How To Stop Smoking Cannabis - Weed Is A Real Addiction

[iloveCBD]

Ive written a guide on how to stop smoking weed in case your somewhere in your life where you need to stop, perhaps for a drug test etc. This advise is from a long time stoner(10+ years smoking) who has had to learn when to stop when the time calls for it. Not easy but a lot of insight that can help people who are trying to quit smoking cannabis.

 

[LesPlenty]

Pot is easy to take a break from, especially if you have only 10 years of it, try giving up tobacco for a real challenge.

 

[morninglight]

^ A good article nonetheless. Thank you for writing that up. Please renew your cert.

 

[Planck]

I find the title of this thread offensive!
Weed is not a "real addiction" for me.
I am weed free for several days right now.

WTF does "real addiction" even mean?
Are there unreal or even fake addictions.
Silly me I thought addiction was real by definition.

 

[iloveCBD]

I find the title of this thread offensive!
Weed is not a "real addiction" for me.
I am weed free for several days right now.

WTF does "real addiction" even mean?
Are there unreal or even fake addictions.
Silly me I thought addiction was real by definition.

Ive known weed addicts who would buy weed instead of food with their last money. Thats a real addicition. I also know people who have ruined their life gambling. Not everyone who smokes weed or gambles will become addicted to it. It lies deeper than that, there is psychology problems that really play the role in the end with the addiction. The only reason why I said "real addiciton" is for those who claim cannabis addiction isn't real.

 

[Planck]

Ive known weed addicts who would buy weed instead of food with their last money. Thats a real addicition. I also know people who have ruined their life gambling. Not everyone who smokes weed or gambles will become addicted to it. It lies deeper than that, there is psychology problems that really play the role in the end with the addiction. The only reason why I said "real addiciton" is for those who claim cannabis addiction isn't real.

"How To Stop Smoking Cannabis - Weed Is A Real Addiction"

Your title is absolute. Weed is a real addiction.
Your quoted reply indicates that you actually believe weed can be a real addiction for some.

That is a huge difference!!!

Regardless if you like weed your not doing anyone who does a favor by dropping sensational, untrue clickbait titles on the web. Spiders are constantly mining the web for data and it turns up in search results. Uninformed people form opinions from these headlines.

 

[Siebter]

Pot is easy to take a break from, especially if you have only 10 years of it, try giving up tobacco for a real challenge.

I found cannabis addictions often to be intertwined with tobacco addictions; I don't know about Australia, but in many parts of Europe weed is being consumed with tobacco, even by people who claim to be non smokers. That's by the way one aspect this article doesn't even mention. I used to have a very hard time having even 5 day t breaks when I was still smoking joints (note: after having given up smoking cigs). Since vaping both e cigs and dry herb, t breaks don't bother me at all anymore.

 

[Madri-Gal]

I quit smoking cannabis when I found vaping. Problem solved.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Addiction is not what you apparently think.
Habituation is not addiction.

“Real” addiction requires a one-way physiological adaptation to the addictive substance, such that withdrawal impairs physiological function. Anything else, we’re talking about behavior.

Behavioral addiction can focus on any, some, or all distractions, but distraction is the core of such behavior: distraction from pain, from guilt, from fear, from anger, from reflection, from circumstances, from change. The more scary/oppressive we find life, the more numerous and more complicated the distractions required to shut it out.

Breaking habits is no joke; habits keep us locked in behaviors we want to change; distraction plays a role by distracting us from following through on things we want to do or change. Industry depends on us staying distracted.

 

[Siebter]

Sorry, I don't mean to be a smartass again here, but it makes no sense to isolate the habitual aspects of an addiction – on the contrary, many addictive substances (for example nicotine or edit: cocaine) are known to have only mild physiological addictive qualities, yet they manage to make us obsessed over them.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Perhaps you could read it again. You seem to be unclear as to what distinguishes addiction.
Not trying to be a smart ass, either. It makes no sense to conflate addiction with ANYTHING else, to my mind.

 

[Siebter]

There might be some stuff lost in translation here... :-)

 

[HaroldBuddha]

Ive written a guide on how to stop smoking weed in case your somewhere in your life where you need to stop, perhaps for a drug test etc. This advise is from a long time stoner(10+ years smoking) who has had to learn when to stop when the time calls for it. Not easy but a lot of insight that can help people who are trying to quit smoking cannabis.

