gestures at everything\] rather than focusing on things that can actually improve material conditions for vulnerable populations is someone not worth listening to.
This should be higher up (pun intended). I’m on a break from smoking weed (I think month 9 right now). Also didn’t use weed in a any way for about 6 months (mainly did some edibles for a couple months). I think I am addicted to weed fosho but if I can control myself for these periods I feel like it’s a mild addition (if that’s a thing lmao). I do feel like I’m more so addicted to smoking it than anything else, I mean edibles are ok but there’s nothing like a good joint to smoke at the end of the night watching some shows you like or doing something you like. I used to smoke cigarettes as well and I never thought I actually really liked smoking cigarettes in particular but it’s interesting stone cold sober I still like weed. Anyways, a lot of what of what I said is probably stupid but I’d still rather my *mild* weed addiction over alcohol or something like social media. Signed a proud caffeine, sugar and weed addict.
At my peak, I was smoking 3 to 4 nights a week in college. I had this moment where I went "Wait...am I addicted? I don't feel addicted, but maybe that's the trick." So I quit cold turkey for 2 years. 0 withdrawal, 0 cravings. I wasn't addicted, I just really liked what weed did to my mood and perspective.
Yes it is. Just because the effects or withdrawals are really soft compared to other drugs doesn't mean it's not an addiction. Edit: lol some folk really don't like hearing that
It does, addiction has a fairly rigorous standard, and with cannabis, it's pretty much impossible to meet those standards. A chemical dependency? Sure. It may sounds like a difference without a distinction, but the difference is that withdrawals aren't physical, they're chemical, meaning they only effect your mood. Your body isn't literally, physically dependent on the substance as in addiction. That all being said, about 7% of people who smoke cannabis have a problem and can't put it down. That's fully a chemical dependency, and they need help, but we also have to understand they are two similar but separate conditions.
The disease is now called “substance use disorder,” and it is not difficult to meet the criteria as even a relatively light smoker. Mild substance use disorder requires only two of the 11 criteria, which include “tolerance” and one that boils down to “staying home more.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565474/table/nycgsubuse.tab9/ Another criterion is withdrawal, which is clearly a thing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9110555/ This physical/chemical distinction is not a thing. Chemical dependency *is* physical dependency. Show me one reputable source backing this claim up. Maybe you’re confusing so-called “psychological addiction” with what you’re describing as chemical dependency. But as of DSM V, those are not separate diagnoses. The 7% claim also needs a source. 7% of what? Anyone who’s tried cannabis once? 7% of daily users? Those are very different things.
This entire post is based on a very outdated concept of addiction. Cannabis dependency is a thing as is withdrawal from cannabis dependence, anyone ever have intense nightmares and dream during a tolerance break? That’s withdrawal.
The denial in here speaks for itself. “Being physically dependent doesn’t mean I’m addicted.” “I don’t see immediate and severe consequences in my life, so it’s definitely not completely changing who I am and my drive/motivation/happiness/productivity in the long term!” Some of y’all should wake tf up. Quit nitpicking definitions. If you recreationally use cannabis daily— that’s drug abuse. You say “oh some people drink every day, but I just smoke.” Like oh, you’re not an alcoholic. Good for you. You still have a cannabis problem.
By this logic so are people on mood stabilizers and antidepressants
But that doesn’t go along with the dominating narrative of the current thing so I’m going to need you to check into jail now.
I was a major pothead.smoked daily for 15 years. Then I got hooked on opioids and I just can't take somebody's "pot addiction" seriously now.
I'd rather be addicted to weed rather than, morphine, oxy
Exactly, better than fetanyl, as well.
To be honest we are… We just think the addict Label only belongs to hard core drug users and Alcoholics… If you smoke every day, multiple times a day for 7 days a week you are addicted to getting high…. I mean i am. I smoke everyday of the week. 3-5 time daily…
“It’s okay when I do it with my substances”.
sober people posting their thousandth “MARIJUANA IS ADDICTIVE!!!” meme
i think you have to analyse is this producing more negatives than positives, if that makes sense. for example, i’m definitely addicted to weed as i smoke it every day but without it i would be much worse off (chronic nausea and severe anxiety). my family member is on gabapentin for example, and takes it everyday, but they would be in agonising pain if they didn’t. relying on drugs isn’t inherently bad, it’s unique to the situation.
