Have been smoking pot for 30 years

[Cannabis Rehab Guest]

I've smoked pot more or less daily for thirty years. I've really never considered quitting before but I've started dating a woman in recovery and don't want to smoke anymore. So far I've gone four days but I really don't know how to do this. On an average night I usually smoke three or four hits, it's always been my way to "turn my brain off" from the stresses of the day. I have a good job, good friends but my finances have always been a mess, I have trouble with motivation and I honestly didn't think I could have fun without pot. I did the past several days though. I was out at concerts for the first time since my teens when I wasn't high and I enjoyed them. it made me feel that maybe I don't need to do this anymore. The bottom line I guess is that I'm confused. I've always been so critical of others who don't partake that now I feel like a hypocrite. Help.

[Cannabis Rehab Admin]

Smoking pot daily for thirty years

Hi Unregistered Guest and welcome.

I hope you don’t mind but I added the word pot to the title of this thread, I am just trying to improve the sites SEO. There is a mental transformation that I think we all go through from using to quitting pot and part of that involves changing what you think and probably turning your back on all the ideas and beliefs you have built the last so many years on, the whole pot culture is actually a bit like a cult, or a very strong sub culture to say the least, like you say you can become so pro towards the stuff that you can indeed even end up thinking badly of those who don’t do it, as crazy as it is it is often the case. I remember I was exactly the same, I used to think that it was the be all and end all, it felt like I was in a special club, part of a group of people and only we knew the “truth”, only we understood just how great this way of life truly was, only we realised that our culture was so much better than say the drinkers or people who didn’t use it, ect, ect, it ends up been a bit like a religion and in some cases yes it’s even a bit like a cult. And when you experience a side of life like you have recently that doesn’t involve it and you realise hey this may actually be even better, better than everything I have built my perspective on over the past however many years I have been using, it’s a big realisation to deal with, you may well feel hypocritical towards everything you have based your previous perspective on and even a traitor to the sub culture you were a part of. And just like when someone leaves a particular sub culture or even a cult, there is a period of readjustment in which you need to re-evaluate your entire previous perspective, it’s a pretty big adjustment to make psychologically.

Anyway now you are at this stage you have to have a serious think about the long term path that you want to take and how you want to live the rest of your life, what it is that you want out of life, whether you want to share it with someone, what it is that they will want, is the women you are dating considering she is in recovery going to want to share the rest of her life with someone who is still using or will she want someone who is also clean too. At the end of the day they are very different ways of life, people may not realise it, but whether you are a regular drug user or not often makes a huge difference on the type of life you lead, so like I say you have to decide what it is that you want for you. Have a read of some of the other posts here, I am sure you have spent plenty of time over the past so many years focusing on the arguments why you should use it, perhaps it is time to dare to spend some time looking at some of the arguments for why you shouldn’t, whichever is truly the better way of life for you should win on its own merit as long as you have had a thorough and open minded look at both sides of the argument, like I say I am sure you have spent more than enough time rationalising and justifying your use of it over the last 30 years so why not look at the reasons for why you may not want to spend the rest of your life doing it, why not write out a list of reason why you don’t want to do it, have a good think about them and see how much merit they have. Just bear in mind that if you are addicted then there is bound to be a leaning towards rationalising and justifying not making what will be a big change which may well possibly be very difficult to make, unfortunately this is a bias that often goes hand in hand with addiction and the kind of denial that every addict has to struggle to break through, so to be fair to the other side of the argument just try to see if it could be true.

It’s up to you how you want to live the rest of your life and I am not going to tell you how you should do it, if you genuinely think that carrying on as you are is the best course of action then that’s completely up to you and your right to pursue and just like anything else in life it’s something only you can decide for yourself. Anyway I don’t know if that’s been of much help but perhaps it might help you to fully consider what your options are.

Take care, thanks for posting and please let us know what you decide, if you do want to detox then I and many others here will be with you every step of the way, you won’t be alone. Whatever you decide I wish the very best of luck in your future.

All the best

[Cannabis Rehab Guest]

Smoking pot daily for thirty years

Well that was me above over a month ago. I haven't smoked pot since 1/11 and really don't see going back to it. Honestly I don't know if I was addicted but my views on addiction have changed lately. This is the longest I've gone without smoking the stuff since I was 20 years old and I'll be 50 this summer. I smoked every single day and on weekends usually smoked before noon and remained high all day. Now I did function for the most part. I went to work, had an active social life but my house was always a mess, my finances were always a mess and I was depressed a great deal. Not all of those thing have changed in six weeks but I have been more active in actually doing things after work, cleaning house, paying bills, etc. instead of turning on the TV for 5 or 6 hours to kill time. That was the hardest part for me actually, not being able to sit in a chair and do nothing. I had excess energy and didn't really have a routine to use it on but I'm working on that. I'm still dating the woman I mentioned and she's happy I quit although she wanted to make sure I wasn't quitting because she was in recovery. I wasn't. I was having some memory issues and frankly didn't like being high all the time. Dating her just gave me a push.

