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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Living with a weed smoker

58 replies

greenchilli · 04/01/2007 17:15

Happy new year everyone.

So here's the deal: DH smokes weed (yes marijuana). He smoked it when I met him, so did I. But I was 18.

So anyway we were both in our early 20?s when we started seeing each other properly and have been together for 7 years now. We have one gorgeous DD who?s 2. He has smoked weed since we?ve been together while I grew out of it back in my early twenties and I had hoped he would too but he hasn?t. In fact he smokes a lot more now - every weekend and also some week nights. He says it?s because he works hard and long hours?which he does and earns lots of money to take care of us?though I now work full time and earn a decent amount too. But the thing is anything that remotely challenges him like which he sites as, me nagging, the state of society, race issues, blab bla bla any little thing, he says ?see that?s why I smoke?. Always so many excuses for why he has to smoke weed says it help him to deal with stress same way that I have a glass of wine most evenings. The reason I don?t like it is not because he acts particularly different when he?s ?buzzing? for want of a better word. He acts pretty normal it?s just really annoying because I don?t think it is something that a good father should do and it doesn?t fit into my image of a model father/husband so it really grates on me to see rizla papers, broken cigarettes and tobacco lying around the coffee table, near our child?s toys and other innocent paraphernalia. I know he can live without it because we lived overseas for a couple of years where he couldn?t get hold of any and he seemed fine (though we didn?t have dd back then so life may have been less stressful in his opinion.)

One thing I will say though is that he seems to have lost all interest in other activities (no not talking about sex - that?s fine) but he doesn?t really have hobbies whereas he used to play football on a Sunday and see more of his friends., he now spends his weekends in front of the telly watching football and movies or playing computer games upstairs. He does play games with our dd and he is a good father to her but really he kind of seems to fit us in around his rolling up and going outside in the garden to smoke. Then when he comes in from a smoke if I ask him to do anything he says I?m ?killing his buzz?. When I met him he was a much more dynamic individual these days he doesn?t do much except for go to work and reluctantly help with chores after some nagging (though we recently got a cleaner so my resentment has subsided in this department). I wish he would just cut down, I?m not asking him to give it up all together which I think is pretty lenient of me. I want him to not stay up till 3 am smoking while I?ve gone to bed. I want him to wake up early on Saturdays and Sundays and hangout with me a dd and perhaps even suggest something for us to do together once in a while rather than going along with my suggestions or not going along with them if he?s too ?tired?.

Does anyone else live with a weed smoker who is otherwise a good person? I need some advice. He has no intention of seeking outside help?he doesn?t even think he needs help though occasionally he does talk of giving it up, but I never believe him as he doesn?t stick to it. It?s not a massive problem but at the same time, me being an early bird, gym-going, housework-doing person who likes to get out of the house and away from the TV whenever possible I feel our lifestyle aspirations clash; we?re totally out of sync with him wanting to do as little as possible and me wanting to do more. Also an added side effect is that he eats late at night when he gets the munchies (how fucking teenage does that sound? he?s 32) and has gained about a stone- mainly in the midriff - over the last year or two. Sorry to go on but it?s a dirty little secret that I need to get off my chest, can?t really talk to friends about it as I don?t want them to think of him in a bad light and I couldn?t bear their pity. Likewise talking to family is out of the question.

Help somebody!! I still love him but we?re growing apart and resentment is building up in me.

OP posts:
madamez · 04/01/2007 20:37

It might be helpful to consider it in the same way as alcohol: lots of people have a glass of wine with dinner and/or a few pints on a Friday night and it never becomes a problem. Same with some people and weed: one weak spliff at bedtime and/or a couple of tokes at a party now and again, and it doesn't escalate. However, the OP's bloke is in need of help because the infallible sign of a person having a problem with a substance is when they'd rather feed their habit than do anything else, and thast seems to be the case here.

Drusilla · 04/01/2007 20:38

I think Glassofwine is spot on. Speaking as a former fairly heaver weed smoker (when single) it sounds a bit like he doesn't feel he needs to do anything about the smoking. You seem to be runing yours and your DDs life without him having to put much effort in or make any decisions. Can you show him what you have put in your OP? I think you sound very easy going and not at all naggy - could this be part of his reluctance to do anything about it?

greenchilli · 04/01/2007 20:40

Boobooroastingonanopenfire: thanks for the link, will have a proper read when he's not about!

hoolagirl: yes staying up late annoys me as it feeds into the next day which means he'll sleep in and waste halt the day. But it's hard to tell a grown man when to go to bed. Unless I lure him up with the proposition of sex!

nothercules: yes I can leave him in her care...perhaps i made him sound permanently stoned. He's not. Like I said his smoking doesnt affect him like that. he's perfectly capable of functioning as normal after a smoke. I think perhaps the word buzz has got you thinking he's out of it, think of the buzz a regular smoker gets from a cigarette.

