There are a lot of people out there who do not even think of weed as being a real addiction. They consider it to be a “soft drug” and not really worthy of the label of addiction. For the most part, there are generally no withdrawal symptoms when someone stops smoking weed, and there is very little evidence of physical dependence. So it gets passed off all the time as being somehow less than other “real drugs.”
This is a big mistake because Marijuana is a real drug and it can seriously screw up your life. For a moment, forget about the fact that weed is illegal, or that it is physically unhealthy to smoke, or that it can impair your driving, and so on. Forget all those arguments for a moment because they are besides the point.
Here are the 3 main problems with weed addiction:
1) You are medicating your feelings, just like with any other mood or mind altering substance (such as alcohol, cocaine, etc.).
2) You are dedicating your life to a hollow purpose.
3) Your ambitions and motivation is being sapped by your drug habit.
If you smoke weed every day then all 3 of these factors can be applied to your life. They will all exist for you in some form or another. Let’s take a closer look at these 3 problems.
Smoking weed medicates your feelings
One of the things about a chemical addiction, be it alcohol or any other drug, is that eventually we are using the chemical to medicate our feelings with. Now this doesn’t always happen overnight but it always happens in the end. We might not start out using a drug with the intention of medicating our feelings but we develop the pattern over time.
Why does this happen? Because our drug of choice becomes our coping mechanism. If we are a drinker, then every time we experience drama in our life or get upset over something, what do we do? We reach for a drink, of course. The same is true with other drugs of abuse. Those who smoke weed will naturally want to get high when they are faced with any sort of emotional upheaval in their lives. And when we keep doing this over time, it establishes a form of dependency. We might not be physically addicted to weed but we are addicted to using it as a coping mechanism. We become comfortable with using weed to mask our true feelings when we don’t want to feel them.
Why is this a problem? Well, it can become a problem for many people if they continue to use weed as a way to cope. It creates a dependency and results in emotional immaturity. We basically stunt our emotional growth because we are no longer facing reality when we need to; instead we are coping out and just getting high. It is actually a very immature way to go through life and it certainly doesn’t keep you “real.”
Eventually, if you ever decide to quit smoking weed (or become forced to due to the legal ramifications) then you are going to have to relearn how to deal with your emotions.
Your life purpose is diverted
Another reason that weed addiction is a problem for people is because it diverts your life purpose. Essentially, when you start smoking weed on a regular basis and get caught up in the lifestyle of doing so, your entire life purpose shifts to those activities. Getting high and scoring more weed becomes your purpose in life and any other dreams that you might have had about accomplishing anything are basically shelved.
A lot of people who smoke weed stay in denial about this, because they maintain that they still have dreams and they still have goals. This is usually a form of denial though because now that they are full time weed smokers they are no longer actively pursuing those goals and dreams. They are complacent with their life.
The habit of smoking weed creates a certain lifestyle and that lifestyle becomes your life purpose. It becomes difficult to pursue anything outside of this relatively limited world view.
Weed addiction destroys your ambition
If you want to sit around all day and be lazy then smoking weed is one way to accomplish this. The lifestyle prevents you from doing things because eventually all things must be accompanied with getting high. This starts to limit what you can typically do throughout your day and this is also what starts to shape the lifestyle for you. In essence, you are what you do all day. Not only does weed addiction take away your dreams and goals, but it also demotivates you from achieving any goals that you might still have intact.
Because smoking weed has become central to your reward system, you no longer have to pursue other typical rewards that might come from achieving positive goals in your life, such as with exercise, health habits, or learning goals. There is no reason to push yourself to grow in any of those ways because the rewards for doing so have been reduced in comparison to your “weed reward.” In other words, because you are in the habit of rewarding yourself with weed, other rewards in life become less desirable for you.
The justifications don’t matter
There are a million reasons out there about why smoking weed should be legal and why it is less harmful than alcohol and so on and so forth.
None of it matters.
Weed is still harmful and addictive and it still destroys your life, even if it does so in a more subtle way than “harder drugs.” This subtlety is what makes it so dangerous. Even if the drug were legal it would not be any less problematic for people.
Smoking weed saps your life away a little bit at a time.
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Some references please!!
i have a question
my ex-boyfriend is addiceted and how can i subtly make him realize this.
me and my boyfriend have been together for 4 years. we started dating in high school as sophomores. his family life wasn’t the best. and finally in our junior year i helped him fix up his life. he was passing joined wrestling and wasn’t a year behind anymore he stopped ditching and smoking weed and everything.
then our summer going into college we would smoke everyweekend
and now we go to college together with three same mutual best friends from high school
but now in college we started smoking every day
he cusses at me and treats me horrible and only treats me nice so i could share some weed with him
and then he broke up with me 2 weeks ago and wants me back
i smoke everyday also but i maintain my straight A’s
he left school for a whole week because he didn’t have money for weed
what do i do??
