HIGHly Opinionated: I Think I Finally Quit “Quitting” Weed

I love her, and I believe she loves me too. She’s always there for me; when I’m feeling down, she picks me back up, and when my brain starts playing tricks on me, she keeps me grounded. Every time I have a bad day, she’s there to relieve my stress. We met back in high school, and our relationship has been growing ever since.

She’s ok with me seeing other people; as long as I sneak her in and bring her along, she’s almost perfect, too good to be true. The issue is I’m somebody that really likes his space, and I need time to myself, but every time I try and explain this to her, she refuses to understand.

When I try to have some alone time, I keep seeing her everywhere. She’s all over Instagram, getting used by others, getting me jealous; I start to lose my mind and end up calling her up. I’m talking about weed, by the way.

Disclaimer: This article has nothing to do with medical patients that use cannabis every day to live a better life; this is strictly for recreational users.

Moreover, read the following article if you always complain about the legal cannabis industry.

Addiction?

On the one hand, you can be addicted to anything, right? Whether it’s video games, sex, or alcohol, too much of anything isn’t good, especially when you become dependent. On the other hand, when you think about addiction, you think of the crackhead that would literally do just about anything to get his fix.

You think of the gloomy, depressed-looking people talking in a circle in an AA meeting, But cannabis? God’s flower? That loud? Really? Well, yes, you can clearly be addicted to weed. Don’t believe me? Just quit, then. You know what, if it’s so easy, just stop using cannabis for an entire month. IT’S NOT THAT EASY.

Let’s make one thing clear; cannabis addiction is real. You can take a trip to your local treatment center and see how many people came there by themselves to try and reorganize their lives as they’re trying to quit weed. There are studies that show that withdrawals from cannabis use exist.

Remember that this wonderful flower can act as an acutely psychoactive/mind-altering substance. Basically, cannabis can immediately change your emotional state, so eventually, your brain can become trained to crave cannabis in response to uncomfortable situations.

Lifestyle?

There’s no fine line between addiction and lifestyle regarding substance use (or abuse). With cannabis becoming legal all over the world, weedfluencers have started popping up everywhere.

Some of them smoke A LOT of weed, some love to dab, some take bong hits, and they do this in a bunch of their videos with a mission to gain more followers, day in, day out. They work hard, which helps to dispel the Lazy Stoner myth.

What about reviewers? For people whose main job is to test and review different cannabis strains on the market, there is no way for a non-user to review a cannabis strain (if you do this, you should get prosecuted to the highest degree).

What about real budtenders? I mean, is there a sommelier out there that doesn’t actually taste the wines he suggests to people? (I’m sure there is, it just makes no sense to me)

I can go on and on; what I’m trying to get to here is that a lifestyle can create an addiction, or you end up being addicted to your lifestyle. Either way, don’t use the fact that you may be making a living off weed as an excuse that you technically can’t be addicted to it; you can.

Just a bad habit?

Well…..I guess it could be a bad habit but let me ask you these questions:

• Do you experience withdrawal symptoms like anxiety or stress when you stop using?
• Do you feel like nothing is fun anymore? Slightly more depressed?
• Do you become a full-on insomniac for a couple of weeks after you stop smoking?
• Do humans start to irritate you with every word that comes out of their mouths?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you don’t have a bad habit; you’re addicted to cannabis.

A bad habit is throwing your clothes on a chair instead of putting them in your drawer or hanging them in your closet. It’s not washing the dishes even when you literally have no plates left to eat on. It’s eating chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the night. (NO, these are not mine, OK?)

We’re talking about a substance that can literally change the way your mind works; it’s a little different than a bad habit. 

Enhancement? 

The great Wiz Khalifa once said, “everything’s better when you’re high.” I’m sure others have said that sentence before him, but you know what I mean. This food looks delicious, but if I smoke before eating it, it’ll be so much better! I just ate this awesome food, so let me smoke this joint to digest it better.

I know I got this work to do, but imagine how much more fun it would be if I was high. I know that we’re in the middle of foreplay, but the sex will be that much better if we smoke this joint.

Do you see a pattern here? Good, because this is how addictions get started. Not only does your brain now connect using cannabis to get through tough situations or stress, but your brain is also now wired to believe that every single thing you do would be enhanced if you use this substance that you love so much.

It can always be worst

At the end of the day, we’re talking about weed. I wrote this article because it’s a constant battle that I’m going through, but believe me, I’m not about to rob somebody if I can’t afford to buy some herb. It’s not heroin; it’s not fentanyl; it’s just weed.

See, I’m one of those people that’s always thinking of a new project, a new grind, working on something all the time, a bunch of different hustles, you get the point. Smoking joints only enhances my creativity; certain strains help me focus (or so I think), and none of my projects ever get affected by pot.

Personally, I’m fully aware that I’m addicted to weed, and because of previous experiences, I’m also aware that I’m actually better at being a human being when I don’t smoke. However, cannabis doesn’t slow me down when it comes to income, health, or relationships, which are the most important parts of life. 

At the same time, this wonderful flower doesn’t always affect me positively. I’ve been an insomniac for as long as I can remember; I’ve also smoked weed for as long as I can remember, so I pretend that I use weed so that I can sleep. It actually has a reverse effect on me, and every time I quit for a short amount of time,

I start to have crazy dreams. 

Dr. Kolla, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist who specializes in sleep medicine and addiction, explains that “N3 sleep is affected with cannabis use; sleep takes place in stages: N1, N2, N3, and REM (when we dream). The N stages are when deep sleep takes place, with N3 being the deepest stage. So, cannabis users may be missing out on the deepest stage of sleep.”

For now, I’ve decided to quit “quitting” weed. It’s a constant thought in my head, and it’s a guilt trip all the time, and it’s second-guessing myself every time I roll something up. The time will come when I’ll slow down or quit completely. Maybe I’ll outgrow it one day (tapping myself on the back for the pun).

I’m still here, going strong, smoking all kinds of wonderful strains, and enjoying myself. I may have quit “quitting” temporarily, but I’m not giving up. I may have lost the 1257 battles, but I haven’t lost the war yet.

For now, I’ve decided to quit “quitting” weed. It’s a constant thought in my head; it’s a guilt trip all the time. It’s second-guessing myself every time I roll something up. The time will come when I’ll slow down or quit completely; maybe I’ll outgrow it one day (tapping myself on the back for the pun).

I’m still here, going strong, smoking all kinds of wonderful strains, and enjoying myself. I may have quit “quitting” temporarily, but I’m not giving up. I may have lost the 1257 battles, but I haven’t lost the war yet.