My name is Allen I am a person with a decent start in recovery 6 years 3 months and 3 weeks according to my app counter. Let me start by stating that I see recovery very literally as recovering the people/things we lost in active use. I am a strong advocate of abstinence of all mood altering chemicals. The reason being is I have had the great opportunity to work in the recovery field in a center that is zero tolerance coming up on 5 years, so I have seen guys sober for months/years. With that of course I have seen people come back for another round of treatment. My question always starts with what happened? and I have heard multiple times “I started just smoking weed, then…”. With marijuana becoming legal and very accessible I guess I would just like to hear more opinions on the use of marijuana in recovery may it be a success story or it being how it may have hurt your recovery process.
I heard recently from someone I respect and trust that asked me this: Would you go to a medicine man if you knew they smoked weed? How would you view that? I think the same thing applies to treatment workers. Not to say that we shouldn’t allow a space for people who use marijuana as the medicine it was designed to be, not recreational, then i do not see a problem with it.
I just heard that to from a friend, Im wondering if its the same person.
Marijuana was one of my DOC earlier in life, and I realized I was spending every little bit cash I had to get high every day, started selling and pawning my stuff to trading it to the dealer. If I didn’t have it I was very moody and crabby and that’s when I told myself I need to give it up, it wasn’t easy I kept on off and on but not daily… my last puff of weed was in 2006 I believe.
Love this topic. I have been a recovering alcoholic for 8 years. 2 years ago I started Ketamine treatment for major depressive disorder. Nothing helped, but Ketamine has changed my life. I got off my meds and generally am much better. About a year ago I started enjoying a THC seltzer here and there, usually at the end of the night to settle my body and mind. Meds made me gain weight, skin issues, they worked then they didnt, just constantly upping the dose. I am not using THC to escape, to be someone else, to fit in socially etc. which was my issue with alcohol. I could give it or take it. I feel like its a lot less innocent than the high doses of anxiety and depression meds I was constantly taking. BUT I also had a friend in recovery who started using THC and is now back using fent. cant say it was cause and effect. There were probably a million other reasons. Every person is unique.
Alcohol is also legal. The legality of marijuana doesn’t change its effects on the person using it.