@ Dr. Zizou – This website can be referenced directly. Spiritualriver.com
@ Rachel – One thing you might do Rachel is to stop smoking weed yourself. This would be an example for your ex. It might also expose any codependent issues that might exist between the two of you.
In short, if you quit smoking, it could help the relationship as a whole.
There are obviously a mass of people who have no clue about addiction and should realize this before commenting. I have been to rehab, and at the time I thought it was the hardcore drugs (coke, ecstasy, LSD) that screwed me up. I was in such deep denial about my weed smoking that i didn’t focus much on it in recovery. When I left rehab after 6 months I relapsed just like 97% of all addicts, but I relapsed on coke. Only a couple weeks later did I end up smoking a joint with some people after a coke binge one night. The euphoria and flood of pure joyful release were numbingly ecstatic – but now 3 years later, after becoming obsessed with not only smoking but also growing weed, my life is no better than when I was also doing the hard drugs. Marijuana may not be physically addictive but when I stop I have severe irritability and even feel a strong violent aggressive trend in my thinking. Its just not pleasant. Its not me and not who I want to be. Yesterday I decided I’ve had enough of this substance that is basically a huge pause button on the life I truly want and know I can live. I would say the percentage of people who can truly say they know the addictive power of weed is so small that the majority will always claim that weed is no danger because there’s no evidence. Those who know how much it has hurt them (and others) do not need “proof”. Anyone else who simply cannot grasp this concept may happily continue in blissful ignorance. It comes down to the individual and their ability to be honest with themselves. I know the power weed has over me and I admit I cannot smoke successfully without losing focus on what I want from life. Well done Patrick for conquering your addiction and freeing yourself. I am 23 years old and I want to be successful and be able to enjoy a fulfilling life. The concept of weed as a powerfully addictive substance is as clear to me as the concept of breathing air.
Hay i been smokn weed 4 a long long time i was 16 when i started an im 23 now an i see its messing up my life i stay n the house n my room all day when i get bored i smoke i smoke after i eat i smoke when i go to the bathroom an when i get mad! i need to smoke b4 i leave the house when i leave the house an i dont be want to chill wit pep that dont smoke!! but idk cuz idoooont want to smoke any more but i feel like i need it or im not ganna relax an the lilest things piss me off ann see all this but i still want to smoke it
hi thier everyone my name is michael im 17 and tryin to quit weed this is not easy for me and seems extreme that im 17 and am semidependent on it i started smokin at 14 very very youg i hate the fact that i had to leave school early with no gcses and to date i have nothin on paper that says im worth anything but i dont blame the weed itself for bien adictited to it my mum and dad split up when i was 10 so when my 11+ test came up i fialed to even atempt it my mum found a boyfriend and my dad found a girlfriend both of the new relathoinships were very unstable and affected me deeply and still do my school life was terriable due to reall strong family problems my dad told me when i was 14 i would do nothin with my life and kill myself real helpfell i dont think the weed causes the problems but helps you deal with them not the right way ino but it seemed like the only way and will later make it worse but im 17 no job not sure were my life is taking me not sure if i was honest i want to live at all this is not a cry for help just bein honest i sometimes think if i had a unlimeted supply my problems wouldnt matter then i think this by itself is so wrong i fell extreme anger and saddnes so were do i go on from here and if any one actully reads this and thanks if you do because i harped on lol heres my email adress if you have anything to ask or say moto1993@live.co.uk
I have smoked weed for over 40 years. I have tried many times to quit but because of relatives and friends who also smoke it has been very hard to rationalize why i should stop. Actually it has been quite cheap to mantain my habit as i have always smoked 3 to 5 hits(not joints) a day. I am a professional and an accomplished musician and engineer. I have finally been forced to see the reality of what i do. Yes I can maintain a job and have nice toys. But you cannot really enjoy life living in 2 worlds. You cannot really respect yourself knowing that if you have a clear head your life will be better. Eventually it will catch up to you. Don’t waste your life in a fog. You are either a stoner doing half of what you are capable of or you can be free for mental and health reasons. The high lasts about a half hour then you can smoke all you want after that and its just fog in the brain. you can still be cool straight. Rationalize all you want but the truth is the truth.
Ok, even if all this was true for every pot smoker, the legal status of weed has nothing to do with solving the so called “problem” you wish to address.
Hey look! Someone is hurting them self in “my opinion” Better put them in jail so they live their life the way I think they should.
These may be the experiences of some… but to pretend that every person that smokes pot daily is facing these demons is simply ridiculous.
A good buddy of mine did nothing with his life until he decided to try smoking weed.
He was depressed and didn’t live his life, now he is social, has a job, and is the happiest I have ever seen him.
What you have to understand is that “drugs” effect everybody differently.
