Recommendations on how to stop smoking marijuana and what symptoms to watch for

you can do it! I am on the same boat

i just want to thank everyone for thier posts!I am 19 turning 20 in 3 daysI been blazing since i was 15 I quit 3 days agoand i sware it is the hardest thing to faceevery second, minute, hour, day goes by slow with many diffrent thoughts flying through my head.I feel like I'm trapped and dont know what to do or where to gohonestly this sucks and when i look back at the last 5 years or soI have just wasted my time, life, and could have been at many better places todayMy monthly expence on weed was about $600I mean sh^t i could lease a viper! least thats the way im looking at it nowReading these posts gave me a extra lil boost to encouragement seeing and reading others stories and struggles makes me belive I can do it!Thanks to all of you and the ones who were succuseful CONGRATS!and for those who are still in the process just know your in my prayersand anytime you think you cant do it? just think why not? if a blind man can read? if a dog with a missing leg can run? If a man with out legs can still run! then just look in the mirror and ask yourself why cant you quit one simple thing! and hey even though righ tnow you may want the bowl hit just think if you do it your right back to square 1! if you made it this far ladies and gentlemen let me tell you you arnt gonna die i prommise yo! you will make it another day and another and another intill it becomes your new habbit of not even thinking about it!STAY STRONG YOU CONTROLL YOU NOT THE DRUG

thank for this informative post and the comments. I am 39 years, and have been smoking since I was about 17 or 18. It has been long - many years, since I realized I must stop if I want to live a life that would make me feel that I am not wasting it. Although I have had very productive periods in my life, and am proud of many things I have done in life, smoking hash - hash oil mostly, but also some times grass or hash, depending on where I lived at the time and what was available, has left a gap between what I feel I should have and what I actually have in terms of success at work, relationships, saving, etc. Partly I am in denial, rationalizing and justifying to myself that 'things would be OK' and that smoking weed 'was not such a big deal'.

I am still single despite having gone out with several very nice women - again, I feel the dope got in the way; it made me remove and withdraw into myself when my partners wanted to 'connect' emotionally. I am once again attempting to quit and this would be my first day.... I will keep posting updates to remind myself as well as anyone who wishes to follow on how I am doing. Thank you all for having shared your comments here. I will keep them in mind when dealing with any withdrawals I may have.

Its day two for me today but nothing new. I love weed and enjoy mostly when I'm bored or by myself (mostly everyone I hang around with don't smoke!?). This wasn't the case when I was younger. However the problem with me is that I like to get high and do other things, I shouldn't have to tell anyone here this but everything seems better!....well almost everything.

I've quit before, in the past, when joining the service (3yrs) or for a new job (few weeks-or few months)but now I think its for good. I spend maybe around 200-300 bucks a month (this is Texas we aren't known for the best buds) so you get more but its weaker, and you smoke more. I would probably smoke around 2 joints a day, 3 on the weekends. It did help me quit ciggerettes but I only smoked more weed.

 

Last time I quit only because I needed to go out of town for job training, I noticed at the hotel I would get night sweats! Really bad. I don't carry the stuff with me in fear of getting caught again which I have 3 times before many years ago but never over 2oz though (have a hookup that brings it by which makes it harder to quit.)

 

But the main reason is the money and my lungs. Look I don't hate weed and people who smoke it but seems I can't control myself to do it just a few times a month. The main reason is that I have a very low tolerance when it comes to substances meaning I get wasted easy! And weed would put me in a different world quickly but I knew if I smoked more I could hang....so I built more immunity to it and it allowed me to be like others. Its been like this all my life started when I was 14 and become an everyday smoker when I was 18, I'm now 31. (with some years of on and off)

 

What really helped me this time and reason why I'm not going back is my two little girls. Watching them grow up while high sometimes has clouded some memories. And the fact they don't need this stuff to make them happy only adds to it. Now before you judge me I would never smoke around them ever or let them see me do it ever! But I missed that "happiness for no reason feel". I didn't like trying to get that through a joint anymore.

 

Also having weak weed helps. (not all the time can we get good weed here in Texas) so just so happen I got some really weak stuff. I smoked it for about 2 weeks and realized some of the symptoms of quitting but not near as harsh. Like not sleeping good, or being cranky and hot at night-but not sweaty.

 

I turned away from ciggerettes for good, and now weed for good. Hell I've done it enought probably have smoked a million joints lol....Its time for me to do without and feel that happiness I use to when I was younger. And you know you really do.

