Benefits of quitting cannabis

Hi Viking,

Hang on in there buddy, iff you av not smokd in a while mayb you could smok 1nce, I did yesturday and now I don feel the need to smok again!

GOOD LUCK!

I don't mean to butt in, but i'm new so forgive me.  I can't imagine smoking a j will do you any favours. It would make me miss it more. I hope it works out for you, whatever you decide.

Hi

I have already made my descision D: I don't smok joints, rizlas or tobacco, I have a glass water pipe and I normally smok a pea sized piece of weed through it, smok yesturday was invaluble to me, I have had load of skunk sitting around for my quit and managed not to smok it!

if you were serios about quitting you would throw it or smoke it all. Having weed in the house is a comforter. Get rid of it all then see how you feel.

thats serious I mean.

No doubt it is a comforter, everyone has their way and this is mine, if I am here months from now having cut down to 1nce every 3 months I won't care if I need to keep a kilo under my pillow just to quit!

only time will tell..

Viking...NO.  Wait...if you haven't smoked by the time you read this....just wait.  Time cures all cravings...you won't still absolutely need it 2 hours from now.  Whatever you are going through find another way to relieve your tension.  Take a walk, hot shower, go get an ice cream...whatever will make you feel a bit better but don't smoke.  The only reason you are even considering it is because of your recent relapse...you made it 5 weeks without...you can do it!

Hi all well it seems we are all struggling at the moment...

Viking , it seems that you are thinking of going backto it all the time -  this seems different to what you were saying about doing it now and again and controlling it -   do you still beleive you can do it now and again,  or does it have to be all or nothing?  whatever your doing dont feel guilty though, its all your choice.

well after reading the posts about doing it occasionally i got the idea of trying it as a one off as my brother was coming round...I made the call and arranged to get some for us both.  To see how it was and ....well, to cut a long story short we ended up having a few, I enjoyed it, didnt feel guilty ,but realised that it could be an occasional pleasure maybe - if i can discipline myself!   

So before i went to bed i resolved to give the stuff to him for safe keeping... which i did although I asked him to leave a small amount (about the size of a pea)  to smoke on another 'occasion',  well after resisting it for a bit  I decided I better smoke it up and get rid of the temptation -  so here am , stoned for the first time in 3 months and posting on this forum...smoked most of it leaving a little bit for later - but then it will be gone.

I dont want to do it after that until Sunday, where I can forsee it happening again  as im going to a concert with my brother - but after that I have a busy week with lots of things involving my kids around the end of term - sports days etc - that i definitley dont want to be stoned for... That would be weed getting in the way  of my life!  What im envisaging is smoking it once a week when I dont have any responsiblilties...I don't know if i can control it yet and if it will slip back to the daily use that I worked so hard to escape from -  hope not!   But the thought of never doing it again in my life seems like pointless self denial - its a pleasure that Im denying myself,  because i fear it will lead to full time smoking.  But occasionally to enjoy it - and i find it pleasurable on occasion - seems ok , but i definitley dont want it to be so often that i cant enjoy and be able to do things stright.

Having three months off has been great and I know its the way i want to be - most of the time... If i can integrate the 'occasional' smoke so it really is 'ocassional.        Having smoked it I feel for the first time since i gave up a sense of relief, completeness and a heavy burden lifted ;   I just dont want to have to rely on the weed to do this for me all the time.      I feel like i still have a choice,  although Im aware that this could be the slippery slope.

I hope this is not discouraging others who are persisting with their quit!    I stuck to my quit because i wanted to.  Now I want to try being an 'occasional' smoker and see if my will power allows that.  Or if it has to be all or nothing...  If it does then i would choose nothing as straight is how i want to be the majority of the time.   So my plan is not  to worry too much about this sunday when i plan to smoke it, but then im going to try not to smoke it again until the next sunday.

