I smoked it pretty much daily through my twenties into my late 30’s, with a single year long hiatus sometime in my 20’s.
It’s been almost two years since I’ve touched the stuff.
Anyhow, I noticed that I’m sharper and care more about getting stuff done since I stopped.
The biggest drawbacks I personally saw from it were that it seemed to foster a sort of apathy towards everyday tasks…and if I smoked too much at once or even a little of something too strong (certain strains I eventually figured out) I’d get some anxiety..though nothing a couple of beers couldn’t fix.
I had a friend in high school/college that smoked a lot and ended up schizophrenic by 19. It was sad to see.
My personal take is that it’s a subtle/insidious drug. Because you can still function (unlike something like acid), it can sneak up on you. It also doesn’t help that you don’t pay a big price for overindulgence like you do with too much alcohol. Yeah, you might be groggy and all, but that’s nothing like an intense hangover from drinking. Because the penalty you pay for smoking pot is over an elongated amount of time and doesn’t really cause any immediate physical pain or discomfort, it’s very easy to believe that you’re paying no penalty at all from using it.
And people who say it’s not addictive are full of shit, by the way.
One thing I miss, however, is that it did tend to bring out my creative side..especially when it came to guitar/song writing…and with some work stuff, too. But it ain’t worth it in the long run. I’m glad I quit.
I noticed that I’m sharper and care more about getting stuff done since I stopped.
imo, one of the most dangerous things about weed is how it lulls you into complacency.
The addictive nature of marijuana is just different from something like, say, opiates.
There is absolutely a physical component to both withdrawal syndromes. A lot more physically visible symptoms manifest when someone's kicking heroin, but someone kicking weed might be going through some shit.
A common one is: they can't sleep anymore. And now after they're pot-free, they start having dreams and remembering them again. This seems to be pretty jarring to people, if you haven't dreamed in a long time, every time you sleep, you're just in total oblivion, suddenly you're thrust back into the bizarre mindfuck of dreaming- I can see why that'd be uncomfortable.
Personally, I believe that pot addiction is more about the mind than the body. Heroin addiction is more about the body than the mind. Kicking heroin can be really fast, and the worst withdrawal symptoms gone in a week- someone breaking all the habits surrounding their pot use over the course of months is probably exhausting. Probably also easier to talk yourself into relapsing- "It's just a little joint, it's not like I'm a smackhead or something."
Sucks that drugs always have drawbacks, but such is the nature of the universe. Get fucked up, you might end up fucked up, it really makes sense when you think of it like that.
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