The Addiction Help .com

Any advice/suggestions is/are appreciated
There's a line between drug abuse and enjoying it every once in a while and im pushing it.

I smoked weed for 9 years. Pretty aggressively at that.

I recently quit about 6 months ago as a career move. But I have had the odd puff from time to time with my friends.

Exercise and willpower are the biggest things that made me quit.

Also. Not hanging out with burnouts all the time will help.

That could be tough if many of your friends smoke weed, but try and be positive and find other things to do.
If everyone is going to hang out and smoke weed on a Saturday afternoon, go to the gym and meet up with them later or something.

Once you break the barrier of constantly smoking weed. It'll become easier. I found that I did not even enjoy it after I quit for a few months.

If I do indulge, it will be on a boring night while watching a flick with a buddy or two. And even then I don't smoke a lot. That's part of the benefit as well. You only need a few puffs to relax and laugh a little once you quit.

You'll have more energy and food will taste better. Waking up becomes easier. More money in your wallet. You don't have to worry about people judging you either when you are high in public places with bloodshot eyes.

It's an overall step forward in life. I'm 24 and don't have the need whatsoever anymore. That was kids stuff.

Try and see the positives.

Last thing. By stopping smoking pot, I managed to control my appetite much better and didn't feel the need to east junk food at night which is awful for you. I don't eat anything after 7pm anymore and it's amazing what the simple thing of not eating late can do for you!

Already lost 20 lbs in 5 months and only going to the gym a couple times a week!

2009-07-25 19:15:12 by WAC

Dr. Volkow has an open discussion with Harlem High School students on drug abuse and addiction. teens.drugabuse.gov Comments on this video are ...

I know someone who is 34 and smokes marijuana nearly everyday. He's been smoking since around the age of 10 year old. Habitually, and pretty much every single day, since about the age of 17 or 18.

He says he doesn't have a problem and isn't addicted, he just likes living his life that way.

He's a very outgoing and social and charming man, a car saleman by trade and lives an active lifestyle, but he has yet to get his GED and limits his job searches based upon which jobs will test for drugs and which won't.

He has a young son, 3 years old, and when his ex was talking about trying to get him to stop smoking marijuana he said that was the straw that broke the camels back and he left the relationship after 10 years claiming that she was trying to change who he was.

So, anyway. I guess I'm just wondering if this type of marijuana use causes eventual problems and whether or not this man is exhibiting signs of marijuana abuse/addiction?

It's a problem if it causes problems. If it causes problems with his career, his relationships, his integrity, or general ability to function; if most of his time is spent thinking about, looking for, doing, or recovering from using; if it doesn't cause him much pleasure anymore but he still continues or escalates the amount -- it's a problem.

It doesn't matter if you call it an addiction or maladaptive behavior. It doesn't matter if it's video games, drugs, or golf. If your habit starts making the decisions in your life, it's a problem. From your description, I couldn't say if it's an interference or not.

It's not your problem, though. You can accept him how he is or avoid him. He's the only one who can decide when or whether to change.

2008-12-23 23:28:34 by Ally

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If somone had never heard of either Cannabis or Sugar/fats/oils before in their life, and I showed them a highly accurate and detailed report of both substances how many people do you think would say bad food is way worse for you than cannabis??

I think the numbers would be overwhelmingly in favor of cannabis being better for you... Please keep in mind though the diffrence between abuse and use.

Let me clear up some Stuff as well. Sugar less addictive than weed? thats hard to belive, less than 1% of cannabis users develope a physical or mental addiction to Marijuana. While i don't have statistics for sugar i can allmost garentee more kids/adults these days are addictied to sugar far more than they are to weed.

I am a person who has done MDMA(Ecstasy) meth, weed, coke, lsd, shrooms, dmt, alcohol, tabbaco, and i can honestly say giving up bad foods was the 1 thing i cannot do. And not im not obese or eat a TON its just i need them, its serously the only thing ive been addicted too.
Cannabis has worse effects over time? That’s debatable... diabetes, obesity, rotting teeth, gastrointestinal cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, low levels of physical activity all sound serous to me...

While cannabis has about 2-4X more cancer causing components than Cigarettes, studies show long term abuse of cannabis is unlikely to cause cancer of the lungs or upper airways. They suspect that tobacco only causes cancer because of the radioactive soil and nicotine. Also I might add an average marijuana smoker only needs 2-5 “hits” to get high while a cigarette smoker may smoke a Pack(!) a day and 1 cigarette alone will be more smoke than a marijuana smokes in 1 day.