Since I've quit I've been around pot smoking friends and haven't once been tempted to join them. I go out and see a lot of live music and prior to this could never have imagined not being high while watching a show, I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy that anymore but if anything I'm liking it better because I remember more. I don't understand it but I guess it was time. Only time will tell if this is permanent for me or if I'll go back to it, but I really don't want to and as I've said haven't been tempted even when it's gone on in the next room from where I was. I check in here every so often and read some of the posts and some of the material here, frankly it's helped my resolve so thank all of you. I'll keep checking in and reporting back occasionally.

[Cannabis Rehab Admin]

That’s great! I am so pleased to hear that things are going well. Thanks for the kind words I am so glad we were able to help, hearing feedback like that makes running this place feel really worthwhile. It’s interesting with the were you addicted thing, if you have found it not that hard quitting and don’t find been around others who are smoking it a problem then maybe you were not addicted, perhaps that neurological change had not happened in your brain, not everybody who smokes it regularly does seem to experience this, which is great for those who don’t, like I say I am really pleased to hear how well you are doing. Thanks for the update we really do appreciate it.

Take care and please keep us posted on how it goes, I am sure you story will be very motivating to others.

All the best.

[abiogenesis]

Hi Unregistered Guest,

It's really very nice to hear that you're doing pretty well. As Rehab Admin says, quitting might not be hard for everyone, it depends on many parameters. However I still advise you to stay away from it completely, you clearly state that you are very comfortable with being sober, but if there is even a small chance that smoking again might lead you to your old track, it's much safer to be away from that 1st joint.

Take care and please keep us posted on how it goes,

[TC11]

Hi, it's me again (actually registered now) and another month has gone by. Still haven't smoked, although I have had my first temptation. My back has really been bothering me lately and due to some prescription drug interactions (from a heart condition) there are very few things I can take for pain. I considered smoking to help a bit. What stopped me is that I really don't feel I'm at the point where I could smoke for a day or two and then go back to not smoking again. Frankly I doubt if I can ever get to that point, as much as I might like to. Smoking the drug was always too easy for me. So I didn't do it. Tuesday will be ten weeks and I'm liking the feeling of not being high. I guess I just wanted to share that despite my commitment, I still was tempted. I doubt it will be the last time either and I hope I make the same choice every time.

[THC]

Nice one TC11 ,i feel really happy for you.it sounds like you have this beat mate.

keep up the good work & look after yourself

[abiogenesis]

Hi TC11,

Sometimes it might be really unevitable not to be tempted even we have a full commitment, but important thing is not to act according to these temptations and if you observe yourself, probably you will see that the temptation itself is like a drug; it comes, makes a peak and then goes away after sometime. Recovery is basically to learn to control these temptations.

Keep up the good work and please keep us updated,

All the best,

[Cannabis Rehab Guest]

All sorts of inspiration here! Keep the spirit of not baking it up and sitting around doing nuttn about it. Glad I found this Forum!

[TC11]

Just checking in again. It's been 106 days and I rarely think of smoking at all. I'm considering going on a camping trip with some buddies next weekend though and all of them smoke the drug and drink heavily. Now I haven't quit drinking, but I can count on one hand how many drinks I've had in six months so that was never my problem. I am concerned though that I'll be tempted on this trip either to smoke the drug or drink heavily to keep myself from smoking which, as I said, I don't usually do and shouldn't do because of a heart condition. My girlfriend (20 years sober) is telling me I should go only if I think I can resist these temptations and I'm not sure I can. Much as I would like to go I'm leaning against it. Thoughts?

[Cannabis Rehab Admin]

Hi TC11

Thanks for the update, it’s great to hear how well you are doing, I think you have done so well! It can be a tough one as to what you should do in these sort of situations and I think much of it comes down to how much of a problem it is likely to be for you as an individual, if you haven’t found quitting that hard perhaps you weren’t that addicted, for someone who was this sort of thing may be much more of a problem and probably best avoided, but perhaps it won’t be that much of a problem for you, I think it’s wise to be so vigilant, it’s when we let our guard down that we are the most vulnerable when it comes to this sort of thing, so I think it’s good you are showing it the due caution it so rightly deserves. I must admit I personally am a little unsure as to what exactly to advise, I know many people would probably expect me to say that you must avoid this sort of thing at all costs and like I say I think there is very good reason to be cautious and avoid these sort of situations if you feel you are vulnerable to relapse, but I also understand that we need to carry on living our lives, so all I can really say is just try to be honest with yourself, I think most users know deep down what the real risk of doing something like this actually is, if you think it is likely to be problem then I would say air on the side of caution and if in doubt then miss out, but I am sure you know yourself best.

