Your first resource, if you are considering quitting cannabis or you are concerned about cannabis addiction
This site is dedicated to those like myself who at some time - perhaps many times said to themselves that discovering cannabis was the best thing that ever happened to them, who fell blindly in love with the drug in all its forms, without a second thought and who just like me found that ending this love affair was much more difficult than they could ever have imagined when they got high for the first time.
For many of us it's almost impossible to imagine a life without cannabis, it's been our best friend for years and has taken the edge off when life becomes too intense, helped us sleep when nothing else will do the trick, and chilled us out when we needed it most. And for some it's help shield us from a terrible truth life sometimes can be a lonely and painful journey.
For others smoking is about pure pleasure, a best friend who helps make every experience
more real, more intense, and more exciting.
Me? I guess I was a late developer I had my first taste of weed aged 15 and during the early years I believed it was the answer to all of my problems. It seemed to help me relax, to concentrate, to create, to live the way that I wanted to live. I smoked cannabis heavily and obsessively for thirty years until finally finding the strength to quit cannabis in 2002.
But why quit cannabis? What happened?
My life functioned reasonably well and I knew that if I had been drinking or taking harder drugs to the same extent that I was toking I may not have survived, but as a dedicated stoner I just about managed to keep my life together.
But life became hard in other ways: simple things took so much time and effort. My lack of memory function made me feel foolish, my confidence shrank alongside my mental, physical, and spiritual energy.
Is it possible that what I was smoking to make me feel better was beginning to make me depressed and unhappy? How come if I was smoking weed to relax I found that instead when stoned, my mind would always be racing, jumping from one thing to another, often I would feel anxious and paranoid for no reason.
I lost respect for myself and found that the only way to stop the negative voices in my head was to have another joint to help me forget how small my life had become. I was lost in a fog of weed. I'd forgotten what it meant to feel relaxed and happy naturally.
How did my wonderful high change to just being stoned. When did the thrill simply turn into a habit?
To be fair it was only during the last five years before I eventually quit for good that I personally came to terms with my cannabis addiction, and I went for a long period of simply not being able to say a final goodbye.
Over the years I tried:
- cutting down
- only smoking on weekend's
- not buying any weed just sharing joints with others
- leaving my stash with distant family members.
This clearhead resource is designed to help you consider your relationship with cannabis openly and honestly. Here you will find a lot of links to research and writing about cannabis that will help you decide whether you're really still a happy toker or whether the drug is taking more from you than it gives back.
On a personal level many cannabis users are all too familiar with fear anxiety & depression as well as how heavy use impacts their motivation and intimate relationships together these and many other issues are covered in our book No Need For weed Understanding and Breaking Cannabis dependency.
If you feel ready to quit wherever you are in the world you will find resources and support coming soon that will simply not be available on other websites but until then please feel free to access our message boards for free online support and advice.
The cannabis argument is one of the most complex and controversial imaginable, it's a political nightmare covering areas such as the right to choose our own medication regime, childhood protection, mental health, personal freedom and the very meanings of the words addiction and dependency.
Clearhead respects the fact that millions of people use cannabis unproblematically and with control and we offer no judgement or hold any political agenda. However science also demonstrates that for a significant minority cannabis dependency is a reality so for those who do have an aggressive political agenda for pro-legalisation of cannabis please treat our website with the respect that we offer to you and your views.
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