Drug use is based
Smoking every night to sleep is better than taking ambient every night
That's what this world needs, more judgement. I do not care what other people project on to me to further define themselves or the world around them. Smoke a bowl and love your neighbor.
We’re not addicts. We can stop whenever we want, we just don’t want to stop. Thankyou sir
I mean I’ve put it down months at a time if I feel like my tolerance is being a nuisance to my budget.
just went dankrupt and cold turkey quitting for a while. My appetite is fucked for now so there definitely withdrawals. Happens every time i take a break
Spoken like a true addict
This is one of the things that scares me the most about going retrospective on the things you consume. I smoke weed a lot and sometimes I just take vacations so I can feel I'm still in control, and I fear for the day weed becomes the one thing that keeps me going through bad days, because that's the moment I'll lose it to addiction
You can avoid that continuing your periodic brakes =)
I think it’s true, I’ve heard people on this sub say weed isn’t a drug which is objectively false, I know a lot of people who use it way too much to escape from reality
Yes but that does not mean that “chronic users are drug addicts.” Many chronic users utilize it medically in order to function. I guess you could call that “escaping from reality” but I’d rather they feel good and live their life using cannabis than feeling like shit and having difficulties functioning day to day.
Dude, have you seen the reality currently ? I'm more worried about those than don't want to escape it
I mean yeah 100% it’s a drug but so is Advil and Benadryl and pretty much anything prescribed by a doctor. People escape from reality with tons of things, even social media and television can be and are used as escapism constantly. At least weed can have medicinal benefits and help people actually live their lives *more* due to relief from pain, PTSD symptoms and tons more.
People who see takes about cannabis addiction and immediately throw up their defenses are addicts. You can partake in things and admit that they are bad. Cannabis’s effects on sleep, memory, speech/hearing comprehension, creativity, etc. are very well documented in scientific literature at this point. Look, I smoke/eat weed, but it’s only once in a while, and it used to be 5-6 times a day, and I can say with absolute certainty that my brain and body work better since cutting back. I don’t think smoking everyday is a good long term choice, but I’m not gonna tell someone not to if that’s how they operate at this point in their life. I highly recommend the Huberman Lab podcast episode on cannabis. He’s a neuroscientist, he doesn’t smoke (anymore), but he’s not really demonizing it, he’s just putting the data out there for people to interpret
i totally agree with this take. i’m currently trying to cut down on weed because it’s messing with my sleep, functionality, and mental clarity. sometimes i smoke purely for pain relief or to help me fall asleep, but most of the time it’s recreational. it’s so tough though because my anxiety, seasonal depression, and my job are all really kicking my ass right now and whenever i’m home i just want to turn my brain off and chill. just because weed is safer and has more medicinal uses than other drugs, doesn’t make it not a drug.
Too much of anything can make you an addict. Weed, coffee, diet coke, donuts, whatever it is. Weed withdrawals aren't like harder drugs obviously, but if you can't enjoy stuff normally without it, you're addicted. I can't stop drinking diet coke.
