Heavy pot smokers who have quit, please share your stories/advice

[Cannikin]

I'm trying to quit a heavy smoking habit and I was just wondering if any DUers had any words of wisdom for me. Thanks!

[Spirochete]

1. Don't hang around people who are smoking it

because they'll forget and pass it to you, and you'll forget and take a hit.

[Elidor]

5. Ain't that the truth

Any time we gather at somebody's house, I won't smoke because I'll be driving. And they cannot remember not to pass it to me.

"Here, man. Here. Take it."

"Do you not remember me telling you just 60 seconds ago that I didn't want any? Do you not remember me telling you the twenty times before that - all in the last ten minutes - that I do not fucking want any?"

It's extremely annoying.

[billyskank]

6. Of course he doesn't remember

He's stoned.

[idgiehkt]

25. that is the damn truth

man. I had no control about that sort of thing...I would even have drug test at work coming up and I would get one in front of me and take a hit. People are like how the hell do you 'forget' a mandatory drug test, but the habit is just so strong (and being under the influence in other ways doesn't help)

yeah, the only way I could quit was to actually physically move away from all my using friends. I moved across town, stopped doing anything but alcohol and found out I was a miserable alcoholic.

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

33. Amen to that!!!

My worst episode was when I saw the devil on the dance floor while I was sitting in the corner at a club. Not only was I that high (:smoke:), but I was that drunk (:beer:)!!!

[Capn Amerika]

2. I had to quit that shit.

It made me super paranoid. You will save a whole hell of a lot of money. Agree with above poster. It's hard to hang with old friends who still smoke. I started seeing that their whole lives revolved around smoking 'da kine'. They also justified their pot smoking habits by any means possible and would not entertain ANY criticism of pot.

[Zhade]

4. It's a shame it affected you that way. Paranoia sucks.

I'm glad to say that the long years of daily intake have never led me to that.

I always wonder if paranoia is a cause of the herb, or something predisposed in the mind of the person.

Not calling you crazy! Just wondering out loud.

[SPKrazy]

13. I Think It Is Probably A Little Of Both

I have had some dope that made me paranoid as hell
and other times I felt mellow as hell. differences in the dope, the setting, the people I was with.

I hated to go to a dealer's house and smoke dope there which always seemed to be what happened when I'd go buy it. I always thought the cops were coming or some crazy shit.

I also would be much more relaxed if I was drinking, in fact, I'd say my "drug of choice" was alcohol until wasted and then smoking a lot of dope.

But I've read that people who are more "rigid" in their personalities tend to have more paranoid reactions. I also think that some dope is just more paranoid inducing in some people. I remember having the sensation of my heart racing away from me with some that I'd smoke.

I also remember laying around in the sun smoking so much Jamaican dope that I could hardly move.

:pals:

[idgiehkt]

26. I've always found it strange how different drugs affect people differently

I had one friend who ate handfuls of acid and mushrooms but wouldn't smoke pot because it made her paranoid. My ex loved all kinds of uppers up to and including cocaine but didn't like pot, and freaked out one day when she got a hit of ecstasy with heroin in it. I think it's an internal chemistry thing.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Can I have your leftover stash?

:smoke:

I'd try exercising or something - basically, anything that would feel like the opposite of smoking pot.

BTW, I sent a friend request to your MySpace page.

[SPKrazy]

14. ....

Bwaaahaaaaaa

can I have your leftover stash

If I were him I'd go out with a bang and smoke it all at once so you wouldn't have any!

:rofl:

[Cannikin]

16. Thats pretty much what I did!

[Alexander]

7. Prepare to feel left out when around friends who smoke.

From subtle things like circle-based conversations to open criticism of people who don't smoke, you will feel ostracized if you hang out with others who continue to smoke weed.

A few times I've found stoners will make blanket statements about people who don't partake, like "I don't see why anyone would have a problem handling this stuff" to "People who don't smoke weed are really boring".

After saying "What about me? I've quit; do you think that about me?" they finally dare to look at me, utter something like "Oh, we didn't mean you" and go back to puffing down, sometimes continuing their tirade.

If you can tolerate this feeling of exclusion, or know a couple other non-smokers in that social circle, then go right ahead and continue to hang out with stoner friends. But if you want to avoid the temptation, not just to smoke but to feel included, then you might want to find some people you can hang out with who don't smoke.

Personally I've found some of the mega-stoners can be just as close-minded and ignorant as some who never touch weed. And I used to be quite a stoner myself.

