Sobriety and drugs.

[Dave_]

In my efforts to remain sober I have been through the mill in terms of the prescription drugs I have been given. I have had everything from Valium to Xanax, Bac, SSRI's and the list goes on.

I have always been a drinker but not a big drug user so this is the question I pose.

In our efforts to attain sobriety we are often prescribed powerful drugs which we allow into our system to defeat AL. What about marijuana? It's illegal in most parts of the world and in many places it is in the same box as Al. Having said that, weed is not addictive, provides for no hangover, is natural and comes with little to no side effects.

Are we to stay away from certain beneficial drugs because they are deemed illegal from some archaic period where governments decided it was evil. Is there a difference between legal and illegal drugs from a moral and sobriety point of view leaving aside the legality questions.

I caught up with a friend the other day who is a regular smoker and he then provided endless streams of benefits of weed as a basically coverall drug to replace anti depressants, bac, etc. with much more benefits and min side effects.

I didn't smoke with him but it certainly got me thinking.

Interested to know your thoughts.

[Shining Star]

Sobriety and drugs.

Hi Dave,

My suggestion is that you try health and nutrition instead. I tried all of the drugs-- i.e. antabuse, naltrexone, currently on topamax. However, the best thing in the world is fresh juices 3x a day with plenty of kale, garlic, lemon, cucumber, carrots, etc. Also plenty of vitamin b, c, niacin, thiamin, all the supps big time from MWO Pr. Google Doctor Yourself.com Alcoholism and Vitamins.

Have you seen the movie "Forks over Knives"? What about "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead"? Try watching these two movies. Although they are not about AL, they will change your life and convince you to pursue a healthy whole food plant based diet to health. Every time you crave a drink make a fresh juice, take a walk, pop some C and Niacin.

Enjoy your health that is the best long lasting road to recover the drugs are just a helpful adjunct.

Shining Star.

[byebyebridgetjones]

Sobriety and drugs.

Hi Dave.
Your friend might purport multiple benefits to smoking dope, and they might be trully convinced of this, but from what I've seen I have my doubts.
I have never been a 'smoker' myself, but have know a lot of smokers over the years and was once in a relationship with someone who smoked every day. Not only was he heavily addicted to the stuff but he had suffered a great deal of physical damage (lost his voice completely and damaged his throat)
Mentally it was a whole other story. We were travelling together overseas and he had open access as it were. He became delusional, paranoid, argumentative and I believe psychotic. So don't be sucked into believing that the stuff is natural and harmless. That's bollocks. Lots of natural things are harmful if misused.
More than that, he was boring as arse to be in a relationship with! It may have been amusing for him, but I found it rather tedious to come home to a man with railroad track eyes and be accused of all sorts of absurd misdemeanors.
He was spending a fortune, as tolerance develops just as effectively with dope as it does with alcohol abuse.
What you're talking about is cross addiction. It would be just changing substances, not a move forward.
As with all things Dave, it's your choice, but give it a lot of thought, and consider what you have to lose.
Bridge

[red67]

Sobriety and drugs.

Hi Dave, just wantes to give you my perspective as a previous pothead. I smoked weed daily in my 20's until I was 32. Yes it absolutely is addicting. It is also a depressant. I had to fight for years to give up that crap, it finally took panic attacks to make me quit. At the end of my smoking days i developed horrible anxiety / panic attacks and really thought i was dying each time. Once i quit smoking weed i never had another one.

I beleive those of us with addicitve personalities really should not be experimenting with any drugs or alcohol consumption. For me at least, my addicitive brain would work overtime to convince me to take mind altering substances and as much as i could if i let that thinking take over.

Please dont even think about going down that road, from my experience it will only keep you in an addicted lifestlye.

[Doggygirl]

Sobriety and drugs.

Dave. Weed is not addictive for some people. It is a myth that weed is not addictive at all. Ask Mr. Doggy about that one.

The issue for me is not finding another drug to use that will be "safer" for me than AL to change the way I feel absent medical necessity. I am learning how to be calmer and happier in my life without the aid of substances. I'm happy with the approach I'm taking, and the results.

DG

[Cara]

Sobriety and drugs.

I wouldn't be so bold to say that weed is not addictive. I'm up in the air about that one, but I tend to agree that it can be addictive to some and others not.

It may provide no hangovers and may be natural. However, I would say the side effects can be serious.

On the few occasions I have smoked I have felt terrible mental side effects (and this is coming from someone who has spent a lot of time doing much harder drugs after they tried marijuana).

I think that many other people also have serious mental side effects from smoking although some people, like your friend, may not.

[Unwasted]

Sobriety and drugs.

Dave, my brother was a daily pot smoker. He was extremely addicted....... I see it as an enormous negative but can only speak to that experience. I hated what it did to his personality.......something along the line of what Bridget described in her ex............not good. Incidentally, he died at the age of 55 of lung cancer....he was also a smoker, so between the two, his lungs were trashed.