 

Too much of anything is bad for you the same as alcohol. But thanks to hangovers I never could really attach myself to this stuff, however I know WAY too many who do.

 

Mornings seem much nicer though not as tired anymore since I don't get high outside at night when everyone's inside watching tv.

 

Thanks this was very helpful! I have tried to quite a couple of times, and made it through the difficult 2 and 3 week periods. Then, every time for me, the 4th and 5th weeks I start to get these incredible headaches and start to feel nauseous and anxious. I am not a heavy smoker, but for some reason, it is like I have a second withdrawal phase that I still have not been able to get past. I am just saying this because I have read in a few other places that the withdrawal period can actually last up to 6 weeks or about 45 days.... which is a lot longer than the 26 days that you quoted. For me I started to feel much worse around the 27th to 30th days than even in the first 2 weeks! So please readers, be aware that this could take awhile and be prepared.

god bless you

Im 19 and I've been smoking for about 2 years now. Six months ago, i recieved about 80k dollars from my grandparents for college. I however am not in college seriously, I have only taken 3 classes. I live in California, so i can abuse the medical marijuana system greatly. For the last couple of months, I've been spending about 150 dollars every 2-3 days on weed, a half oz to myself... In just 2-3 days, and that happens every time. Doing the math, i've blown about 20k of those dollars on weed, and i am so embarrassed. Because of this habit, my stomach has really been hurting, i can honestly feel the gas inside me thats just been building up, and its painful. I don't enjoy the taste of food anymore. All my relationships with anyone who mattered are gone, all of my friends just consist of fellow blazers (which isnt a problem, they're all good people). I LOVE smoking, but i've just come to realize today that i can't do this anymore. 

The first time i ever walked into a medical club, it was my 18th birthday. The budtender could tell i wasnt an actual patient, i was just a kid looking to get high, and he told me this. "I've been smoking a long time and i know you bullshitted the system, just dont let the drug use you, use the drug."

Well, recently, the drug has been using me, and i know its time to stop. I read every story on this board, and i felt like i was reading what my life is about to become, its the same story for all of us. 

I'm 19, and I realize the oppurtunity i have to turn my life around RIGHT NOW. We can all achieve this, every one of us.

Willpower

Dude,you are awesome..hope you are doing well..

Hello everyone.

Before I begin talking about all my jazz. I just wanted to put out there that the initial post was amazing and really motivating as well as most of the other posts/replies.

I am a 23 year old college student and have been smoking nearly everyday for about 4-5 years now. I have been trying to stop smoking for a couple of weeks now. Everyone who posted on this website seems like they had their minds made up that they want to stop. Personally speaking, I do not want to stop smoking but I know I should for numerous reasons such as finishing off school, drug test for a job, and most importantly my health, which I can feel it taking a toll on. Even knowing all this, I just cannot convince myself to stop smoking. The most I've accomplished is not smoking the whole day but I always tend to give up at the end of the day because for some reason my brain convinces me to smoke.

What I've tried along with simply just trying to convince myself I should quit:

1. Not buy it

- then I just have crazy withdrawals and just can't concentrate knowing I have no weed

2. Smoke cigarettes instead

- Worked for a couple days, then basically started smoking both (terrible idea, wouldn't recommend it)

3. Cut down hanging with my pot head friends

- Felt out of place when hanging with other people and basically found myself smoking alone rather than with

them

If anyone has any more suggestions of things I can do or how I can mentally prepare myself for this step would be awesome. I love smoking but would also love to stop, at least for the next couple years of my life. Any suggestions or tips would help.

Thanks.

Hey all

I'm 25 and have been smoking since I was around 14. My usage has massively increased over the past 2-3 years. On average I smoke around £100 a week (£20 only gets you 1.4g around where I live, so thats around 7-8 grams a week). How do I afford it?? God knows.

I gave up for 9 months about 3 years ago. A friend has a conversation with me, a close and dear friend, and told me how much he thought weed was holding me back. I had been thinking about giving up anyway leading up to this point and this conversation sparked a complete mental change in perception. Suddenly, weed was evil, and I saw it as the demon that was trying to stop me from realising my full potential as a human being.