OP posts:
greenchilli · 04/01/2007 20:55

MidnightToker: sometimes he seems to want to stop but then other times he doesn't. he goes through patches of smoking less and then more at other times. But one thing's for sure when I try to talk to him about giving up I sound like a nag

lemonstartree: thanks for sympathy

martianbishop: have tried the health angle both mental and physical but water off a duck's back. Doesn't seem too bothered, he takes his 'good' health for granted.

SnafuOutOfHiding: normal family life...don't get me started on that one, he's an unusual character and doesn't really like to do things that normal people do (without heaps of persuasion from me) e.g. ocassionally he'll act like a normal person, mow the lawn take dd to the zoo, buy some groceries; then other times he'll have a rant about how pointless certain activities are like meeting friends in bars, having people over to dinner...he's not one for small talk and would rather have deep debates about the state of the world, blair and bush's treatment of the rest of the world, which for most people is a bit heavy for a drink in the bar or dinner at a friends house, so he kind of cuts people off for periods of time saying that he cant be bothered with pretentious chat while children are staving in Africa bla bla bla...he goes on and on! as I write this down I think he must sound crazy to you guys. maybe he is. maybe it's the weed it's made him crazy

OP posts:
Boobooroastingonanopenfire · 04/01/2007 20:58

greenchilli: do you think he's depressed?

He may be self-medicating, IYSWIM.

Glassofwine · 04/01/2007 20:59

It does sound like the sort of thing people say when they're stonned.

You didn't sound like a nag on here, I'm sure you could talk to him again. I find I get a better result with dh if I talk about how I feel rather then nagging or attacking. No one can deny how you feel.

hoolagirl · 04/01/2007 21:01

Works for me Greenchilli

Seriously, the bollocking I would give him is enough incentive

greenchilli · 04/01/2007 21:12

ameli: no not Asian
GarfieldsGirl: sorry you're having to deal with this too, and at the same time glad I'm not alone. It must be very hard for you to deal with the money thing too. My dh occasionally admits to having a problem, well he know's he's addicted and has said it several time but he says it as if it's not a bad thing like you can be addicted and just carry on. He always says that I couldn't give up alcohol so therefore I'm addicted to that...which is true I couldn't a teetotaler. but I don't drink to get drunk and have a total grip on the quantity I take in, in a week (well below the recommended # of units I'll have you know!! ). SO in a sense I accept that alcohol is a drug and would never dream of giving it up unless preg, however I would not wake up on a saturday morning and pour myself a glass of wine or drink in the middle of the day while dd is around. I guess I'm more concerned with the quantity and the times at which he smokes. I could live with friday and saturday evenings, just not in the week or during the day on sat/sun. know where I'm coming from? but how to get him to control it, cut down and function normally is the issue!!!

OP posts:
greenchilli · 04/01/2007 21:24

Boobooroastingonanopenfire: I don't know. I don't think so. How does one tell if someone is depressed? He never cries, he rarely shouts, he's pretty talkative and tells me what's going on at work, he's still interested in bedroom activity . I just dont know. I've got to go now...he's cooked me dinner! Maybe my last rant on tuesday about him shaping up, getting back to the gym and cutting down the weed has sunk in, though he didn't seem to take it too well, as I basically told him he's making me fall out of love with him with his slothful ways. I'll keep you all posted on this one. Thanks for your support. means a lot xx

OP posts:
suzycreamcheese · 04/01/2007 21:24

i do like to have something to smoke now and again, why not? occasionally is fine for me..

Blandmum · 04/01/2007 22:03

greenchilli.

he shouldn't take his good health for granted.

My dh is 44 and went from being fit enough to fly a plane to being given a life expectancy of 3-6 months (due to cancer) in the space of 2.5 weeks. I'm not kidding, I am utterly serious. And if he is that off hand about his health , he is an idiot. (dh never smoked btw)

madamez · 05/01/2007 07:09

Grrenchilli - I have a friend like this, it has taken years of kicking to civilise him even a little. You might like to point out to your twat of a DP some time that the suffering peoples of the world are not helped in any measure at all by him being obnoxious and rude to his family and friends, and his posturing about his noble suffering spirit might be more impressive if he actually did something that contributed to social change rather than sitting on his fat arse smoking dope and whining.

Sorry but I have no patience with self-righteous bell-ends who think that their feelings matter far more than anyone else's.

tch · 05/01/2007 08:33

greenchilli - You have my sympathies. DH has always smoked a bit; I never. He went through a phase of buying a big stash and just smoking his way through it. Drove me bloody nuts. Him falling asleep on the sofa every night, never having the motivation to do ANYTHING, late for work all the time, etc. He also said it was for stress and put me between a rock and hard place like I had to say that he could either drink a lot, or have a few smokes.

