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Cannabis for Drug Addiction Recovery

Discussion in 'Medical Marijuana Usage and Applications' started by drbot, Oct 2, 2012.

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  1. #1 drbot, Oct 2, 2012
    I posted a thread regarding Cannabis as a treatment for Bipolar and Major Depressive Disorder this morning and got some great feedback. It encouraged me to discuss the following:

    I am a recovering alcoholic and morphine addict. I spent years in a hellish cycle of hitting bottom, withdrawing from heavy drugs and alcohol, spending brief periods sober, only to fall back into the cycle of using. I became an alcoholic at the age of 18 and finally sobered up at the age of 28. I became addicted to morphine after a spinal injury in 2005 and didn't get clean until 2011 after my mother died.

    During my heavy drinking and using periods, I smoked very little Cannabis. I found it tended to make my morning withdrawal symptoms worse (shakes, panic attacks, anxiety, etc.)

    After I met my wife I started smoking and growing herb in earnest again. In sobriety, I have found Cannabis to be the only intoxicant that I can safely use without the worry of addiction. I tend not to build a tolerance to herb, and suffer no withdrawal or discomfort upon abstaining from it.

    Not only have I found herb safe for me to use, but I found it incredibly useful at stopping cravings for both morphine and alcohol. Anytime I feel like I want a drink, I can smoke herb and the desire goes away. This is very valuable to me and I am grateful to the herb for its therapeutic power.

    What are your thoughts on using Cannabis as a therapy for drug addiction? I used to be of the mindset that all intoxicants were unsafe to use for a recovering addict, but time and experience have changed that thinking pattern.
     
  2. #2 Nate489, Oct 2, 2012
    I used it to get over alcohol. That and a little Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds got me over booze pretty much all together. If i drink i never want more than 2 drinks except on RARE occasions.
     
  3. #3 Burned Haze, Oct 2, 2012
    I have meet quite a few older married guys who vouche for it ( so does their wifes) that it not only saved em from booz but saved their marriage since they actually function. Imagine if the world's stigma was gone from cannabis? I betcha most adults would choose cannabis over booz & other drugs in a business/afterworks hangout.

    I never once saw booz as any good means to talk business besides Bullshit Talk, But hey maybe in our lifetime cannabis wont be so dissed upon as some huge mind fuck.
     
  4. #4 PoppycockCasino, Oct 3, 2012
    Yes, it definitely works. This is my plan of attack starting tomorrow. I was a stoner for years. I'd have a couple of drinks sometimes, but drinking when I'm high makes me sick. Long story short: fell into a deep depression, lost my friends, stopped smoking weed and started drinking. A lot. It's become progressive. Frequent blackouts(my car was found on the side of the road at 3am. I remember nothing until walking in the woods in the daylight). I started talking to one of my stoner friends again. When I'm with her and I'm high...I don't need or even want alcohol. Being high is the best feeling I have ever known. I can function perfectly with it in my system. Yes, I believe that marijuana ABSOLUTELY can and SHOULD be used for treating addictions. Tomorrow is day one of my new lifestyle. Well, the one I used to have, really.
     
  5. #5 Thai, Oct 3, 2012
    If it wasnt for the herb id honestly probobly be dead right now. Used to be really bad with opiates but I finally wised up and quit. Withdrawals sucked but after I got threw them, weed really helped take the opiate craving away. Im already 9 months clean and living a much better/ healthier life dope free :smoke: (still smoke a shit load of budz though and enjoy my booze occasionally)
     
  6. #6 Jessicuh, Oct 5, 2012
    It helped me survive terrible opiate withdrawals after a decade on oxy and fentanyl. I still have cravings for opiates quite often though, but I bet I would still be using them if I didn't have weed.
     
