Life after Marijuana

[MsMotivator]

Longtime MNer, NC for this:

I’m 42 and gave up smoking marijuana 6 weeks ago. I’d smoked
every day since 15. I tried to give up many times, even paying for hypnotherapy didn’t work. Eventually, I realised that I’d had enough! That was it, there was no other reason that I can put my finger on (my dd just turned 13 and I think that the thought of her living with this addiction might have been the kick up the arse I needed)!!!!

It was sooo tough at first. I would crave it every night so I would have a drink so that I wouldn’t be able to drive to my dealer, hoping that the cravings would pass. Christmas helped because it kept me busy.

Tonight I realised that I’m at home on my own, my dc are at their dad’s and I don’t crave for a joint. I am so proud of myself that I think I might have cracked it!

I know that with any addiction, it is a lifelong battle. I’ve made the mistake before of thinking that ‘I’ve not had a joint for 3/4 weeks so I can have ‘one’ and it will be okay!? Or I can only smoke when my dc are at their dad’s at the weekends, but I’ve not managed to do that since I separated from dh, so I knew that wasn’t an option for me.
I know it will never be ‘okay’ for me. Like an alcoholic, I’ll probably never be one of those people who can have one every now and again.

Just wanted to share my personal achievement really, I feel proud of myself, but it’s something I can brag about on FB

Well done OP! It takes a lot to quit something to addictive after so long and you put your DD first to make sure that she’s not affected by the addiction. Fingers crossed for you that you remain off it; it’s absolutely vile stuff!

It's a psychological addiction/dependency, not a physical one. If you're used to smoking weed you will look forward to and be sad - maybe not sleep - without it for a while but you wont become ill like you would going cold turkey from hard drugs or alcohol addiction.

Well done you!

I've known many who smoke or have smoked it but never for so long or so regularly - 27 years! Give yourself a pat on the back.

Did you smoke it with tobacco or in a bong?

@Dearymeop thank you for your kind words. I know so many people who have been so brutally affected. As with alcohol, I figured, because I had a job and functioned well in society, that I was okay.

I hold positions in my community that would not be associated with an habitual drug taker

Good luck. It will be great to be free of it. 🍀

@Bluerussian I didn’t smoke weed, too strong and stinky for me. I smoked resin/puff with tobacco. I’m surprised that even discussing this online hasn’t made crave a spliff

@Ladycoo1 thank you

What effect has it had on your children?

I'm asking as my partner smokes and has done since I met him. We have a 4 year old and he sometimes smokes it on her presence (which I hate) so she's aware of the smell and it's now a norm in her life.

@ElefanteIntheroom I like to think it had no direct impact on them, but I know I’m kidding myself.
My dh and I never smoked in front of the dc.
The inhaling of weed will effect their brain development. This isn’t why we didn’t do it, I only know this because I have learnt about children’s brain development through my job.
We made the decision not to smoke in front of our kids because we grew up in an area where it was ‘normal’ for people to ‘puff’ all the time. I’ve seen generations of people who took drugs in front of their kids and because it was so normalised, no one batted an eyelid when their own kids took drugs. Weed and cocaine were a normal, everyday thing. That is not what I want for my kids

You should be really proud of yourself OP, even more so from your update about how it’s really normalised in your community. So often we see people making excuses on MN and IRL about ‘oh well my kids are surrounded by it, my neighbours do it, my parents do it blah blah blah so why should I give it up?!’. Good for you, you know the risks and have taken action to change things and potentially change the course of your DD’s life in future.

@Dearymeop I moved to this country as a small child, to a deprived area where it is such a normal part of every day life for some families. A large city in this country, and I don’t think people realise how some live. I come from a western country where trhying recreational drugs in your teens is normal. I just don’t think that most people realise how prevalent drug taking is. Children aged 10+ we’re regularly smoking marijuana and the parents would say ‘I’d rather they were smoking at home where I could make sure they were safe’! Very messed up

MsMotivator, I certainly don't want to trigger you, sorry. I was merely thinking that tobacco is more addictive and obviously harmful to your health. However you know that and it isn't illegal.

Cocaine is very dangerous as well as being expensive. I'm surprised so many people (from deprived areas as you have said), do it. I wonder what their nostrils are like after a while.

Anyway you've done very well.