Viking I hope you are not going through the feeling of ' I failed so i might as well go back to doing it all the time"   You are doing great and what you said about the occasional smoke seems to make sense to me as well at the moment - theoretically at least we still have a choice, to abstain or not...Im trying to put it into practise without feeling guilty about it - I agree that smoking all the time harms you in many ways, but a weekly smoke must be far less harmful as one has a balance of being straight for the vast majority of the time...Nothing is good when done to excess.

I will keep posted on how i fare.  You guys mean a lot to me.  I feel positive at the moment about my smoking and my plans to do it occasionally.  .   I know that if i do it all the time i get problems though, so im going to be honest and post when i do get stoned so i have a record of how much im doing it 'occasionally'.  And im acknowledging it you you guys too.

JIM

PS  I am really dealing with 2 things as I smoked tobacco with it which is given up for 3 months as well -  that is a seperate substance and its more addictive than weed in a way.  So i will have to watch out for that as well.  Maybe this thing is bigger than me and beyond my control!   I will have to keep an eye on it.

That graet jim, you hit my target of 1nce every 3 months!, can I ask how you consumed this 'pea sized' piece of weed?,

pea sized weed ftw!

hi there for a moment I thought you said 1 ounce every 3 months !   Now i realise you meant once every 3 months.!      Consumed it with tobacco.   It gone now -  I was planning to smoke on one evening of the weekend where i dont have the kids - trying to limit it to once a week as something positive to enjoy without it being every day.   Trouble is how do i ration it unless i get a friend to issue me with a pea-sized amount  at the weekend ....

I can imagine that if i set myself that limit and for some reason i couldnt have just that once smoke a week I would feel pretty upset, if i had built up on expectation of it,   so guess once  a week is still an addiction - perhaps part of the slippery slope!   I am feeling now that a bit more would be nice...its all gone so im going to hold out until sunday , the evening of my next planned intake,  and see how i feel about it then.

I could live with doing it once a week,  only if i dont suffer the rest of the week with cravings... If im constantly thinking about it , it might have to go altogether....however if i say to myself that i will have it sunday eve I might be able to assuage the thoughts of it.   Just dont know how id feel then if something came up that meant i couldnt have it on my planned evening!   I would probably postpone it to another free evening in the week.  Wow  can i actually control it ?  Or is it pulling me back in??

Hello, feel a need to reply as i really care & am so sorry to know that you are in such torment Viking.  Had i not become ill i'd probably be exactly where you are emotionally with it all!  Really wasn't getting high anymore, seemed like I was smoking just to be smoking.  I've a therapist that has been trying to convince me for years to give it up, and the only reason why i did is literally so i could breathe.  Don't be so hard on yourself.  In the beginning when i first quit, you wouldn't believe the times i bugged my ole man to give me some then two seconds later changed my mind!  It is hard, but i promise you it does get better!!!  I no longer crave pot in the least.  I'm around it 24/7 and it doesn't bother me.  We all deal with things differently-seemed like i kicked and screamed all the way..lucky i've any friends at all.  Just really hoping that whatever you decide to do it's what makes you happy!  take care!!

congrats newlife and shell..sounds like you're doing great!

welcome afraidofme!

Hi everybody. I didn't smoke! I had alcohol instead. I really don't want to go back to smoking all the time again....I just know that emotionally I'm in a difficult place right now. However, I know that I feel weak. When I feel like this, there is no occassional smoke, it's about getting rid of all the crap in my head. Smoking on sunday was about enjoying myself and hadn't I had such a shit week, maybe I wouldn't be thinking this way. I know that if I put too much weed in my system in one week, then it will be a slippery road back down. I just need to abstain for a while again. I don't think it's doing me any favours to be drinking, but I feel that I need to take the edge off this mood I feel. Thanks New life for your words of encouragement. It means alot. Jim, I really do think it's about experimenting and doing what feels right for you. I would say the same thing about not putting too much into your system again. Thanks Terri aswell...it's so nice to hear your support. Shell and Afraidofme, thanks for your advice also...you both seem to be handling your quit well but in different ways. I see both points of view and really I think that quitting is so personal. Thanks all again...your comments and support is really appreciated. xx

