I started using cannabis on a daily basis in early 2010. Before that I was a very casual user and had used at random times since I was 13 years old (parties, special occasions, etc). But as I realized that I could smoke at night, have a great time, and wake up in the morning, not only without a hangover, but also feeling more rested than when I didn’t smoke, I began to use more regularly since it wasn’t bringing anything negative to my life and was definitely adding a lot of positives. Fun times, good laughs, deeper connection and conversations with my wife, less stress, etc.
Today in 2011 I have been using on a daily basis for about 2 years. The only break I’ve taken over the last two years is for a week while visiting family on the east coast during Christmas. Last year I made the journey, wondering if I would feel any sort of withdrawal symptoms. I never had before, but I also had never smoked daily for a year straight, so I didn’t know what to expect. According to the government, I was in for a hard time of:
• Sweating
• Sleeplessness
• Anxiety
• Drug craving
• Nausea
• Anger and Irritability
• Headaches
• Loss of appetite
I landed on the east coast and the week passed uneventfully. The first 24 hours without cannabis resulted in a slight headache. That was it. I returned home and began my routine of daily use again, and maintained it until now. Here I sit again on the east coast, and yet again, the only “symptom” I’ve had is the occasional headache which fades quickly, especially if I do some yoga or distract my mind through something as simple as watching TV. I wondered whether maybe one year of daily use wasn’t enough to draw out symptoms, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Despite the fact that over the last year I have increased the frequency and quantity which I smoke, no withdrawal symptoms have found their way into my vacation beyond that headache, which I’d rank at about a three on a scale of 1-5, and which only lasts for a few minutes if I don’t take any action to reduce it via Yoga, etc.
I am only one person, and I am in great physical shape (the best of my life, better than when I was on the starting lineup on offense and defense for my high school football team), and I have a loving family, fantastic wife, and a lot of psychological stability and strength. I’m sure those all help reduce any potential withdrawal symptoms. My guess is that the hardest part of quitting daily cannabis use for most people is the psychological dependence, just like it’s tough to stop daily Starcraft use when you absolutely love it. I entered this week without weed “cold turkey”, and even though I have an edible in my bag which I could take at anytime to get high, I haven’t even thought about it until I started writing this post.
So I’m here to tell you that after daily use for two years (minus that one week I took off during last year’s holidays), the symptoms have been extremely mild and basically no different than if I drank a bunch of soda and neglected water for a day or two. On top of that, I began daily use in 2010 before returning to college, and over the last 2 years I’ve completed 4 semesters and received straight A’s in all of my classes, made the dean’s list, received several scholarships including the most prestigious one awarded by the psychology department (which is my major), taken leadership roles in multiple clubs and established good friendships with about a dozen professors and university administrators. In other words, the daily use, and even heavy daily use of the past year, hasn’t ruined my life. On the contrary, I have no doubt that it has made my life better. My physical health and immune system are at my lifetime peak, my creative thinking and problem solving has improved dramatically, my memory is better than at any time in my life, and my relationships with friends and family are deeper and more fulfilling than I ever knew possible. Cannabis didn’t cause all of these things to happen on its own, but it definitely helped them to be possible, either through the psychological changes it helped produce (reduced stress, creative thinking, open mindedness, empathy, and increased laughter and joy) or through the healing effects it provided, as cannabis has been used as a medicine for over 200 ailments over thousands of years.
The most important lesson I’ve learned about how to use cannabis in a way that improves one’s life is to use responsibly. I often use a vaporizer to protect my lungs from inhaling burnt plant matter, and avoid joints and pipes as much as possible, preferring a water pipe if I don’t vaporize. I don’t get up and smoke a bowl and go to class. I wait till my work for the day is done and then I smoke. But there are tasks I can do very efficiently while high – cleaning the house, watching and learning from TED talks, running basic errands. As tolerance develops and a person moves from acute to chronic use, the effects of cannabis change, and the body and mind learn how to compensate, allowing a chronic user to complete tasks while high that an acute user would find difficult. For example, playing a game of Starcraft. As an acute (occasional) user I had a lot of trouble playing SC2 while high – as a chronic user that difficulty has disappeared. So it’s important to be self aware and disciplined, and to make sure that you are using responsibly, which means that your use doesn’t get in the way of achieving the things you must get done.
There are many myths about cannabis which have been debunked for years, but the mainstream culture hasn’t caught on to the truth yet due to continued government propaganda. I’m writing this post because I hate lies, I hate injustice, and I hate being manipulated or watching others manipulated by corrupt, greedy, or morally zealous people in power. A shift is coming and 75 years of lies are finally starting to crumble. I hope that this post can help push that shift right along.