What is true for you is not true for everyone.
But lets just pretend that everything you wrote up there is true for everybody.
Does it make more sense to give a person treatment or to put them in jail with violent criminals?
What does more to ruin a life? Smoking pot or having a criminal record follow you to every job interview?
its crap like this that perpetuates the real problem, that the war on drugs has made us the number 1 country when it comes to prison population.
We have more people in jail because of our drug laws than China and Russia combined.
Really sound like this is the home of the free huh?
How bout you get off your soapbox and try to do something that actually address the drug problem.
People like you act as though you care for humanity but do the exact opposite of what might actually help.
How about we legalize, educate honestly, and allow individuals to make there own bad decisions.
It is called life, you get to live yours how you like, why do you see it fit to not allow others to live how they see fit.
Even if you can’t open your mind to what I am telling you today, perhaps you can’t ignore plan facts.
It is easier for kids to get weed than it is beer. This is because beer is legal and regulated properly.
Weed however, is sold next door and down the block, at their school and in the malls.
Make weed legal, be honest with education, and sell it next to beer. That will actually fix some problems.
Nope, I must be crazy though… put those potheads in jail, that way the black market can thrive, people can continue to be killed on the street and kids can continue to get easy access to it, thats much more sane. huh?
@WhatALoadOfCrapYouSpew
Word.
Loved your comment as a dot for the whole discussion!
Thnx all of u…!!! Stay raw stay high…!!!
ive been smoken weed for a while now and all its done is really made me realize that i need it more and more when ever i get deppresd. its more like a pick me up then any thing else. i always feel like shit except when i jest get done smoken. i not gonna stop for any one. because i know its me who must make the dission not you, just me, myself, and I.
it is not addictive i have been smokeing it for years and it is fine aslong as you don’t abbuse it
i know its not addictive but i feel like i just cant handdle school with out being messed up, ya know life doesnt just seem as beautiful as it is when im not high
I have done many different drugs , and I will say people have defended weed in every way imaginable. If it was like once a week or just on weekends, would’nt be addiction. But so many people are in denial with this drug because it’s not like alcohol,meth,crack etc. But it does cost alot and many lives have been changed by it. You drop many friends family (ones that don’t smoke)thats a big sad issue down the road especially if you have chidren they may not be close to cousins etc. Most people I know stay home alot more or hang with other smokers sitting around. Don’t get out and do many things I think they would do straight.Depressed people are more prone to addiction,it becomes a reward drug when you get upset you really want to smoke then you feel better in your own way and this pattern is repeated over and over. I would just like to see people just smoke weekends or stop this drug and keep trying to stop. everything takes time to stop but can be done! Even you from the 70′s never too late. Just hope you have good support with a non pot head.You are so much happier without ANY ADDICTIONS!Hope all who want to quit succeed quickly and encourage others with how they quit etc.
My boyfriend smokes weed…I don’t now how to deal with it. I hate it and I’ve given him the ultimatum. I know he loves me and would do anything for me but this seems to be out of control. His excuse is always the same…”I just took a small puff; it’s just for the taste; it doesn’t even get me high; I only put a little bit in my cigarette” and so on. He used to be a heavy smoker and he cut down a lot but he doesn’t seem to want to quit cold turkey. I love him and I don’t want to leave, but I also don’t know how to help someone who is in denial. He seems to crave it the most when he’s stressed out but that’s an immature way to deal with it.
I don’t know what to do. Where do I start?
if he truly loves you then he’d quit, but some times its a mental thing and you feel as if things wouldn’t be the same if you stoped and you don’t want to mess that up because its your routine. its your stress reliever and its how you cope. so you need to find a substitute for that. thats what i did but its different for every one.
I been smoking weed since i was 18 im 24 now.I just loss my job 2 months ago not from failing a drug test yet im still smoking.i know that this isnt right anymore because weed i like it alot but i been telling myself that i want to quit.Its such a expensive drug and takes away from my goals.its crazy and i guess whoever reading this is like well if u know this much then why want u quit.The thing is that i stay in a house hold that everyone smokes and drinks its like i cant excape the life that im in right now.i want to get away from it all.Not take my life or anything of that sort.I know what i need to do its just hard ive done alot of things that i wish i could go back and change.i know its more to life then sitting up smoking my life away.Its a mental thing more then a physical thing.I acutally fill better when im not high so strange but true.I did these things to myself and cause these problems for myself.Now its going to take me to be stronger then i ever have been to take control of my life.Cuz i sick of this life i lve and from this day forward i want to be a new man a change man i want to have a good life for my daughther not one were she thinks her daddy is a weed head.Now don’t get me wrong its nothing wrong with smoking weed every once in awhile.But i was smoking weed everyday and people ive ran off track with my goals and its never impossable to get back on track just hard.So people take heave weed is a strong drug but takes a stronger person to overcome it.
