How I started to Quit Weed

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How to Quit Weed in 3 Phases

I reconstructed my own path to quit weed dependence into a three phase plan:

  1. Acknowledgement of your problem
  2. Tell the world you have a problem, talk about it to friends and family(probably the hardest part).
  3. Stop smoking

Consider your Habit as a Problem

This isn’t easy. You’ve probably never disturbed anyone  with it and most likely nobody will say or see you smoke too much. It is you that has to face the fact and admit it.

Think of the following things:

  • What have you missed out on in the past time? If the answer is nothing you have a problem. Everyone around you is doing stuff. Going to a theatre show, planning a cool trip, some friend jumping to a great carrier opportunity. Anything really. If it was you sitting and smoking on the sofa all day all that time, then it’s writing on the wall.
  • What’s with your love life? Boring girlfriends? Or is it you that’s boring? (Sorry, I only know the story from a boy’s point of view) Or are you still the manual love expert? Keeping your real desire secret for your loved one? I know, I’ve been there. You want something different, but when the chance is there you’ll rather go away and smoke a spliff. After all, the dream is better that the real thing.
  • Missed opportunities. Probably a ton of ‘em. Dropped out of law school? (like me). Too smart for a normal job? Yeah, you are special, but does the world know that? The truth: The world doesn’t care what a perfectly normal pot smoker thinks. The world wants action and results. Don’t you?

Ring a bell? Then consider yourself an addict and do something about it. You can help yourself. All you need is a perspective, an attainable goal.

Tell the World

Stop making it a secret. Most people around know it anyway. Your friends and loved ones care. So many great friendships I just pushed overboard by not listening to these people. They offered me opportunities, socially and even financially.

Even if you don’t succeed quitting weed the first couple of times, your friends will remember you were frank to them and will not give up on you. Do not feel ashamed. Everybody’s got problems, and solving them starts with talking about them. Acknowledging them.

Now it’s time to quit that weed

I will give more tips and advice on spending your normally smoked-away time in other posts. But for a change, start listening to your friends’ suggestions and participate in their ventures, however dull they might seem. It will distract you from your cravings.

Go out with them, take a vacation. Anything you never did because you were stoned. Basically, it comes down to exploring the world around you. Seeing and feeling what was under your nose all that time.

If you understand this and actually do this, you’re off to a good start!

I did all of this myself.

And it worked so well, that I got so psyched up I needed to get down from it. Smoke a dooby, you know. So it didn’t make me quit totally, but it was a start. And without a start, you’re still one base one.

The Myth about the Doorway Drug

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Many things, good and bad, are being said about marijuana. Many of them are true. In fact, the truth is in the eye of the beholder. This counts especially for marijuana.

One thing though, is absolute nonsense: The doorway drug theory

Myth of the Doorway Drug

In short, the theory claims that the road to a hard-drug addiction starts with the use of marijuana.

The marijuana user will reach a certain point of rush-saturation and will search for a harder drug to fulfill his needs. This may be the case for some, but I think it’s highly improbable since massive use of weed will work as a downer and will only make you very hungry for food.

Also, the rush is very different than with the hard stuff.

Yes, most  junkies started with marijuana, but all marijuana smokers stuck too weed all through their addiction.

Hell, if that theory is true, then cigarettes and alcohol are a doorway drug too. But no fan of the doorway theory will ever admit to that, since tobacco and alcohol are socially accepted. Not to mention the money made with it by producers, retailers and the state.

Legalize?

As most of you know, smoking weed is allowed in Holland. Also the sale of grass is regulated through coffeeshops. Only weed and hashies are sold. Hard drugs and alcohol are strictly forbidden there. Selling weed outside of coffeeshops is prohibited, just as in the rest of the world. The Coffeeshops are the official dealers, so to say.

This is a good thing. First of all there is some controll and the step to the hard stuff is just as big as without weed.

The doorway drug problem lies in the illegality of weed. Dealers might sell more than just weed, so the step to hard drugs is a lot smaller. Just imagine your dealer saying “Sorry man, ran out of weed, but I got some great pills instead!”.

This is a real possibility, since the dealer makes more money with  hard drugs than with weed.

I think that pulling marijuana out of illegality will make talking about weed addiction and recognizing it a lot easier. And therefore fighting weed addiction in general will become more effective.

Why Quit Weed

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Why I Quit Weed

Smoking weed has played a major role in my life. I have been at it since I was fourteen, became a daily user at the age of sixteen and until I turned thirty-one I smoked about four spliffs a day.

There were days that I smoked less and even days I smoked nothing at all. Yes, even weeks, but these were very rare and mostly due to the fact that I was in a foreign country.