[sniffa]

8. ..

but we can be pot smoking buddies

[Cannikin]

10. Ok....I'd get high with you.

:evilgrin:

[sniffa]

15. thanks

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

we'LL have good times. :*

[graywarrior]

9. I held my breath til I got high and passed out.

That helped for awhile. Then I just drank more, but developed a craving for White Russians, which made me fat, so I switched to Black Russians which made me black out. I tried sniffing glue out of a paper bag, but that required too much preparation, not that rolling joints was an easy task...and making a pipe out of a toilet paper roll and aluminum foil was also a pain in the ass.

Good thing all my friends at the time decided we all needed to get sober and stop smoking pot. I got dragged along with them, otherwise, I'd still be smokin' j's and trying to score Nyquil on Sunday nights when I ran out of cooking wine.

You'll stop when you want to. That's how it works.

[Fuzz]

11. I have the exact opposite problem

I don't know where to get any! :D

Good luck on your endeavor.

[SPKrazy]

12. When I Quit

I had to quit hanging around people that did it. Because if the joint came around to me I was going to hit it.

I had to find something else to do. I joined a group of recovering people and that helped.

Check out the addiction recovery group here at DU

Good luck, pot is subtle and hard to convince oneself that it is really "bad", but bad is subjective, it's bad if it is bad for you.

I'd still smoke pot if I could get away with it without wanting to drink I'm sure.

:pals:

[idgiehkt]

29. me too.

I would do anything, probably, if I wouldn't end up drinking. But alcohol is these cheapest available drug...and it's inescapable.

[Zorra]

17. I just stopped smoking it one day. It got old and boring.

Maybe it was medicine for me for awhile, and then I just didn't need it anymore.
:shrug:

[Bum Whisperer]

18. Get busted and go to jail...

...that made me realize it's not worth it back in '90.

[Cannikin]

19. Hmmm.....I hope to avoid that.

I just got over the worst case of bronchitis I've ever had. Thats my motivation right now.

[NorthernSpy]

22. you got put in JAIL just for smoking pot?

That's insane.

Where I live, possession of smoking implements plus up to 1-and-1/4 oz of MJ is a civil infraction. You can't even get arrested for it, much less sentenced to jail.


I'm sorry you went through that.

[noonwitch]

20. There actually is a group called Marijuana Anonymous

I didn't know this until one of my friends' husbands got back from rehab for alcoholism. He told his wife (my friend) that she was a marijuana addict and that she needed to go to meetings. She went to one, and didn't feel like she could relate. I don't know if they have a website, I do know that there aren't any of their meetings at my church, which has pretty much every other 12 step program meeting there. If you can find a group like that near you, at least you'd find some people to hang around with that weren't smoking it. Or, join a church or civic group that you can hang out with (Jaycees or Rotary or something).

[puerco-bellies]

24. I attended a couple of MA meetings..

Not only did I want to smoke a joint afterwards, I also wanted to drink some bong-water..
I was a heavy pot smoker and continued to smoke even with a chronic sore throat. I finally joined NA and quit everything almost 4 years ago. It took about 9 months for my throat to stop hurting. Good luck to the OP.

[idgiehkt]

30. my ex said the same thing about CA

I don't know why that is. She won't go. I fear for her, but I also trust she say it makes her want to use.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. I don't know if you would have called me a heavy pot smoker, but

I was a long-term pot smoker. Had to quit due to employment reasons. I can still hang out with my friends who get high because they realize that a job is more important than pot and they would do the same thing in the same circumstance. Still miss it, though.

[Mojambo]

23. I'm about to finish off my stash and quit as well.

I'm a little unnerved by the idea of quitting after such long sustained use. It's been a couple of years.

I have a feeling the adjustment is going to be very rough.

[Cannikin]

27. Prepare for:

At least five days of difficulty sleeping and having no appetite, not to mention the anxiety. I've tried and failed before. I'm a bit more determined this time.

[Mojambo]

32. I've failed before as well.

Physically I can handle most of the issues. It's the emotional side that kinda gets me.

I'm kind of a shut-in and I had major motivational, avoidant, and anxiety issues before I started smoking marijuana. Part of the reason why I came to indulge so consistently is that it made it easier for me to shut away.

I'm afraid that I'll still be stuck in my empty little world only without the only thing that made it tolerable. You would think that when I stop smoking that I'd be more motivated, but the exact opposite seems to happen.

Guess I'll just have to buck up and gut through it.

Good luck to you. I hope you make it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

28. cut out people who have pot. delete your dealers number.

its an easy addiction to give up, unlike cigs

[xchrom]

31. you'll do it.

try replacing it with other stuff -- like exercise.

it's ok to get a little self-righteous about it for a while.

and yeah -- i had to change up my friends for a while -- but after i was away from it for a while -- i really didn't want any.