tl;dr - cannabis is an important pillar of my life. the same is true for many millions of other people. and there is nothing to be ashamed of.
it hit me while masturbating in the shower, i’m never going to be completely sober. i need drugs to function as a member of society. and that’s alright with me.
i also know, more importantly, that there are millions of other people like me all over the planet. most of us just hide to survive.
edit:
i only smoke concentrated cannabis. sativa strains preferably.
i don’t consume any other drugs. i used to. but not anymore.
i used to regularly consume alcohol, caffeine, LSD, MDMA, shrooms, cocaine and salvia divinorum. nothing like the DMT and designer psychedelics of today.
i feel fortunate to have lived through my own experience of drug culture and walked out the other side.
I feel this way too. And have a similar history of other types of drugs used. Not that I chose to stop doing them tho but really lost access (plug stopped plugging).
My partner is concerned about the smoke in my lungs, which is a fair point. So I do mostly edibles, only weed these days. I still have a couple pre-rolls on hand in case a friend stops over or I don’t wanna wait 2 hours for the gummies to hit.
I can stop long enough to pass a drug test, I have a stable job, I own a house, have a partner of 8 years now (wow) so I wouldn’t consider myself a “failure” or a “junkie” or anything like that.
Being high is just better imo. I feel better, I smile more, I worry less. The only downside is if i go spaceman and my partner wants to have a serious talk she’s just SoL for a few hours but all in all I don’t think I’ll ever stop and tbh I don’t really want to.
A large percentage of “I need this drug/drink to function” people eventually face some measure of change in their lives that force them to start learning how to manage themselves without outside chemicals or medication.
It may be you, it may not be. The point is, don’t get set-in on “policy” because you may want to change your life and need to understand that the discomfort of change is only temporary and the brain rewires itself to new conditions.
It does get old after a while.
edit: I am fully prepared for the reflexive defensiveness that this topic produces. Please look up psychological addiction even if you feel offended by the very notion. Especially if you feel offended by the notion. Ask me how to get out if you’re starting to feel that trapped feeling and wondering if things ever get better.
If you get high to cope, your situation might change, and then you might stop getting high. If you get high because you’re stubborn, well, that sucks.
I feel much better after reading this thread
I was high for 20 years almost 24/7. I made some life changes and these days I get high maybe around 10 times a year. And those times that I do, its special and not just ordinary. Life is so much better when my brain can operate at a higher capacity. Not that I couldn’t cope while high - I was fine, but definitely not optimal, especially with short term memory. I guess if my job was not that demanding of mental clarity it would be a different situation.
I’ve been using cannabis for years and I love it. I am generally careful when it comes to developing dependencies. I check myself every once in a while and I don’t self medicate or pretend I’m taking it for pain or sleep or whatever. I take it because I like being high and I’m not ashamed of it.
I am worried about long-term effects. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s really freak me out and it would suck if there turned out to be a link there. But there’s a good chance something else will kill me before I get there and I’m not sure I want to give up something I so thoroughly enjoy just to live a little longer.
I tried taking a hiatus in January. I read about mental clarity coming back and feeling more rested. I felt none of those things. I also didn’t feel any intense cravings or withdrawal symptoms. Just boredom and dissatisfaction with life in general and I don’t have a lot of hope of that changing with or without weed.
Ngl I still smoke weed most days but since dabbling with shrooms all the other stuff doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Shrooms have also changed my perspective on what drugs truly are. You probably don’t really need them. But it’s not the end of the world if you keep taking them. You’re sacrificing time, money, physical health and the ability to overcome boredom creatively for the option of controlling your feelings to a degree. If that’s a fair trade to you then by all means. Just be sure it’s not only the drugs speaking.
I like drugs and I’d enjoy them more if they don’t wreck havoc on your health. I had fun and all but I was at the point where I’m like it’s time to stop and just stopped. I still drink beers socially though. Might get back on them when I’m 60-70+ just because.
I have to admit being and staying sober is much easier for me if I frame it as “it’s a period in my life where I want to be sober, I choose to be sober, that doesn’t mean I have pledged to stay sober until I die”, and allowing myself the idea of a future where I will drink again feels relieving - although I realize it will most likely not happen. So your sentiment with getting back on drugs at 60-70+ resonates with me.
I’ve smoked weed every day for years and couldn’t imagine life without it
Well, my close friends and I felt similar when we were young. Now we’re middle aged and realised we had a mix of undiagnosed neurodiversity, and are now are now on doctor-prescribed cannabis and/or stimulants.
