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I want to stop but I find it hard
We
start smoking dope for different reasons and
likewise the reasons for wanting to stop can
be quite varied but usually on some level we
understand that our intake has got out of control
and is doing us more harm than good.
Ironically
the time when we feel most willing and
able
to stop is when
we are stoned and out of our heads but
so often the next day we are back to reality
again craving a smoke just to feel ….
normal to get through the day.
Neither scientists,
doctors or drug experts can seem to agree
as to whether
cannabis is a physically addictive substance
although a 2003 United Nations report examining
whether cannabis is a harmless drug noted
that ‘cannabis meets all the official
diagnostic criteria for drug dependence.
Criteria include tolerance,
withdrawal symptons and difficulty in controlling
use… Once
tolerance is established stopping the drug
causes a range of withdrawal symptoms. These
symptons include anxiety, insomia, tremor,
irritability and aggressiveness…’
Some people
stopping using cannabis will experience some,
or all of the above symptons but every
individual is
different.
Many drug experts lean toward
the dope is just psychologically addictive
theory, but what does that mean? My personal
experience was that quite honestly I was
scared to stop.
I wasn’t
smoking to get high anymore I was smoking
just to keep a
straight head to feel normal; Of course I
was fearful of stopping! smoking
dope to me was as much a natural part of
my life
as eating and sleeping. I told myself that
if I stopped smoking dope everything else
would fall apart.
So whether psychologically
addictive, or physically addictive most peoples
minds and bodies go through an uncomfortable
adjustment period when they stop using dope.
A friend of
mine Joan put it well when she
said that she used dope to
help her as an effective pain reliever for
her period pains and to help her get a good
nights sleep, on the other hand she increasingly
suffered from side effects such as paranoia & anxiety
attacks and was really concerned about the
effect smoking dope was having on her lungs.
When it came down to it smoking dope was
the easy solution for Joan’s problems
but the side effects increasingly came to
dominate the rest of her life. It took guts
for her to look elsewhere for safer, drug
free alternative solutions to her problems
but she found them.
Joan
like so many dope smokers was torn between
a desire to stop and the reality of actually
stopping, every
individual in this situation has to think
very carefully about what is truly important
to them in their lives what their priorities
are, when the motivation for stopping finally
outweighs the fear of doing so, you are ready
to finally stop using dope and move on.
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