  7. #7 StraiT100, Oct 5, 2012
    Yea try to replace harder drugs with weed. It doesn't always work though especially if i'm in pain or anxious or something, but it's better than that vicious cycle of addiction though.
    Although your'e really just trading one addiction for one more benign addiction, it's still a step closer to being clean than poppin snortin or whatever man.
    Godspeed
     
  8. #8 Nate489, Oct 5, 2012
    [quote name='"Jessicuh"']It helped me survive terrible opiate withdrawals after a decade on oxy and fentanyl. I still have cravings for opiates quite often though, but I bet I would still be using them if I didn't have weed.[/quote]

    I had a friend who would cut open fentanyl and slurp it up all at once. Such a sad thing to see
     
  9. #9 austyn12, Oct 5, 2012
    it made me get over alcohol
     
  10. #10 Jessicuh, Oct 5, 2012
    that was me :/
     
  11. #11 kiefsmoker420, Oct 6, 2012
    I used weed to quit cigarettes
     
  12. #12 SoraHaze, Oct 7, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 7, 2012
    I worked with patients trying to manage their chronic pain and opiate addictions. Daily oral doses of Rick Simpson oil (RSO) helped a great deal. This is all anecdotal but, I knew people who were able to stop their opiates completely and had pain control with the RSO. Ingesting cannabis (especially as a concentrate) is very effective for pain control and for these people who were dependent it was a way to alleviate their dependance on opiates while controlling pain (real pain control and not the indifference that opiates bring due to their ability to block the conscious perception of pain and not the pain itself).
     
  13. #13 aPersonUponaHill, Oct 7, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2012
    The way I see this is like this, moving from one addiction to another, whether you see it as an addiction or not, or moving from one vice to another is not healthy as you are simply replacing one addiction with another. Mental or physical, addiction is addiction, all that determines is the how severe the addiction is.

    This is coming from someone who has dealt with addiction in various forms through various activities since I was about 13, im nearly 25 now.
     
  14. #14 aPersonUponaHill, Oct 7, 2012
    Try going to therapy to help overcome addiction if you can't do it alone. Remember though its about will power, I crave cigarettes every so often, extremely addictive and it took me so long to break the physical addiction. So addictive its been over two months and my mind still won't let me forget about them entirely, I still dream about them once or twice a month. And literally the dreams are me smoking a cigarette and that is it. Thats how shitty. I smoked for roughly a decade, a pack or more per day plus weed once I was 17, so over 7 years of truely being addicted to it. I will always be addicted to it I think, all the more reason to stay away from it for good.
     
  15. #15 bluntfists, Oct 7, 2012
    Cannabis is the ONLY reason i dont drink, I almost died from the alcohol withdrawals and now iv been sober for 2 years.
     
  16. #16 aPersonUponaHill, Oct 7, 2012
    Trading one vice for another, justify it how you want, but it is what it is.
     
  17. #17 kiefsmoker420, Oct 7, 2012
    [quote name='"EasternSmoker"']Trading one vice for another, justify it how you want, but it is what it is.[/quote]

    That's true but in the long run it is much better because the side effects, I would rather get off opiates using a safe vice than quitting cold turkey and possibly relapsing, it depends on the person I wouldn't use it as a vice if I had an addictive personality, but luckily I do not
     
  18. #18 stevizzy, Oct 7, 2012
    I developed an alcohol problem during the time I was getting drug tested at work and had to give-up weed. My consumption of alcohol continued to increase over the years until it got to the point I was drinking constantly. Fast forward a few years, the job went away and I was able to resume smoking. I found it removed the craving for alcohol and although I went to rehab, I continued smoking but stopped drinking. In our group sessions at rehab, everyone knew I smoked MMJ, some were jealous and objected since THEY couldn't smoke (court ordered rehab with drug testing). Others including several of my councilors were interested, seeing how I was one of the few who didn't relapse.

    I can't speak for everyone, but for me, MMJ has proven to help me avoid the cravings for alcohol or opiates. Some say it's just substituting one mind altering substance for another, but all I can say is I'd rather be "addicted" to weed than alcohol. It's basically harmless except for the couch lock indica's where I get lazy, and the munchies, which for me is chocolate, usually the expensive stuff like Lindt or Godiva.
     
  19. #19 Jessicuh, Oct 7, 2012
    I know you said you have experience with addictions, but have you ever experienced opiate withdrawals? If not, it's HELL on earth and I see nothing wrong with switching that addiction for an "addiction" to marijuana.
     
  20. #20 Izzy Mandelbaum, Oct 7, 2012
    The more cannabis I eat, the healthier I become!

    I used to drink heavily for years and then got into opiates for about 2 years.

    Did a number on my gut/internals. Eating cannabis helps my body slowly heal and rid the toxic lasting effects of poisons, alcohol and pharmies.

    Weed feeds the mind, the intestinal brain, the immune system, and major organ systems.
     
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