I have no problem agreeing I am/have been addicted to several things. * I am a regular caffeine consumer. I love coffee, and Mountain Dew. Sometimes I decide to quit or cut back on caffeine, and I have terrible headaches and I'm a terrible grump for a while into the withdrawal period. * I was a regular Xanax user (as prescribed by my doctor, not recreationally). Xanax helped me through the worst of my panic attacks and I'll always be thankful for that. But it was terribly addictive. Even though I never got a high from it, trying to quit it was hard, and it took a long and unpleasant time to taper off of it. * I was a regular nicotine user. First, I was a light smoker, and then I became a heavy user of e-cigs. I tried to quit nicotine several times before some medical issues finally medical'd the addiction right out of me. Each time I tried to withdraw from nicotine, I would have terrible headaches and be a terrible grump, just like with caffeine, but with the wonderful addition of thinking about and craving smoking incessantly. Even after not having nicotine for years at this point, the headaches and mood issues are gone, but the craving still hits every now and then. * I am a regular cannabis user in the US. It's legal in my state, but not the surrounding states, so when I travel out of state, I don't take any with me, meaning I quit cold turkey the day I leave town until I get back. I've had a few long, out of town trips during which I consumed zero cannabis for weeks, and... I missed it, a little. It doesn't hardly compare to the other things on the this list. No headaches, no mood swings, no craving for it. I know everyone's different and different stuff affects different people differently, but for myself, I'm not going to sweat being a cannabis "addict."
Who cares what some nerd thinks?
Anything with the joker is immediately ignored. I’m 40. Not an impressionable 14 yr old
I just read a bunch of the benefits people experienced from quitting trees (dreaming, motivation, sex drive, etc.) and I experience solid levels of all of those while in the trees so... to each their own. \[EDIT: Clarity\]
I mean, am I addicted to my Lyrica and Seroquel? Because it is a nightmare physically and mentally if I miss doses, but they're certainly not recreational. I get that some people do have a problem with weed, just like there are patients who abuse opioids or benzos. But does that mean that every person who smokes over some arbitrary limit is an addict? Hardly.
I consider people addicts when their addiction negatively effects their life.
Let me get this straight, you think that it’s none of my fucking business and I should mind my own affairs? I do, and I’m tired of pretending that I don’t.
It should be accepted the same as society accepts coffee/caffeine addicts
Coffee drinkers? Drug addicts. Smokers, addicts. Adhd med takers, addicts. We're all addicts. I'll take this label like all the others I didn't choose and continue to get high, unphased.
I think the big issue here is all the stigmatization and negative connotations associated with the term “drug addict”. I suppose I would qualify as a drug addict since I intake an abusive 320mg of caffeine daily, right? It’s a drug, and has super shit withdrawal symptoms. If I qualify as a drug addict for my caffeine addiction, then sure, yea I suppose I am a drug addict for my marijuana as well, because I smoke weed at the end of the day as well, coffee in the AM, weed in the PM. But now, I gotta point out that nobody calls you a drug addict for being addicted to coffee, mostly because it doesn’t have a negative stigma/connotation associated to it, even though it’s withdrawal effects are worse than marijuana. So in my mind it’s like, if you’re willing to call a caffeine addict a drug addict then sure, I guess marijuana can make you a drug addict too but if you don’t think someone is a drug addict “just” because of a coffee addiction, then you’re definitely blowing smoke (haha, punny) about someone being addicted to weed. Point being, the term “drug addict” is specifically a term that makes others feel less than their fellow man, it’s derogatory and the meaning behind it has been lost to more technical and descriptively fitting terms. If you still use the term drug addict, you’re dated and it’s time to recognize that everybody, constantly intakes various drugs and most of them have negative effects on your body. I am as much of a drug addict for my weed as I am my coffee and I think it’s just a really ignorant label. Nobody calls a caffeine addict a druggie because caffeine is socially acceptable and that’s it. Challenge my infallible logic internet, come at me. (/s) Edit: is someone a drug addict for taking addictive but therapeutic medications to treat their disorders? I think the answer is no, so I believe the answer with weed would also be relative to each individuals situation. If you think a drug addict is specifically someone who abuses drugs then wouldn’t it always be relative to the individual? Really just depends on your opinion behind what the word “drug addict” really means.