I know that if my adhd meds were stopped, I’d have to go back to self-medicating with booze, weed and street drugs. But having access to reliable clean stimulants that help me do the stuff I want to do, have hobbies and keep a steady job and long-term relationships, has been life transforming. I’ve had a jar of weed in my drawer for over a year, because I’ve gone from smoking weed everyday to once every few months. And it’s not because I think weed is bad, or not fun, but just because my life is so much more rich and satisfying and busy (in a good way) that I don’t need to get baked to make it manageable.
Edit: didn’t mean for that sound preachy. There’s no problem with not being ‘sober’ of it works for you. But if there’s some underlying issue that the intoxicants help you deal with, I just wanted to share that it can be amazing if you can sort the issue out rather than mask it. But there’s always space for a delicious cocktail, some fragrant bud or taking some mushrooms at a rave in the deep forest.
If you count coffee, tea and energy drinks as a drug, then there are a lot of people like this.
D.A.R.E. taught me that shampoo was a drug.
I stopped caring about being labeled as a ‘drug addict’ after learning that if that applies to everyone who regularly showers.
Unless it was caffeinated shampoo we’re going to need an explanation
It’s because it’s a chemical that physically alters your body.
The entire class said it wasn’t a drug and got into an argument with the cop. We all knew that even if you label it “a drug”, it’s not like the actual drugs we’re talking about. No one is out there abusing shampoo.
It’s really no wonder that taking a D.A.R.E. class increases your likelihood of using drugs in adulthood.
That display case became a todo list for a lot of people.
I’m sorry wtf‽ Dare lied to me so much I can’t tell if this is sarcasm
Not sarcasm, unfortunately. I remember it as clearly as the marker and eraser… I mean “marker-juana” and “eraser-beer” we used to practice saying no to.
How‽ Also it amazes me that they thought peer pressuring kids into practicing saying no will ensure they’re resistant to peer pressure.
honestly no one should have to rawdog life in this day and age As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, rock on, friend
I too used to think certain things in my life would never change - until they did.
It’s an interesting realization when you’ve been telling yourself for decades that you need something, only to quit it and discover that not only did you not need it, but you’re actually better off without.
and discover that not only did you not need it, but you’re actually better off without.
IMO it’s a bit like going to parties/events. When you’re young you might feel as if you have to go, and if you’re older you stop doing that, and you’re fine and don’t feel as if you would need that at all.
But at the same time, if you had never gone to these parties, you would spend the rest of your life wondering what you missed …
So the reason why you don’t need it is because you got enough of it in the past; had you never had it in the first place, you would miss it.
I had this exact, acute thought as I was going up the sweaty people filled stairs into a rave hall.
“What the hell am I doing” and also: “Would I do this if I were 53?”
I looked down at my hard abs and skin-tight shirt and had a bit of a Zen moment, thinking: “Youth is wasted on the young. You’re young. Enjoy this opportunity.”
I was 21, I danced and partied my heart out that night and I regret nothing.
Sorry to say but there‘s a hiccup in your thinking: How can you know you would miss it, if you don’t know it?
I don’t know of I‘d miss skydiving, if I miss diving, if I miss flying or even racing. Because I never did it. Still I don’t miss it.
Until you relapse. There’s a reason people fall into bad habits and if those reasons are not addressed, the change is only temporary. Speaking from experience.
Few things are so normal and natural as a human consuming substances that change their conscious perception and mind.
Caffeine, often forgotten is by far the most consumed drug in the world being used by roughly 85% of people globally. “First coffee, then work” is a testimonial to how benign this fact is.
But what if you don’t like caffeine, what if you simply prefer the effects of something else? It’s your body, no one should be able to tell an adult what they can do with their own body and mind.
Just be conscious about it.
Know what you are taking.
Understand why you take it.
Study, learn what it actually does and how different doses/methods affect you.
Find how it does not affect you, what it can’t fix.
Look for help when you need it and don’t feel shameful for asking such. You are human after all.
This! Skilful use of substances is the key. Understand why you take it, how it works in your body and what you can do to get closer to the desired state or effect without using.
That is also why I believe the differentiation between legal and illegal substances is not helpful, as it often leads to a more careless (ab)use of legal substances like alcohol.
How hard are we talking? Like you need some thc in your system to deal with life? Popping percs? Functioning crackhead? There are levels
Only cannabis.
Personally I like to have a little weed buzz when I’m going about my day
That’s almost acceptable these days, as long as you’re not operating heavy machinery, responsible for taking care of others, or using it to escape a problem that could and should be addressed. And also not wrecking your lungs.