[Lost Soul]

Sobriety and drugs.

Hi Dave, I hope you are on the 'winning side' of your battle with AL

I have only personally smoked a handful of times and have never enjoyed it.
I have experienced 'paranoia' while high.
I'm female and alot of my female friends who have smoked found the same. This seems to be less with any guys that I have known who have smoked. This I would describe to be a mild side effect.

As you probally know from research marajuana has been used in medicine to treat people suffering from terminally ill diseases - due to the 'calming' effect that it can have. It has also been used to relieve physical pain in these circumstances.

However, it is a drug that produces mind altering effects. Some users have experienced hallucinations, psycosis and long term, heavy use can lead to paranoid schzisophrenia among other less severe mental health problems.

A more personal sad experience with the drug is through my ex, the father of my son.
He had a heavy habit. When we met, he smoked joints like cigarettes.
He was very paranoid and mistrusting of people. He could not sit in a room and not face the window. He didn't like going out and also had a very negative attitude. He would hold grudges forever.
I learnt during our relationship he had been sexually abused at the age of 9 by a male family friend. Victims of this kind of abuse usually have trust issues they carry into adult life and relationships.
I personally believe his weed habit exacerbated these problems.
He got physically agressive with me during my pregnancy and we seperated shortly after my sons birth.
He no longer sees my son but the rest of his family do. I know he barely leaves the house, but to go to work. It is a tragedy to see a life wasted. And I know weed has a very large part to play in that.

I hope you find a way tht works for you in your struggle with AL. In your footnote you emphasise the importance of self awareness and clarity - an important goal in achieving sobriety, one that in my opinion would be hindered with the use of marajuana.

Apologies for the essay style post and horrendous spelling
Best wishes xx

[nancy]

Sobriety and drugs.

an individual decision

I really think you need to make up your own mind about this. There are lots of different ways to reduce drinking and it seems to me that given a choice between marijuana and alcohol, marijuana would be the lesser of two evels.

It may interest you to know that Marijuana maintenance is covered in Kenneth Anderson's practical harm reduction book How To Change Your Drinking. He says there is a growing body of evidence that it can work for severe alcohol dependence as a substitute. See section 6.1.6.

It's not something I would want for myself, but it's interesting.
A therapist told me that in his experience, it doesn't work very well.

[nancy]

Sobriety and drugs.

an individual decision

I really think you need to make up your own mind about this. There are lots of different ways to reduce drinking and it seems to me that given a choice between marijuana and alcohol, marijuana would be the lesser of two evels.

It may interest you to know that Marijuana maintenance is covered in Kenneth Anderson's practical harm reduction book How To Change Your Drinking. He says there is a growing body of evidence that it can work for severe alcohol dependence as a substitute. See section 6.1.6.

It's not something I would want for myself, but it's interesting.
But anecdotally therapist told me that in his experience, it doesn't work very well.

[mylife]

Sobriety and drugs.

Hello Dave - there are some who say marijuana is not addictive and some who say it is. All I know is I wish I'd never gotten hooked on AL and the last thing I want is another problem. IMHO it sounds like adding problems instead of getting rid of one.

Good luck with your journey and I wish you success whatever your decision.

[Dave_]

Sobriety and drugs.

Interesting perspectives from everyone.
I will stick with the prescribed drugs as my life has known enough turmoil and I am happy with the path I am currently on, but it just got me thinking. That's the trouble with being sober all the time, you never get a chance to not think!

[caper564]

Sobriety and drugs.

hi all,
i have tried weed but i must say it does not make me happy or sad.. just blah.. and i want to be sober in all sense of the word. trading 1 addiction for another is not a good idea for me... i have an addictive personality... i wnat to be addicted to heaolth and excersize..

[Supercrew]

Sobriety and drugs.

They don't call it "dope" because it makes you smarter.

I guess I got lucky Dave, because I have always been against all drugs, funny because I had no problem drinking a case of beer and a bottle of Vodka over a weekend.

For me, getting sober with no drugs or specific program was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I won't pass judgement on those who use the tools that help them find sobriety, but eventually to find pure sober happiness you have to let go of the crutches and walk on your own. For me to walk on my own I had to believe that alcohol played no positive role in my life. I was lucky, I found that peace of mind that allowed me to move forward and leave the thoughts of alcohol in the past.

Good luck Dave!

[Jaxees]

Sobriety and drugs.

OMGOSH! I had contemplated this. It's legal here for med.mari... I always had a different reaction to pot than my peers, I would get active and creative, although some of my creativity was not as good as in my own mind! haha!
I haven't looked into it though, I was frightened to just swap one addiction for another. Also, the few times I have done it in the recent few decades, I drank and smoked. This may not be a swap out for some people but an in addition too.
I also thought it could be my addiction brain attempting to lure me! I don't trust that brain!