Anyway, I'm afraid that I think you'll have to tell him how you feel. It eventually hit my DH when I said that when he smokes regularly, I feel like a single parent. He's "there" physically in the house, but pretty much unavailable to me as a person. I can't talk to him about anything important, and I'm not on the same wavelength as him. (Had a similar convo recently on here about cocaine use and not being on a level with him, but that's another story.) People do change when they have kids or at least their priorities should change.

You're not asking him to change his personality (something DH once tried to tell me), you're asking him to put you and your DD before his weed smoking.

Eventually DH and I came to an agreement that I wasn't asking him to never smoke again, I was asking him to not buy large amounts (as he frankly just smoked his way through it until it was gone), I was NEVER to find tobacco or papers or those teeny bits of weed around the house and that smoking was for occasional use at parties etc. Eventually I was able to make him see how being "tired" the day after smoking (you know the feeling) was affecting his work as he had no motivation. Sometimes he now goes out with certain mates and brings a bit home, which gets on my nerves, but it's really only a few spliffs worth - not the ounce he used to buy!

There's no simple answer and it does take a long time of bargaining, reasoning and reminding him how you feel.

It worked for me to keep playing on how alone I felt in the relationship when he was in his own world. Perhaps there's a particularly feeling that really gets to you that you can talk about?

Most importantly, I had to try not to nag, and never talk about it when he was actually stoned as it gets you nowhere as you know.

It does put one at a disadvantage when you do or used to do drugs as well. It's so easy for them to say, "But you're the one who has changed," or "it never used to bother you."

Persevere, because I'm sure you feel he'll be his "old self" when he cuts out, or drastically cuts down the weed.

I don't know if it's an option for you, but recently my DH decided (after some encouragement) to have some Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. It's helping him to learn to deal with the stress of his job, and his inherent lack of motivation and other personality disfunctiionalities and making him feel less like he needs a drink/ smoke after work to relax.

I wish you luck.

noddyholder · 05/01/2007 09:25

I have always thought that a bit of cannabis is fairly harmless and have enjoyed it myself quite majorly when I was younger BUT now that my brother has been diagnosed with cannabis induced psychosis and I have a bit of knowledge about this via his doctors i must admit I do not see it as so innocent in the long term The legal issue and being stoned I have no issue with but the long term effects can be devastating and can occur at any time although are more likely to get the psychosis if you began smoking at a young age.Just to see my brother who was a gorgeous groovy young man doddering around on medication to stop extreme psychotic episodes is heartbreaking so that is reason enough to stop not to mention the fact that he has you and his children to consider

suzycreamcheese · 05/01/2007 12:42

i didnt mean to sound flippant..its very hard to live with anyone with any addiction / side effects...first port of call as always though is for them to identify it as a problem

MidnightToker · 05/01/2007 14:15

As far as I am aware, no study has ever conclusively established a causal link between cannabis use and depression, schizophrenia or any other psychotic illness. What studies have shown is that if an individual is genetically predisposed to these conditions then sustained cannabis use, particularly from an early age, can trigger them.

IMO, cannabis used sensibly and moderately by adults (NOT teenagers) is no more or a threat to society than alcohol or tobacco.

MidnightToker · 05/01/2007 14:16

No more 'OF' a threat than alcohol etc....

dhdoes · 05/01/2007 14:46

I'm a regular mnetter.....I've just changed as I have RL MN friends and I wouldn't want my dh judged by anyone....

He has smoked it since I met him 13 years ago....
He smokes it throughout the day...and well into the night...
He is a dedicated father to our children, he runs a successful business, and TBH I don't know him any differently!!!!!!

The only time it begins to become apparent is when he has run out...or decides to give it a break,then he gets moody,his sex drive(rather irritatingly) goes through the roof and he bites his finger nails like nobody's business!!
He doesn't smoke in the house while the children are around...usually when they have gone to bed he will.
I had never noticed if it stops him wanting to do anything...we have always gone for walks on a weekend with the children and the dogs and he has always persued his hobby.
He has always managed to get up and be at work for 9am (and he sometimes doesn't come to bed until 3/4 am)
Weekends he stays in bed until 10/11 ish)

I really don't have a problem...
I don't know him any other way...now that is sounding quite scary!!!!!!!

greenchilli · 05/01/2007 15:18

I'm at work so can't write much but thanks for your comments once again.

dhdoes: glad I'm not alone...means a lot to know that he's not some kind of freak (not saying that this is the norm either). But similarly to your DH he gets up for work everyday and does a really good job, he's enjoying a great career etc...even when he doesn't smoke at the weekend (on those rare occasions) he's still quite a home body so I dont know if that's just his nature or if the weed makes him more home bound. I'm just going to see how it goes...xxx

OP posts:
Boobooroastingonanopenfire · 05/01/2007 16:43

MidnightToker, I agree with you.