PS - There is no doubt that some people do have withdrawal symptoms, but that is a small minority of users and only seems to happen to long term heavy users. The vast majority of people will have no withdrawal symptoms or very minor ones like what I experienced. Some people have addictive personalities or are bio-chemically different in a way that makes them susceptible to addiction. Those people should be very careful about what they put in their body.
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Last edit: 19/12/2011 11:01
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DaEm0niCuS United States. Dec 19 2011 11:57. Posts 3292
terrybunny19240 United States. Dec 19 2011 13:10. Posts 13829
I started a weed hiatus and pretty much stopped smoking cold turkey ~4 weeks ago. I had zero physical withdrawals and sometimes I get bored and think, "damn I want to blaze" but tbh it was a lot easier to stop smoking than it has been to stop playing heroes of newerth ;o (tho this is 90% because I have good friends who I only really interact with thru that game). It doesn't even register that I "quit", its no different than "oh I just noticed I haven't gone to the movie theater in X amount of time". Getting blazed is just a legit enjoyable activity so its perfectly reasonable that it'll pop into my head as something I want to do (like kayaking does).
Cancer risk.. yeah dunno, gonna leave that one alone for now.
I've been a daily user of cannabis for the last 7 years or so and the only withdrawal symptoms I've experienced was loss of appetite. I would sometimes go the whole day without eating a morsel if I hadn't token up.
And of course there's the increased risk of cancer... people are inhaling smoke into their lungs. There's always the option of eating medibles or using a vaporizer, though.
I keep going and going but Im not the pink bunny. Instead of beating on a drum I never stop thinking money.
On December 19 2011 10:57 DaEm0niCuS wrote:
And what about the increased risk of cancer?
There is none. Not a single case of cancer has ever been recorded in a cannabis only smoker. The US govt funded a study by Dr. Donald Tashkin to prove that cannabis was associated with cancer, and they ended up finding exactly the opposite - zero connection between cannabis and cancer:
Tashkin is the doctor who first found evidence for some lung damage from cannabis smoking, so the govt funded him to do the exhaustive cancer study because they were excited at the idea of having him prove the connection. He was surprised at the result, because he expected to find a connection. He stands by his results though. Watch the youtube video to see him explain the study in depth.
i used to think of your posts as having some degree of integrity, until, well, your sheer amount of bullshit fucking donkey-testicles.
as a result, i will not read.
- this is coming from a pro-pot person in canada
c'est la vie
What are you talking about? What is wrong with my post? It's backed by all the latest science and my personal experience. Are you saying I made this all up? What is your drama about?
i used to think of your posts as having some degree of integrity, until, well, your sheer amount of bullshit fucking donkey-testicles.
as a result, i will not read.
- this is coming from a pro-pot person in canada
c'est la vie
Btw you don't have to listen to me, listen to some people with PhD's and medical degrees:
Cannabis and Addiction
Most people who smoke marijuana smoke it only occasionally. A small minority of Americans - less than 1 percent - smoke marijuana on a daily or near daily basis. An even smaller minority develop dependence on marijuana. Some people who smoke marijuana heavily and frequently stop without difficulty. Others seek help from drug treatment professionals. Marijuana does not cause physical dependence. If people experience withdrawal symptoms at all, they are remarkably mild.
-In a study conducted at the Federal Narcotics Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1960s, ten men were kept constantly “high” with at least one marijuana cigarette during every waking hour for thirty days. Upon the abrupt cessation of smoking, no withdrawal symptoms were evident.
-In a recent survey, 16 percent of high-dose marijuana users reported some withdrawal symptoms upon quitting, most commonly nervousness and sleep disturbance. (As marijuana has the effect of relaxing users and helping them sleep, this might be seen more as a return to baseline)
-A 1991 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report to congress states that: “Given the large population of marijuana users and the infrequent reports of medical problems from stopping use, tolerance and dependence are not major issues at present.”
-Two pharmacologists independently ranked the dependence potential of six psychoactive drugs: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Both ranked caffeine and marijuana as the two least addictive, one ranking marijuana as slightly less addicting than caffeine.
Source: Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D and John P. Morgan, M.D. “Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts.”
This looks like really cool stuff, just skimmed it. On a short holliday, can't wait to read when I get home. Thanks
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Venrae United States. Dec 19 2011 19:37. Posts 1545
are you sMi.NewB?
Learn to appreciate the value of the dollar. The rest is easy. (Hurricane @ TL)
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ZealoT_uK United Kingdom. Dec 19 2011 21:29. Posts 43
Well as a member of the small minority who find it extremely difficult I must say I envy you.. although withdrawal symptoms only last around 3 days and it's not the end of the world ;p.