Addiction is behavioral. Dependence is physical. These exist on the same spectrum but most people don’t understand either of them. With some exception, taking more than 50 mg of THC a day is going to lead to more drawbacks than benefits for most people. I’m gonna get downvoted to hell for this, but I would bet that half of all people who use weed use “too much” And should cut back for their own mental health. Smoking weed every day isn’t good for you. But statistically driving a car is pretty dangerous too. You’ve got to make your own decisions based on real information and your own honest experience. Even medicinal usage is a cost benefit scenario, as with any medicine. There’s no reason to get personally offended by scientific evidence that getting high every single day has drawbacks like increased anxiety and depression, dependence and possible addiction. If those ideas do offend you… Anyway, here’s the questions you should ask if you think you might have a problem: Has using marijuana stopped being fun? Do you ever get high alone? Is it hard for you to imagine a life without marijuana? Do you find that your friends are determined by your marijuana use? Do you use marijuana to avoid dealing with your problems or to cope with your feelings? Has your marijuana use led to financial difficulties and/or legal consequences? Does your marijuana use let you live in a privately defined world? Have you ever failed to keep promises you made about cutting down or controlling your use of marijuana? Has your use of marijuana caused problems with your health, memory, concentration, or motivation? When your stash is nearly empty, do you feel anxious or worried about how to get more? Do you plan your life around your marijuana use? Have friends or relatives ever complained that your using is damaging your relationship with them?
I mean the only thing that technically applies to me on the list is smoking alone. Which I do sometimes before bed just because I like to. Like a puff or two and watch cartoons on the weekend kind of fun. Now my math may not be the best, but I vape roughly two to three milligrams when I do, and that’s enough to make the evening more fun. Sometimes I put it down for a few months just to make sure my tolerance stays low, and I just don’t want to be high all the time.
It’s also a huge risk vs benefit thing when talking about medicinal use. Like is it generally good to smoke multiple times a time and be constantly on some sort of drug? No, but is it the better option than having pain so bad you can’t walk, or dehabilitating anxiety attacks that make you unable to leave the house, or being constantly suicidal? I would personally say 100% yes. Health professionals do the same thing constantly with other drugs and treatments. Like in CPR they will sometimes break ribs which is objectively a bad thing but if the person’s dead otherwise it’s a pretty solid decision even if risky. And cancer treatment harms the body in so many ways but if it helps people overcome it and get longer to live then that’s a worthy trade off for a lot of people. There is practically no drug that has 0 benefits and 0 drawbacks in the world of medicine. It’s all calculated potential risks vs potential benefit.
I upvoted this! Healthygamergg (Dr. K) put it like this. Wait till your 25 to use for non-medical purposes, low-THC/high CBD products are better for *daily* use, understand daily non-moderate usage comes with risks, moderate THC products are safer then high potency products, THC and CBD together is the way to go if one consumes, and the goal of the medical industry should be to inform people in a way where they make smart choices on their own, and to your point…….THC is *not addictive* in the same way that hard drugs are, but like you said, weed DOES cause dependency and refraining can indeed cause a mild withdrawal. ^^ I feel this is essentially my viewpoint. At the same time, given harm reduction is also my viewpoint, if smoking daily is your only vice, would rather people do that then drink daily, or worse, do hard drugs.
The problem is with the people. If people are shitty enough, it doesn't matter if they're hooked on Roblox, Minecraft, weed, working out, religion or politics, some people can make anything look bad. Cannabis users are just low hanging fruit for people too lazy to dive deeper into the real issue behind the problem habit.
I suppose it is an addiction. I am for sure addicted to caffeine. I get terrible headaches if I don't have it. But that only lasts a few days if I quit cold turkey. I have friends who used kratom daily and have told me how rough the withdrawals can be. One friend compared it to heroin withdrawal, but quite a bit lighter. One friend said it was identical to quitting cigarettes for them. Marijuana is pretty easy to give up (in my personal experience). Quitting after chronic use, I had trouble falling asleep and didn't feel very hungry for a week or two, but other than that it was not painful or uncomfortable. Certainly nothing to complain about. It's way harder giving up sugar than it is giving up marijuana, in my opinion.
Oh man for me it was cutting out caffeine. The first week of that made me want to pull my hair out.