Take care, thanks for posting and please keep us posted on how it goes.

All the best

[Cannabis Rehab Guest]

hi unregistered guest and welcome.

I hope you don’t mind but i added the word pot to the title of this thread, i am just trying to improve the sites seo. There is a mental transformation that i think we all go through from using to quitting pot and part of that involves changing what you think and probably turning your back on all the ideas and beliefs you have built the last so many years on, the whole pot culture is actually a bit like a cult, or a very strong sub culture to say the least, like you say you can become so pro towards the stuff that you can indeed even end up thinking badly of those who don’t do it, as crazy as it is it is often the case. I remember i was exactly the same, i used to think that it was the be all and end all, it felt like i was in a special club, part of a group of people and only we knew the “truth”, only we understood just how great this way of life truly was, only we realised that our culture was so much better than say the drinkers or people who didn’t use it, ect, ect, it ends up been a bit like a religion and in some cases yes it’s even a bit like a cult. And when you experience a side of life like you have recently that doesn’t involve it and you realise hey this may actually be even better, better than everything i have built my perspective on over the past however many years i have been using, it’s a big realisation to deal with, you may well feel hypocritical towards everything you have based your previous perspective on and even a traitor to the sub culture you were a part of. And just like when someone leaves a particular sub culture or even a cult, there is a period of readjustment in which you need to re-evaluate your entire previous perspective, it’s a pretty big adjustment to make psychologically.

Anyway now you are at this stage you have to have a serious think about the long term path that you want to take and how you want to live the rest of your life, what it is that you want out of life, whether you want to share it with someone, what it is that they will want, is the women you are dating considering she is in recovery going to want to share the rest of her life with someone who is still using or will she want someone who is also clean too. At the end of the day they are very different ways of life, people may not realise it, but whether you are a regular drug user or not often makes a huge difference on the type of life you lead, so like i say you have to decide what it is that you want for you. Have a read of some of the other posts here, i am sure you have spent plenty of time over the past so many years focusing on the arguments why you should use it, perhaps it is time to dare to spend some time looking at some of the arguments for why you shouldn’t, whichever is truly the better way of life for you should win on its own merit as long as you have had a thorough and open minded look at both sides of the argument, like i say i am sure you have spent more than enough time rationalising and justifying your use of it over the last 30 years so why not look at the reasons for why you may not want to spend the rest of your life doing it, why not write out a list of reason why you don’t want to do it, have a good think about them and see how much merit they have. Just bear in mind that if you are addicted then there is bound to be a leaning towards rationalising and justifying not making what will be a big change which may well possibly be very difficult to make, unfortunately this is a bias that often goes hand in hand with addiction and the kind of denial that every addict has to struggle to break through, so to be fair to the other side of the argument just try to see if it could be true.

It’s up to you how you want to live the rest of your life and i am not going to tell you how you should do it, if you genuinely think that carrying on as you are is the best course of action then that’s completely up to you and your right to pursue and just like anything else in life it’s something only you can decide for yourself. Anyway i don’t know if that’s been of much help but perhaps it might help you to fully consider what your options are.

Take care, thanks for posting and please let us know what you decide, if you do want to quit then i and many others here will be with you every step of the way, you won’t be alone. Whatever you decide i wish the very best of luck in your future.

All the best

holy run-on sentence batman!!

[QQrider]

just curious

Just wondering what my mind and memory would be like if I hadn't moved away from all past connections. I went from a little really good weed two or three times per week to zero about 18 years ago. I had started at 14 or 15 so I'm afraid I do start to have memory issues at 50. Glad being overseas and lusting my connections forced the stop. It was always so pleasant but there were less and less idle hours after my teens and early twenties. I think pot has gotten a lot more concentrated since I've been away from the scene. So I'm here browsing, wondering how pickled I might now have been had I never stopped.

I went straight to the rehab group subject about doing weed daily for 30 years. House and finances a mess, that's a chuckle-it take serious motivation to tackle either in a meaningful way and pot never made me manic, quite the opposite. Hope that is more or less in order, my friend. Bravo to this fellow who had no problem stopping and now that three or four years have passed I wonder if he went on that camping trip or took the advice of his girlfriend.

Have any non-government studies been undertaken with totally voluntary test subjects, I wonder. It would be most interesting to see real results from real subjects, not rats, and not from emergency room statistics in which pot was just one of the factors leading to a visit to the ER.