Thanks guys, hi terri, how are you doing!,

WELL DONE VIKING! I have a real urge to smok 2morrow but I am sure I won't I have my annoying friend bugging me 2 come over here later if they do I will just sit there and not smok, I don't let them smok tobacco inside so only way they can smok inside here is my glasspiece and I not getting that out because we all know where that leads!,

jim, what I meant was what medium do you use to consume the weed?, a joint or what?, as I thought a 'pea sized' piece is surly not enough for a joint, I have a glasspiece here you should look into getting one [and so should all of you who continue to smok], for whenever you do smok, they hugely reduce your intake of smok and are much less detremental to your health than any other form of smoking..

This is my one, very small and it was £50,

Well done Viking..good job not smoking. 

For me, the trick with the occasional smoking, and I'm no expert is to A)Not have any in the house B)Not have a set time, place where you can anticipate smoking C)Not do it more than once a week. 

It means for me in my circle of friends, saying no a whole lot more than saying yes.

It means every once in a while, it the time, situation calls for it, to be able to enjoy a couple puffs with some friends, or if I can bum a nug, I enjoy a little at home alone.

It's sort of like smoking cigarettes but being a social smoker.  You have to very disciplined to not smoke everytime you see one of your buddies smoking, but...if it's been a while and you've got a beer in your hand...why not?

I don't know how I feel about posting all this.  I feel like I have inadvertently contributed to members (my friends!) smoking again.  I just want everyone to exercise extreme caution, it makes it harder,  to stop again, but for some people it works. 

Anyhow, thanks for posting James, best wishes on your new journey...the occasional smoker, can we transform ourselves? I sure hope so...

viking i sympathise your going thru a tough time and well done on not smoking -   i think for me not having it around is helping as i think i would do it if i had it here.   I think there is a place for the occasional smoke , not out of need but out of a wish to enjoy it... I thank you all for advice and i think im not going to plan any smokes anytime soon. 

5hell  I got 5 'joints out of a pea- sized amount,  one-skin joints with tobacco... I can get a lot of mileage out of a small amount - perhaps it affects me more !    i dont want to go back to tobacco though so maybe the pipe a good idea -  but although the smoke of earlier on inspired me musically  i did notice a bit of anxiety/paranoia creeping in...definitley a down side and something i gave it up because of !

Im not feeling very clear about all this at the moment!   Thanks everyone for the feedback and for not judging me      dont worry newlife what you said about the occasional smoke brought a sense of freedom and i gave myself permission to do it rather than putting myself in the prison of self-deprivation - a lonely and frustrating place!!   I think its good to acknowledge that we are free to do what we want regarding smoking, doesnt mean we have to choose to do it all the time...

hope you find some relief for your head space viking ! thanks for the good words  

Not big on religion but something i learned in the program that i find myself using at times is the serenity prayer.  It just makes a lot of sense to me.  I resented it at 1st because of the God thing, but  a higher power can be anything that you admire or respect,  This site can be a higher power or a good friend that you can talk to.  Anyways just thought i''d toss that in there.

Yes great post terri, I think atheism is the most logical standpoint to take but then again this is the great conflict that millions have suffered and died for, jim just get one from EDIT it will get you of the rancid tobacco and help you to lower the amount of smoke you intake by 20/30 times..

Thanks Viking and new life and ery1 D:

Thanks Shell, for acknowledging my input.  The topic of this site is quitting pot..not quit.  I haven't posted for awhile because in same ways i thought i was doing more harm than good.  i felt like i had to say something positive when i didn't always feel positive.  It's a process and i'm right smack in the middle of it.  If i feel i can say something that may help someone i will, if not ...well i'm truly learning to keep my mouth shut.  i don't have the flair with words like some of us, i can only say what i feel and how i feel it.  damn there i go again.. thanx again for listening.  Viking and newlife you should be feeling amazed with yourselves at how far you've come!!