I know THC is not addictive for me because when I am forced to take a break (1-2 months) due to various reasons, I have no withdrawal symptoms other than vivid dreams for a week. Since I now live in Denver, I am obviously spoiled because there is no stigma and I rarely ever have to take a break. However, I lived in Florida for over 30 years and consumed illegally daily for over 15 years, and I never had any issues taking a break when necessary. It all comes down to self-control at the end of the day, and you have to weigh your love for weed and the reason why you need to temporarily quit. If you need to stop for a job, health, etc., there should be no question. Those are big-time life issues, and they take priority.

But if you struggle with the psychological addiction and cannot quit, the issue is deeper than your love for weed. I am no doctor, and no advice from a layman is going to help anybody with that potentially deep-rooted issue. Sorry if that was incoherent lol

 

[ClearBlueLou]

There might be some stuff lost in translation here... :-)

Could easily be; and I’m aware my German skills are not up to helping.

In English, “addiction” has a precise meaning, but is sloppily and ignorantly misused generally. One effect of the misuse has been to wrongly “medicalize” behaviors that can mirror addictive reactions. This interferes with understanding, which interferes with effective, meaningful choice and action.

The cure for this is to adhere to the precise definition, and not confuse ourselves by seeing similarities between dissimilar syndromes.

I hope that is more clear than what I posted above, if not please say so.

 

[Siebter]

I think I got you but I also think that I got you in the first place anyway.

You wrote

Habituation is not addiction.

which is entirely true, but then again they are often (mostly) strongly connected (in my tiny subjective world, of course). So that's why I wrote

it makes no sense to isolate the habitual aspects of an addiction

I don't think we disagree on the term „addiction“. Maybe on something else.

 

[Madri-Gal]

Sorry, I don't mean to be a smartass again here, but it makes no sense to isolate the habitual aspects of an addiction – on the contrary, many addictive substances (for example nicotine or edit: cocaine) are known to have only mild physiological addictive qualities, yet they manage to make us obsessed over them.

Cocaine and nicotine (tobacco) are two of the most addictive drugs, along with heroin, alcohol and barbiturates. They are well known to have more than "only mild physiological addictive qualities".

 

[Siebter]

Nicotine by itself is actually not very addictive, tobacco smoke is, and that is due to the monoamine oxidase inhibitors in tobacco smoke which highly increases the addictive power of nicotine, at least that's what animal testing strongly suggests → https://www.nature.com/articles/1300586 Pure nicotine is mildly addictive at best.

Cocaine is seriously highly addictive, no doubt. But I never said it wasn't. I said it has „only mild physiological addictive qualities“ (as opposed to its strong psychological addictive qualities).

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Cocaine is seriously highly addictive, no doubt. But I never said it wasn't. I said it has „only mild physiological addictive qualities“ (as opposed to its strong psychological addictive qualities).

And you bring “psychological addiction” back in: addiction is not psychological.

I want to be more clear: the distinction between physiological adaptation (addiction) and behavioral adaptations (habituation) is fundamental both to understanding addiction and to understanding behavior. Like theory and practice, they are more similar in theory than in practice; and where once the juxtaposition of “psychological addiction” was illuminating, it has devolved into a careless shorthand that interferes with speaking and thinking clearly about either addiction or behavior.

This does not mean that behavior cannot mimic the behavior of addicts: but once you get in there, the need to keep distinctions sharp and clear becomes paramount, because it’s mimetic behavior - driven by beliefs, not by existential need.

There’s a whole school of psychology trying to coalesce around these distinctions and what they have to tell us about deeper levels of motivation and belief. Plenty of science and decades of clinical observation to draw on, but very new territory.

So, like the Ghostbusters said, “don’t cross the streams!”

 

[Siebter]

It seems to me that you are not actually interested in communication, but rather in having monologues.

 

[Madri-Gal]

Nicotine by itself is actually not very addictive, tobacco smoke is, and that is due to the monoamine oxidase inhibitors in tobacco smoke which highly increases the addictive power of nicotine, at least that's what animal testing strongly suggests → https://www.nature.com/articles/1300586 Pure nicotine is mildly addictive at best.