I agree most people justify weed with legality and softness, but in the end it will most likely catch users off guard and abuse it like it’s un-abuseable. I know this because until I read this article I’ve always doubted that weed was harmful, even though I kept justifying that it’s not harmful, but that’s exactly what threw me off. So now I know.
I just wanted to express my gratitude to everyone for sharing their personal experiences and validating my current perspective. I have recently ended a budding relationship with someone because of the hold weed has on his mentality. He is an empty shell, claiming that life “isn’t hard” and that floating through it on a pot cloud is his way of living. It is a shame as this person has a more generous and caring soul than anyone I have encountered. He epitomizes the values little girls look for in prince charming but is left at bay, never moving forward, simply standing still. Reading this article gave me hope and it’s comments. Thank you.
I have a friend who is seriously addicted to weed. Unfortunately, i was one the ppl who introduced her to it. ive steadily been in her life the last few yrs and ive seen the change in her firsthand. it was cool at first getting high and ther but when it became habitual she changed dramatically. she was a “nerd” in high school, graduated in the top of her class. she’s in college now and smokes all day everyday. it sad cause she strived to get into this particular college and now she always talking about dropping out. she used to stay in her books and now she blowing off classes to go get high. we’ve got in several disputes about it and she defends it to the death. i dont know how to break it to her that this is messing up her life and her personality as well. she used to be a great individual….caring and such. she’s adapted this i dont care attitude and lets whatever happen, happen. its really effing her up. now, i smoked, but never habitually, and ive recently quit all together. so she justifies with me getting high on occasion. i cant really say to much to her because i dont think she will listen. its just really hurting me to watch her screw up her life. i swear if i could back those yrs i would have never introduced her to this “drug”. people may say its not one but when its starts messing up your life and coming before everything youve ever wanted, its certainly a DRUG.
i started to smoke weed in 2007 n now i am a weed addict ive been trying to stop smoking since 2010 but the addiction is too big 4 me i need help. so if u do not smoke weed u must never start. dre
I’ve stopped smoking for a week now and the temptation is killing me. I’ve smoked everyday, except 11, for the past 18 years. Even when I was locked-up, I found a way to smoke. Trust me it’s a addictive drug. Since 2003 I haven’t used any drug but marijuana. Before that, I abused every drug known to man. Cocaine, crack, heroin, acid, shrooms you name it, I did it. To the tune of over 200K. I stopped using everything without ANY assistance–other than God. This is embarrasing. My family/friends witnessed me getting sober before, and now they think I’m just screwing around. Label it a “soft” drug all you want, addiction is addiction.
well il say it from the beginning I NEED HELP:(…im 17 years old right now..dont go to school.. dont work..no goals nothing..i was a good kid up until grade 10 started..wen i first tried weed and tried my first cigarette also.. so now i smoke about a pack of cigarettes a day.. and i need to get high atleast once a day..i used to smoke weed sometimes even 5 to 6 times a day for a while and it was all good i was happy with weedd..made me cope better with my feelings of being depressed..but what started out as getting high to be happy..has just become a habit and i cant stop it.. i really want to because its honestly fucked up my life.. i used to be an athlete won mvp awards for soccer and basketball in gr 9 but now i havent played soccer in a bout a year..and soccer used to be what i loved growin up as a little kid..and sorry for just ramming on and on but i just need to get this out and i really woulld appreaciate some guidance and some help on how to quit this shit..i needd to fix my life around
sincerly..a fuck up
Come on, there are endless cases of stoners that are successful in their professional and personal lives. Don’t beat yourself up for smoking weed, don’t let that guilt of being addicted creep up on you. Just learn to balance. If you can’t balance weed with your normal life, then stop smoking. If you have no will power, that isn’t a drug-specific problem. Grow some balls.
I’m an everyday stoner for the past couple years, off and on- simply because i’ve been caught and forced to stop- only momentarily though. I’m 17 and about to graduate in a few weeks. The only reason i’ve stopped before is out of fear – fear of getting caught by my parents, and once for my own reasons. I’ve experimented with every different stoner lifestyle, tried to rationalize it in every way. I’m naturally a 4.0+ student, but my diploma will show what choices I decided to make as i’ll probably graduate with around a 3.3 or 3.4. I can’t complain, this is not bad overall. With my experiences though, i’m telling you, you’ll only find lucidity without pot. You can rationalize it all you want, glamourize it all you want, but true happiness and full potential only comes without it. I love hearing all of the support stories of people battling and conquering this all-too-often looked over addiction, and they inspire me as today, May 15, 2011, I have decided to start being FULLY honest with myself and face reality. Thank you to all who see this, and voice it, you are an inspiration to me. Let’s spread this message, there are simply too many who fail to recognize the truth.
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