It's a hard thing to talk about, because so many people are so scared of it (partly due to the government - until quite recently - lumping it in with much harder drugs).

It sounds like greenchilli's DH's use is causing a problem in their relationship, though. Hence my link to the help-site, which basically gives the same advice as one would to the partner of someone with a drinking problem.

Hope you can sort things out greenchilli.

redclover79 · 05/01/2007 16:49

Greenchilli, you have my sympathy. I wish I could offer you some advice but what works for oneperson won't work for another... My dp smoked and dabbled in other stuff when we met, but gradually gave up the party drugs while I was pg, and just smoked pot. I never asked him outright to give up anything and I think he could take some pride in stoppping of his own accord iyswim... I started smoking cigarettes again after I gave birth (I was weak willed and it was easy with all the tobacco etc easily to hand). tbh I don't think either of us would have given up our respective habits had my best friend not died of cancer 6 months after ds was born (not smoking related but shocking enough). Had this not happened I don't think either of us would have woken up to the reality of what would eventually happen to us, or what our ds would have to go through if we carried on. We didn't give up until 3 months after she died, and it was me pushing to give up cigarettes without the added pressure of tobacco/cigs lying about the house... Giving up wasn't easy and we were both utter arses for a few weeks, but it was undoubtedly the realisation of what might unfold 10 years down the line.
I think you need to find a way of helping your partner face up to what he is doing and how he is affecting his family. My dp has had a few moments where he's thought himself not ready to be a father (as recently as 6 months ago he wanted to be able to go out and get wrecked with his mates etc), ds was 2!
It's hard to say how you should handle him, evryone is different and what works for one person doesn't work for another. IME I had to be really clear what I wanted and to stick to my goals without falling off the wagon. I suppose in some ways dp was along for the ride! For my dp it was the realisation that it wasn't the drugs that made his life what it was, it was everything else in it.

noddyholder · 05/01/2007 16:53

Midnight toker there are extensive studies now that show a very particular type of psychotic illness which is solely seen in long term cannabis users.I wanted to argue the case with my brothers doctors as many of my friends smoke and indeed my brother and I were strongly pro cannabis and would often justify its use in long arguments but now i have seen a fair bit of evidence showing that it does have effects.

Overrun · 05/01/2007 17:09

Hi greenchilli, I can see that this is difficult for you. I am also in the camp that smoking weed in the majority of cases is not usually hazardous to mental health, but think that if you use to the extent that you dp is, and the kind of amounts he is injesting, you are going to up your risk significantly.

It does sound as if he is addicted, one of the criteria that is looked at when assessing someone@s addiction is how their habbit is affecting their life, the fact that is is causing problems between the two of you, would count.

YOu mention that you don't have friends who smoke, presumbably this wasn't always the case, I expect you have already pointed out to him that he is unusual in carrying on at this level.

What does he do if you go on holiday abroad, would he smuggle?

No easy answers I am afraid. To put it in a fairly normal context. Out of my group of friends who all used to smoke pretty heavily incl me, one guy smokes like your dp but he is single and childless. One guy has a ds and dp, but doesn't smoke in the house or in the evenings but goes mad at weekends with his mates. Most of us to varying degrees smoke occasionally at a party etc, I have given up completely.

He may be kidding himself that his behaviour is as normal/usual as it used to be, iyswim, and maybe you can try and gently point that he is bucking the trend here.......

I don't know what to say really, except I think thay you will probably feel more and more angry about this as time goes on. It is harder to hide from older children for a start, and most of us however liberal don't want our 7 year dd to know Dad gets stoned.

MidnightToker · 05/01/2007 17:10

noddy - would be interested to hear more. What is the specific psychotic illness and do you have details of the studies that evidence a causal link between that illness and the use of cannabis. I try to keep up to date with these things and have yet to read of a study that conclusive.

Overrun · 05/01/2007 17:14

Noddy, I would be interested in that too, I am in the psychiatric field or was until motherhood and wasn't aware that this had been proven, wouldn't be suprised if it was.
Most of the clients that I worked with, who had some form of psychosis were young and dabbled in lsd as well or other class A.
I have always understood it as a case of being predisposed to psychosis, and cannabis or other drugs tipping the scales.
I did give it up myself many moons ago because of starting to feel a bit self conscious when smoking it, maybe a precurser to mild paranoia?

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