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traxamillion United States. Dec 19 2011 21:46. Posts 10468
it is not physically addictive.
quitting weed is nothing, try quitting painkillers after your doctors have you on strong opiate narcotics
I had lots of withdrawl symptoms and it took me about 2 years before i stopped dreaming about smoking cannabis 2-3 times a week at night ...
but allthough cannabis was my main "drug" that i used daily i did lots of other drugs occasionally which might have been big part in my withdrawl symptoms when i stopped doing drugs completely.
U see what i did there with A8 ? He 4 bets and there we go insta jam A8 : ---booooom -- . hahahaha ( Krantz)
I tried a lot of stuff and cannabis seems easier to quit than anything else I have tried, even Coke (the ones you drink) are harder to quit than cannabis. I do get a little trouble falling asleep but no real craving, well maybe a bit psychologically but it is easier to ignore than anything else I have tried.
I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left
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hoylemj United States. Dec 20 2011 00:53. Posts 840
I don't know anything about smoking cig. or cannabis and each ones link to cancer, but I've heard that smoking does more damage to your heart than your lungs.
you can point out many bad things that have been proven about weed and good things
but i think its safe to say that your life now depends on weed, sure you can go few days/weeks with out it but none of the stuff you do is fun if your not high, right ? its a life style and its maybe not psychically addictive but mentally it sure is.
i know people who have smoked weed for many years and most of them are fine but some of them are really weird.
and two years of smoking weed is not that long of a time imo, the people i know began acting weird after about 5 years of smoking. blog again after 5-10 years or more.
but getting in a argument with a weed smoker is like getting in an argument with a religious person, no one is going to give in, that means that i will not be writing on this thread again, this is my input.
85/3
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zaragyemo United States. Dec 20 2011 01:27. Posts 135
On December 19 2011 12:12 devon06atX wrote:
lol
i used to think of your posts as having some degree of integrity, until, well, your sheer amount of bullshit fucking donkey-testicles.
as a result, i will not read.
You won't know what BS would look like even if one hit you right in the face.
On December 20 2011 00:25 wr3ckl3sss wrote:
you can point out many bad things that have been proven about weed and good things
but i think its safe to say that your life now depends on weed, sure you can go few days/weeks with out it but none of the stuff you do is fun if your not high, right ? its a life style and its maybe not psychically addictive but mentally it sure is.
i know people who have smoked weed for many years and most of them are fine but some of them are really weird.
and two years of smoking weed is not that long of a time imo, the people i know began acting weird after about 5 years of smoking. blog again after 5-10 years or more.
but getting in a argument with a weed smoker is like getting in an argument with a religious person, no one is going to give in, that means that i will not be writing on this thread again, this is my input.
first of all, you obviously don't smoke weed and probably haven't tried more than several times. The many "proven" bad things you are talking about is the propaganda from your TV that you take as truth. Once having a bad opinion of marijuana, it is safe to assume you would consider an enlightened, open-minded person a weirdo. It is also safe to assume that your life revolves around washing your teeth since you do it on a daily basis. It is also safe to assume that, having the habit of forming your opinion based on TV, you are not that smart and would make connections where there aren't any such as "X and Y are my only friends who have been smoking weed for 5 years and are totally fucked up, therefore it is the marijuana that made them fucked up." I can give you a ton of studies, documentaries, science on the subject, but being narrow-minded you would be unwilling to change either your opinion or the way you form it. Most of my friends are like you, unfortunately. I know what it's like to have a solid opinion on subjects you know NOTHING of. I have talked hours and hours and the brainwash damage is very hard to be undone. But that's exactly how you like it, right? Being an ignorant fuck thinking you know everything about everything without having done the proper research, or even a minor one. Sad.
Zep: When I said I feel obligated to troll, it was a figure of speech
On December 20 2011 15:25 jonafern wrote:
why do weed smokers always like to brag about how safe and good weed is? it's not addictive.. yet you smoked every day for years. 'It's a happy drug'.
Please keep smoking for few more years, then write another post on how good your life is.
because when you use a substance on a daily basis it is good to know what are the pros and cons. That's why many pot smokers have done research on marijuana. We like to brag about how safe and good weed is for a very very unbelievable, strange and weird reason - it is safe and good. WOOOOW. Does it make sense? Do you need time to assimilate it? There are things that are amazing and healthy at the same time. They are mostly natural. But it's not good for the business and that's why those in power want it banned and the media is their protege. The target are ignorant sheep like you. All they need to do is call it a "drug" and sheeple starts repeating "weed is a drug, it's bad, it makes you a zombie killer and kills your brain cells". Get a brain, it's safe and good for you .