So the next day I stopped, and damn... it was so easy. Admittedly at weekends, parties, raves etc I would have a few tokes. After raves I would spend £10 and buy a few joints from someone for the 'come-down' but the next day I would be back to non-smoking and weed wouldn't be on my mind. WHen I drove home from work (1 hour drive) smoking weed wouldn't even enter my mind.

I felt like a King. Like a completely different person.

Over that 9 months I composed and produced my first album. I made 100 copies, printed off all the artwork, burned all the CDs and took great joy in giving them out to all my friends for free. I really was convinced I would never ever again go back to smoking every day again.

Then, an event came up. My friend had given me the DJ slot before one of my favourite producers Luke Vibert at one of our nights

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Then, another friend mentioned that he could get 'Blue Cheese' which had been my favourite smoke when I'd been to the Dam. So, with the vision of smoking a joint with Luke Vibert i bought a few bags from him... And I smoked a joint.

The next few days I was fine. Then, before long I found an excuse to smoke another joint.

By the time it came to the big night, I only had 1 bag left. I did get to smoke a joint with Luke though so it wasn't a complete waste.

But here I am, now another 3-4 years down the line, still smoking. As I said my usage increased over the past 3 years. I am part of a huge network of amazing people, probably around 90% of which smoke weed daily, and 99% of which smoke weed at least occasionally.

But, I am now on day 2 of giving up again. I've gone cold turkey and I'll be honest, I feel really sh*t.

My girlfriend is trying to help me... hell I practically begged for her help! But now she is helping me I feel angry because it feels like she is forcing me... If it wasn't for her I would have arranged to get some weed on the first day (yesterday). It's only because she convinced me not to that I didn't.

I dunno if this will help anyone but after coming to this page I felt like sharing. My girlfriend went out tonight and when she did I text her telling her I didn't think I could do it and that cold turkey wasn't going to work for me. After a few more texts she kinda gave in and had nothing more to say.... But, I then found this page and since then have been reading and now writing which has prevented me from picking up any weed... I think I will go at least 1 more day without it!

Seriously though, I do WANT to give up... really... But also a huge part of me loves it and sees no harm in it. I do not suffer from anxiety or paranoia, but it does make me lazy and I do prioritize weed over so many other things that deserve priority. Deep down I know I need to stop. And when I remember just how marvelous I felt when I gave up before... I know these clouds of pain and anguish, anger and despair will eventually clear way and I will be myself again.

I remember when I stopped before seeing my friends smoking profusely and having pity for them, for they had no desire or will to stop and seemed quite happy continuing this way for the rest of their lives... and it wasn't long before I found myself back on the same path as them.

This time, if I am successful then I really want to endeavour to never smoke it daily again. The thing is I go to a lot of festivals and raves and it just doesn't seem right having nothing to 'wind down' with or relax with. I mean, everyone has their vice right? I don't drink alcohol, so what the hell would I do! Do what normal people do I guess and go about my day not thinking about smoking weed.

I think throughout my life I will always be partial to the desire to smoke cannabis, maybe it is in my genes. It is a wonderful plant with many enhancing properties. As with any substance, it is the daily use and abuse of it that makes it a danger to ones life. After 1-2 years of not smoking every day I feel like I could allow myself a toke if offered and the occasion is right. But, I have 1-2 years to go before I can make that decision, so wish me luck.

My love and best wishes are with you all. I am glad that we have this medium to connect with one another and share our experiences. In a few weeks if I am still successfully off it then I will come back here and post how I'm feeling and any methods I used to ease the withdrawal symptoms.

We are not and never will be alone. To all those in worst situations than me, heavier addictions, no loving partner to try and help you quit... My love is with you and never stop believing in yourself. We can overcome our addicted egos and move on to something better, ALL OF US... just don't expect it to be easy : )

Peace, Light, Love and Blessings to all.