I’m not saying cannabis is healthy I’m just saying sugar can and most likely is worse than cannabis if abused even If the marijuana smoker is an extremely heavy user.


and yes about 50% of america abuses it allready(bad foods)

I agree. I wish our legislators did, and ended this drug war crap.

2007-01-25 14:48:12 by Im not stupid i just dont care

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I'm 15 years old and recently my dad has been diagnosed with cancer. He has been given about 6 months to live and I have been feeling very depressed ever since the news. I never remember feeling too depressed before now but I have made a self diagnosis that I'm a manic depression. I go through very violent mood swings - curled up in a ball crying, then i'll confide in a loved one and I feel happy and in a good mood.

in my day to day life I will often feel tired and drowsy. some days I feel good, some normal, some very stressful. I have turned to Marijuana as a way to cope and get away from it all, it works great but I'm feeling like it's an addiction. My dad also has always had to deal with depression like myself, and from what I've noticed he has similar symptoms to me. Although I haven't talked to him about it, I think he may be a manic depression as well. so my question is a) do you think im just deeply depressed or am I a manic depression? and b) what are the effects of marijuana abuse and manic depression?
Also one little thing that goes wrong can start me on a downward spiral of feeling like shit.

Dear Iron, I'm sorry to hear about your father, nothing anyone can say can express the grief you must be feeling.

I was/am a retired nurse. When training we learned about the 5 stages of grief:- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and final acceptance. A famous psychologist did a study of how people react to grief and came up with these 5 stages that we all go through whenn facing grief, for whatever reason. Here is a link if you want to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Stages_of_Grief#Stages

Grief is normal in such a sittuation and it is healthy. You may not even realise that this is what you are experiencing, part of you may be denying what is happening in your life.

No I don't think you are manic depressive. Please don't diagnose yourself. Mental health as well as physical health is very, very complicated, which is why it takes so long for Dr's to train to diagnose and treat these conditions. You may need to see a grief councellor. There are people, usually MacMillan Nurses or Marie Curie Nurses in Britain, who help terminally ill patients and there families cope with both the practical and emotional sides of this type of sittuation. If you are in America or else where you can probably access a grief councellor through your GP. You may need a mild anti-depresent to help you cope with the next 6 months. Sorry to be a downer but this may only be the beginning of your grief. When your father dies it may hit even harder. Don't feel embarrased to go to your own Dr and discuss it with them. They are well used to seeing family's who have extreme difficulty coping with a dying relative or the aftermath. So, there is professional help out there, because what yo are experiencing is very common. Good Luck and God Bless

2008-09-16 16:29:16 by iron.lungs420

I've been looking through several medical journals and websites on the health effects on marijuana, but I can only find health effects on marijuana 'abuse.' Naturally, no drug is good in excess, legal or illegal and it's rather bothersome that physicians emphasize the dangers in drug abuse, but don't advise on the risks if used in moderation. Perhaps in fear of promoting illegal activity or addiction.

But I see it as a drug not unlike alcohol and tobacco (and alcohol was in prohibition long ago), but I just really want to understand why it truly is illegal. Medical or otherwise.

Please, written sources and facts are encouraged.

I've never seen the (negative) effects to be too different from being drunk.

Note, I don't drink or smoke anything, but that gives me sober mind to take in what happens when friends do it.

I mean, when people around me smoke hash, their mental state changes- more relaxed, even giggly- and they sometimes throw up- just like when you get drunk.

I'm not saying 'YEAH, MAKE IT LEGAL', because I believe there's no cap on legality- like there is none on alcohol, which is why drinking is such a problem- and you couldn't say 'you can only smoke a moderate amount', and people would smoke too much and do stupid things- like they do with alcohol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-drinking, smoking, or even against some drugs, but me choosing not to do those things gives me a non-biased view. The short term effects are like drinking too much, and the long term ones are like smoking too much.

***

I think it's illegal, as well, because no-one knows the long term health effects, especially mentally.

Drinking too much can lead to a dependence which can lead to psychological problems- hallucanations when coming off, depression etc., but smoking tobacco doesn't cause any mental health problems (except anxiety if you're not allowed to smoke for a time, and depression when trying to get off) whilst they think hash, long term use- even moderate, long term use- can cause delusions and even schizophrenia, but they're not so sure, so it makes it hard to say if hash is actually in the same class as 'legal' drugs because of the long term, mental (and physical, such as lung cancer) health implications.

2008-08-04 02:13:51 by King V