Zep: When I said I feel obligated to troll, it was a figure of speech
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RaiNKhAN United States. Dec 21 2011 15:45. Posts 4080
I think it just depends on the person k2o4. You already stated that you smoke carefully and organize yourself a bit, but i would be shocked if it were this simple for the majority of people who smoke and don't have the money to afford cleaner pot/methods to smoke from
The biggest Rockets, Sixers, and Grizzlies fan you will ever meet!
On December 21 2011 14:45 RaiNKhAN wrote:
I think it just depends on the person k2o4. You already stated that you smoke carefully and organize yourself a bit, but i would be shocked if it were this simple for the majority of people who smoke and don't have the money to afford cleaner pot/methods to smoke from
It definitely depends on the person and the frequency and the environment and so on, there are lots of variables. But the studies have found that the vast majority don't face this problem - acute users almost never have any sort of symptoms from stopping use, it's insanely rare. You need to be a chronic user for a sustained period of time to have any withdrawal symptoms. So that's a small % of overall cannabis users. Of that small %, the majority have either no withdrawal symptoms or very minor forms of symptoms from the list I quoted. A small % of those chronic users end up with tough withdrawal symptoms, but even those guys are facing withdrawal symptoms which pale in comparison to something like alcohol withdrawal. So in reality, cannabis withdrawal is a very small problem in the grand scheme of things. I used the word "myth" because the anti-cannabis zealots like to act like cannabis withdrawal is a big problem, when it clearly isn't.
On December 20 2011 00:25 wr3ckl3sss wrote:
you can point out many bad things that have been proven about weed and good things
Please point out the bad ones that have been proven. After reading a plethora of articles, studies and books, watching documentaries and interviews, and meeting scientists who actually do research on cannabis, I'm having a hard time finding the "bad" things which have been proven.
I'm having a blast here on the east coast and I've been 100% sober since arriving. I don't need weed to have fun, not at all. Actually, those of us who use on a daily basis but don't have addictive personalities / bio-checmical predispositions actually prefer to balance out our sober and high time. I don't enjoy being high 24/7. Just like I don't enjoy playing SC2 24/7. Balance is essential and just cause I use daily doesn't mean I don't understand that. I apply the principle of balance to all parts of my life (of course I don't always succeed, but I strive for it), and that includes my cannabis use.
On December 20 2011 01:45 Fudyann wrote:
Nice writeup, but sample size too small to reject the nul hypothesis.
Of course, which is why I state that I am just one person and I also have several variables, like my physical health, which probably contribute to the lack of withdrawal symptoms. But I'm just one story of many similar ones, which the studies have backed up. Go check the numbers - the bottom line is that I'm in the majority, not the minority, when it comes to cannabis withdrawal.
On December 19 2011 23:53 hoylemj wrote:
I don't know anything about smoking cig. or cannabis and each ones link to cancer, but I've heard that smoking does more damage to your heart than your lungs.
Because of the way it effects the arteries - cannabis actually promotes blood circulation (hence the red eyes)
On December 19 2011 20:47 PplusAD wrote:
I had lots of withdrawl symptoms and it took me about 2 years before i stopped dreaming about smoking cannabis 2-3 times a week at night ...
but allthough cannabis was my main "drug" that i used daily i did lots of other drugs occasionally which might have been big part in my withdrawl symptoms when i stopped doing drugs completely.
Yeah these are some serious confounds. I'm a single drug user (the occasional alcohol and cigarette, and if I could I'd love some hallucinogens), so I don't have to deal with those other variables.
On December 19 2011 20:46 traxamillion wrote:
it is not physically addictive.
quitting weed is nothing, try quitting painkillers after your doctors have you on strong opiate narcotics
Yeah, that's another great point - we have to remember the contrast. The legal drugs they prescribe us cause serious withdrawal symptoms, while even the rare person who experiences all of the symptoms listed above doesn't even come close to that suffering.
On December 19 2011 18:37 Venrae wrote:
are you sMi.NewB?
yes ^^
InnovativeYogis.com
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offsuit United States. Dec 27 2011 10:45. Posts 152
I quit smoking weed about 3 years ago, and it was the easiest thing to quit in my entire life. It's complete bullshit when people say things like "I'm addicted to marijuana" because you'll ask them "what kind of withdrawals are you having" and they'll be like "idk i can't sleep because i really wanna smoke" and that makes me want to fucking punch someone.
Like, seriously, if you're not having physical withdrawals you're not addicted. You're just being a whiny little bitch with no willpower. Same applies to cigarettes, yeah, I get cravings, but I don't get any physical withdrawals so I just man the fuck up and stick with my decision to stop smoking. It's different if you're like, puking up blood because your body needs heroin...
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United States. Dec 21 2011 15:45. Posts 4080