Quitting weed was never really an option for me. I considered smoking weed a relaxing and inspirational habit and not an addiction. The funny thing is that I did see my cigarette habit as an addiction. How easy it is to fool oneself…

Upcoming Fatherhood as a Quitting Weed Trigger

When I heard I was to become a dad, one of the first things that came to mind was to quit my marijuana habit. Having a stoned role model as a father wasn’t my idea of proper child-raising.

But hey, birth was still seven months away so there was no rush. So I kept on smoking.

And there lies the dilemma many of us quitter wannabees suffer: We all know it’s a bad habit, but we’re not prepared to admit that we are indeed addicted. We don’t want to see the problem. And that’s because we cannot see it. Our minds are blurred and hazy. And therefore our vision is blurred.

So when the big day came, I still hadn’t quit weed.So I altered my plan: My son was never to see me smoking or rolling a joint.

Since my son was born, I did steadily smoke less and less. I could go for weeks without, but I still had these cravings. At night, when my wife and son were sleeping I would smoke my spliff outside and then chill in front of the TV. Like in the old days.

No one was bothered and all was fine. Although in the morning I had a hard time getting up. I never really enjoyed playing with my son in the morning. I was not being the kind of dad I always imagined I would be.

It nocked down my self esteem.

Time to get crackin’

This was obvious to my wife. One day we had an argument about me spending too little time with our son. And then she just said it: “Quit smoking that weed or we will leave you sooner than you can roll up your next one!”

I was shocked. She never complained about me smoking before. That one hit the spot.

Need I say more?

I stopped. But  it was still a long way to go from fearing her decision to really understanding why she said those words…

Weed, a Social Drug?

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How Social is Weed?

The picture of pot-smoking that many people have is a group of people, peacefully sharing a joint together and having a laugh.

Nothing wrong with that. But looks can be deceiving.

Let me dissect this picture into the individual emotions of the people of this group. Let’s say this group consists of three guys and a girl.

  • Guy one: A hardcore kind of guy, smoked anything smokeable before and doesn’t really care about quality, as long as it gets him high
  • Guy two: An absolute newbie in the smoking scene. He’s curious and all, never really got properly stoned.
  • Guy three: The connoisseur. Knows a lot about the technicalities and the ‘Art of Smoking’. You know, the weed intellectual, talks a lot of shit but smokes it too if he gets the chance.
  • The girl: Ah, the girl. She doesn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of the others, but she doesn’t want to miss out on the fun either. A difficult situation, but it’s one women are a master at managing.
  • The weapon: One gram of orange bud and two papers.

Guy three rolls up the dooby according to the art of rolling a good one. This of course takes a long time and a lot of talk. This annoys guy one, he’s seen and heard it all many a time. Guy two is fascinated. The girl acts bored.

Take off! The spliff is lit and guy three takes a couple of deep drags. He blows the smoke out slowly and -the gentleman he is- passes it to the girl, saying nothing. He talked enough already. Guy two is still fascinated as he watches the girl take a well-practised theatrical puff and pass it directly to him. She gives a light cough. Sweet..

At this point guy one is getting even more annoyed. This is taking ages! He wants to get high pronto! His thoughts: “Mister perfect on my left has had the strongest part of the joint; OK, it’s his grass, but I’m his buddy, he knows I want it badly! OK the girl wants it badly too (giggle) but why the green leaf? He’ll probably mess up the whole spliff anyway. He doesn’t even know how to inhale! What a waste!”

Just after guy two has had his second drag, guy one impatiently grabs the spliff and takes three long and deep puffs. The ash cone grows longer than what’s left of the joint.

“Dude, you’re over-heating it!” says  Intellect. “Don’t you tell me how to puff man!” says Hardcore. Newbie is still fascinated by Girl.

Silence. Girl chuckles. Silence. Hardcore grabs the second paper and frantically starts rolling another one. This time he’s going to get the best part. Intellect doesn’t say a word about it. Weed is a peaceful herb after all and he’s busy cooling the overheated joint anyway.

Newbie is now intrigued by the size and shape of the hardcore spliff as Girl inhales the last part of the first spliff. The filter kick. Awful taste, loud cough. “Oh shit, how silly must this look”, she thinks.

Hardcore has had his fair share of number two and proudly passes it to Intellect , as if telling him this is the only correct way to do it. Buddies first. Intellect doesn’t see it, he’s only interested in Girl now. But girl has started a conversation with Newbie, which in turn kind of annoys Intellect.

Hardcore doesn’t see or care anymore, he’s stoned and happy.

Newbie doesn’t understand what Girl is saying. He takes another hit and coughs loudly. Wow, hardcore joint…

Intellects intellect is numbed. Stoned and frustrated. But stoned and therefore happy.

And Girl? I can’t tell really, since I’m a guy.