Nial

I have gone back and forth between tying to quit and trying to figure out if my pot usage is more harmful or more beneficial to me.  I was reading about the long term side effects of it last night and seemed almost uncanny to my situation.  Affects on the memory, ability to stay attentive and keep clear thinking, potential moderate decrease in IQ over the long term, immature sexual activity, impaired emotional development, dissatisfaction with life, depression, increased risk of developing mental illness (anxiety, depression, and/or schizophrenia), lack in motivation.  ­­­­­­­­­­I have had concerns about all of these for myself.  These aren’t proven, but there is a lot of research about it.  These symptoms are more common among beginning use in early or mid-teen years and continued use for a long period of time.  Well that’s me.  I first smoked at age 14.  I don’t think I really started smoking regularly until I was about 16 or so.  Even though I had other priorities in life, mainly sports, marijuana became the major one, next to alcohol.  And since I was able to do well in sports, and continued to play, I only played football and baseball in high school, and I only played baseball my freshman year at CFS, and the league and the team was a joke.  I only played football my sophomore and senior year at Columbine, just two years.  Had I not made friends with pot heads and made partying one of my priorities,  I believe I would’ve made a much better success out of playing sports, and could have easily gone to play in college.  I have always had a little difficulty in concentrating and focusing.  I have always been a little ADD-ish.  One of the reasons I quit baseball is because I stopped taking it seriously, pot may have been one of the main reasons.  Had I not made getting high and drunk such a priority, I may have matured more and developed a more mature perspective on my aspirations.  I think that I (with the help of dope and booze) convinced myself that sports was not in my future and that I should wait until my college years to figure out my future.  Well the problem with that is that I was not capitalizing on my current strengths to potentially create a future out of them, rather than actually deciding what I wasn’t going to do.  I don’t think smoking marijuana is bad, but I think it’s bad if it used daily, and that has been how I have been smoking for the last 10 years.  I haven’t smoked every day in the last ten years, but very dang close.  I think the longest I’ve gone without smoking in the last ten years is just a couple weeks.  On average I would guess that I have smoked around 5 days a week for the last 7-8 years or so.  After reading these possible consequences, and seeing how close they are to what I have experienced, it makes me want to stop.  I have researched this numerous times and run into this same thing every time.  I have tried to quit many times.  But the longer I go without getting high the more I desire it.  I have found it easier to avoid smoking when I am very busy and just don’t have the time to think about it, but as soon as I have some down time, I want to smoke and it becomes very difficult to stop thinking about it and to stop wanting it.  I get the strongest cravings in the evenings, or when I get upset or depressed about something.  At that point, the desire to get high can be very hard to rid.  I will sometimes scrape my pipe for resin or ask friends if they have any they would smoke with me.  I have tried to reduce the frequency in my use to just a couple times per week, which I think is a more practical and mature way of using it but I haven’t had the discipline to do that.  If I have it, I smoke it every day, with few exceptions, and it is most always in the evening.  I know why it’s difficult for me.  There are a few reasons.  One being that I have a hereditary addictive personality; I have had many relatives with drug and alcohol abuse problems.  Another reason is that I have made it a daily/weekly habit, not only for my life, but for my brain.  It has become a normal part of my daily living and my brain is used to it just as it is for eating, drinking, watching TV, walking the dogs etc.  The other reason is that my brain’s endorphins and other pleasure releasing areas of the brain become altered.  When I smoke weed, it creates a pleasure you can’t normally get without it. This is where the depression kicks in.  This heightened state of pleasure becomes normal, so when you don’t do it, you experience a lack of that euphoria. 

 

I have thought about my lack of consistent focus and discipline, as well as my tendencies to be compulsive.  I have also thought about my difficulty in making decisions, periodic anxiety episodes, and lack of motivation (basically all the same mentioned above).  At times I can get very depressed and de-motivated and have extreme difficulty in doing anything productive.  If I don’t get high it becomes very difficult to sleep and I will stay up for hours writing about how dissatisfied I am with my life.  When I try to stop smoking I experience anxiety about it because I love getting high and I hate the idea of stopping.  I also get anxious about my dependency.  If I go a few days without smoking I will really excited to get really high and I’ll act very impulsive after I smoke, like a child almost.  I get embarrassed about admitting this but I sometimes getting high makes me very sexual and if I don’t have anyone to have sex with I will resort to masturbation.  Then I suffer with the guilt following.  If I try to quit I will get really stressed out, very irritable, and get headaches (that’s aside from the insomnia).  I drink more heavily and smoke more cigarettes when I try to quit, and I’m not looking to become an alcoholic or a cigarette smoker either.  I have thought about how those might be long term effects my use.  I also think about how those problems affect my success at work, and the overall stability of my emotional and psychological state.  I end up confusing myself between whether those are just general problems I have regardless of the use, and if they are caused by my use, or a combination of both.  I still do pretty well at my job.  I’m a financial professional for the largest life insurance company in the nation, but I think I would be much more successful if didn’t smoke weed.  Don’t get me wrong, I started in the industry two years ago and now I have 80 clients that trust me for their financial planning.  Of course they don’t know I smoke weed.  My job is very demanding and all I want after a long hard day is a bowl to smoke.  My main problem with quitting is that half the time I feel like smoking pot helps those issues, and at times I think that they may create or worsen the problems.  That’s when I end up justifying to myself the benefits of the use.  Even if I quit for a week or two, nothing seems to change much, then I figure it’s not the pot and I go buy more.  I go through this cycle every month or so.  I think I would need to quit for much longer to be able to see the difference, but I am unable to stay disciplined enough on my own to quit for any longer.  I have thought about seeking help to quit, I don’t think I would have much problems if I had some help.  I don’t want to pay the money for a therapist, and I don’t have the money.  I wonder if I could find some material online or find a clinic that would provide free help. 