Cocaine is seriously highly addictive, no doubt. But I never said it wasn't. I said it has „only mild physiological addictive qualities“ (as opposed to its strong psychological addictive qualities).

Nicotine is the most addictive part of tobacco, and why people smoke it. Cocaine is highly addictive. I'm not sure why you would acknowledge that, but insist it has "mild physiological "
properties. That's contradictory. It's both incorrect and misleading.
@ClearBlueLou, I, for one, find you highly communicative and open for intellegent and well thought out discussion, especially if it is based on fact and science. I've found this to be true over time, and from the many of over a thousand posts on FC that you've posted, and I've had to pleasure to read, as well as the valid points in this thread.

 

[Siebter]

I discriminate between psychological addiction and physiological addiction, cocaine won't make you addicted physiologically at all – do some research, it's common knowledge and not misleading (why should I do that? I don't like cocaine). Research on nicotine has brought up quite a lot of new findings, including the one I've linked – I understand that you still believe that nicotine is the most addictve part of tobacco smoke, that's what has been told for many years, but it turns out that things are more complicated than that. That's why for example the „Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence“ which was the standard test for smoking addiction since the late 70s, was renamed to „ Fagerström Test for Cigarete Dependence“. Fagerström himself wasn't convinced that nicotine is the actual culprit for cigarette addictions.

 

[BestBuds]

This seems like that victim culture I keep hearing about.... Someone has a habit like drinking a cup of coffee every morning or clearing their throat incessantly and instead of stopping their behavior they tell everyone they are addicted to caffeine or some other nonsense to make it seem more difficult than it is. They also feel that if they fail it's the addictions fault not theirs.

The OP's advice isn't wrong or bad. Sometimes it can be hard to stop a behavior. But to sensationalize it and call it an addiction is more harmful than helpful.

For example. When I was younger I saw all of the anti drug commercials put on in the 80's and 90's. They all claimed that if you use weed you will be lazy, you will disappoint your family, and you'll never be successful in business. Then I started to realize most of my teachers and successful adults around me used cannabis, either occasionally or regularly. But these were respected people disproving the anti-drug commercials! After I tried it myself how to you think I felt about every other drug commercial (coke, crack, meth, ecstasy)? I thought if they lie about weed this bad they must do the same with all the others. I was lucky and when I tried other "harder drugs" I recognized they were different and they had a larger potential for addiction. So I stopped very quickly.

I feel like, in general, people lately have been trying really hard to avoid accountability. They make things up to turn themselves into victims so their failures don't seem like their fault. Bob forbid if we fail!
I use cannabis everyday and I take a 3 or 4 day break every 2 or 3 months. I personally do this because I use cannabis as a primary medicine and it works much better when I take frequent tolerance breaks. Yes I'm a little cranky for a day or so. But honestly I have a harder time stopping coffee than cannabis. If some people are buying weed over their next meal there is more to it than "weed addiction" or "hash oil addiction". Those people have much bigger problems and a few paragraphs online won't do a damn thing for them. Especially when the advise is to replace your THC "addiction" with one for caffeine, eat and drink healthy, exercise, and stay focused. Well no Sh!t! How about this? Seek help from a medical professional, talk to a cognitive therapist, enter a treatment facility! If this is a "real addiction" why is the solution as easy as quiting Coca-Cola?

 

[Planck]

@BestBuds sadly the forum software will only let me like your post once.

 

[Baron23]

Cocaine is seriously highly addictive, no doubt. But I never said it wasn't. I said it has „only mild physiological addictive qualities“ (as opposed to its strong psychological addictive qualities).

Having some great deal of experience with this subject....god the 80's almost killed me...it is my informed view that the addictive qualities of cocaine are NOT psychological even though the addiction is expressed through obessive thinking and abject desire/cravings.

It's is indeed physiological with respect to how it hammers the neurotransmitters and receptors in your brain. YOur cravings are not from simple habit or psychological reasons. Its set up by the drug's long term impact to your brain's chemistry.

Your grey matter is indeed part of your physiological self.

 

[BestBuds]

Your grey matter is indeed part of your physiological self.

I mashed that like button Baron. My thumb hurts I mashed it so hard.