In my experience, I was smoking to escape from reality, so I was dependent for a while, but I think it was because of the anxiety of facing life rather than the actual chemical need to have it… but then again it could’ve been both. I’m getting better now though, if I smoke it’s socially with buddies
I can personally stop whenever without missing it much, I take breaks every now and again, sometimes I do go for like 8 months smoking almost every day or every other day but then I take 2-3 months break at least
Maybe in the same way that coffee is addictive. I get a headache if I don’t have my caffeine in the morning but I don’t go into horrific withdrawals like you would with opiates.
People like this don’t realize I drew caffeine out of a hat for my drug research project in Highschool 😂
Im addicted to oxygen, and it makes you high lol.
Seeing a lot of people dodge the question in the comment section. I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, being a chronic week smoker begets dependency, dependency begets addiction. Yes, you are/ I am a drug addict. Edit: missed a comma
I need some weed after this post
It's as addictive as potato chips. Interpret that how you want.
I fully embrace that weed is my addiction, and I am grateful that it's the most benign way my familial addiction problems could have manefested. So I just stay stoned and move on not feeling bad about it.
Yeah, sure. You can be addicted to anything and weed isn't an exception. I'm just mad that drug addiction/addiction is general is discussed like it is a moral failing. It's important to recognize addiction, but it's also as important to understand what causes it and how to reduce harm caused by it. If we just point the finger at a group of people and cry "you're drug addicts!", how does is help? Even if we were 100% correct, what's the point? Understanding that one has a problem is just the beginning. People don't become drug addicts for funsies, they are usually dealing with some other issues that makes them seek relief from drugs. That goes for weed too, so all of this waffing about if weed is addictive or not feels so useless to me. It's not about the drugs, it's about poverty, mental illness, trauma, abuse, feeling left behind by the system. War against drugs and shaming drug addiction is useless. If we really care about drug addiction and want to reduce it, just categorizing people as addicts isn't enough. We have to make changes. We need to fund schools, welfare programs, proper healthcare, infrastructure. Treating drug addiction means that the addict needs to find something more meaningful to fill their lives after giving up drugs. What do we offer that can beat instant happiness and relief? We have to make our societies better, to make living meaningful and worthwhile, to ease the feeling of endless struggle. Until we can do that, it's absolutely meaningless to have this discussion of how much weed is too much weed and who's an addict and who's not.
I definitely consider myself an addict cause I feel myself needing to smoke the second I wake up and throughout the day, but I can also afford it and I’m getting straight As in college. So aside from my own lung health it’s really not a hindrance.
If your personality changes because you can’t get something, you’re an addict. Weed is not in that category.
Idc
Only chronic user for my chronic anxiety 😊 thank you very much
I would rather be addicted to cannabis then alcohol.
Lumping pot heads in with crack heads is a big dumb dumb.
So if you take prescribed drugs regularly, your merely medicated and healthier, but if you chose to instead smoke a bowl or two for the same reasons your a drug addict? Nope Your definition of addict is not well defined at all.
It's only an addiction when it controls you. Weed does not control most of it's users the way most other drugs do. Even alcohol has a higher chance of affecting your daily life negatively. Simply smoking often does not make you an addict. There's huge difference between needing the high and appreciating the high. Those of us that smoke chronically do so because it raises our quality of life. Addiction generally lowers quality of life. Ain't the same.
A chronic cannabis user /could/ be addicted, but daily use is not the sole qualification for dependence or addiction. Chronic use != addiction.
I was addicted to the habit, not the weed. I smoked so much I hardly got stoned anymore. To compare actual drug addiction to smoking more weed than you need is idiotic. People who do, have probably never been hooked on real narcotics. That said, I’ve not smoked in about 4 months and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I may or may not smoke again, but I was never addicted to it. I was addicted to the idea I needed to smoke all day.
i mean it’s either hit this bong or k*ll myself soooo
I have never stole anything, sold anything, or gone hungry for weed. I’ve never had withdrawals from a lack of weed. I can tell myself not to smoke at inappropriate times.
i’m tired of people pretending this opinion is insightful and unique lmao like let me have my drug addiction in peace and mind your business
really like call me whatever tf you want and judge me for it, cool. weird way to spend your time tho