 

I know that was long.

I have been contemplating if I need to quit smoking or not. I started smoking because my best friend at the time (no longer a friend bc of different circumstances) wanted me to try it. I did and later that night after my birthday party I started dating my current boyfriend of 3 1/2 years. He only decided to start smoking consistentlbecause he had a girlfriend who was into it. We are now out of college. I graduated and have a well paying full time job. He dropped out of college and is making minimum wage at a resturant. I am beginning to wonder if our relationship has only worked bc we have always smoked together. It has always been our way to unwind after work. 

 

I have been smoking about a bowl and a half every night for the last 3 1/2 years. I would not say it affects my ability to go to work, be a n advisor for my sorority, or other activities I wish to do. It has changed my relationships my with friends. I would rather sit at home in front of the tv and smoke than go out with my friends and be social. None of them smoke and I don't think they ever will start. All of them know about me smokinG. I have always told myself that me smoking alone is better than getting drunk with my friends at the bars.

 

my main concern is about boyfriend. I worry that he will never go back to school or get a different job or be "grown up enough" to marry me. I am so glad I found all of your posts about quitting. I am going to try the rationing method first. If that doesn't work after a month or so I will have to ask my boyfriend to stop buying. We live together and I know he sees no harm in smoking as much as we do. I hope this will work out and I won't have to give him the ultimatum: me or the weed. 

 

Thank you for all your help and i wish you luck in finding your happiness without the herb

Exactly sir. When your body finally break down after years of abuse (in my case it was dreadfull Tachycardia) - thats when you know it is time to quit.

I really feared i could die and knew if i smoke again - it might be all over. That kept me from weed for 4 months now. No other motivation (lack of motivation, conflicts in family, job underperforming, etc.) will not stop you 100%.

Thank to that Tachycardia/panic attack im sober.

i am a male of 19, and sitting here reading post after post isnt something i would normally do. but like the rest of you guys, i too can tell my life is changing, down hill and im still only 19! i started smoking it in the usual situation, few mates scraping some money together and getting stoned, laughing at everything, usually impressions we all did, or taking the piss out of other people. but 4 years on and i nw find myself, sitting alone in my room the majority of the time getting stoned by myself. also i work as an auto electrician, and my memory has gotten so bad. at work i will go and do a job, but always forget the basic things which i shuld know, and this happens everytime i do that job again. i used to be a funny person, who always made people humourus, but now i feel glum, and dull most days. although, i do have one upside to smoking weed - when me and my ex-girlfriend were on a rocky patch, i starting reading, into alien, conspiraces etc. not just looking at pictures, but reading reports, and adding up different pieces of evidence. i then decided to write a script, as i was always good at creative writing, and 1 year on i found myself with a script, which is almost complete, and a greater INSIDE knowledge. i know someone out of this circle, looking in, would think i am just a pot head reading stupid sh*t, well thats not true. i used to have to be stoned to write my script, but now i can have a spliff lit, and then get carried away writing, that i forget the spliff is even in the ashtray! its true, you just need a hobby, or something else to fill the void. i have cut down so much on weed now, but still find myself WANTING it. or i believe i am just telling myself that i need it, when i dont.
i AM going to stop smoking weed, and i hope it is very soon, before the end of the year. when you dont smoke it for a few days, eat better, sleep better, you actually do feel better in yourself, and feel that you can accomplish more out of life.
thanks again guy, this was probably no help to you, as all f your posts were more than 3 years ago but.. you know
cheers X

I will talk to anyone who needs a buddy. I am also quitting. I am on day 2.