Smoked pot for 25-30 years?

hi. Yes, there are many people here who can relate. Me being one of them.
I am 33 years old, and I smoked my first joint when I was about 14. While that's not quite 20 years, it's close enough. The only time during that time that I completley quit was when I was pregnant w/ my son in 1991. I smoked pretty regularly. If not every day, it was certainly every other day. Everyone I knew, certainly everyone I hung out with, smoked , so I never went long without smoking myself. Then in (about) 1999 I met my now husband, and became an every day all day long smoker. I mean every day all day long.
When I quit about six weks ago, there had not been a moment in 7 years when I wasnt high. (I even snuck outside on breaks at work and hit a sneak)
And yes it's very scary, but if you've made up your mind to quit, this is a great place to do it. there is alot of support here.
Let me know if I can help

Hey,

I am 33 and have smoked it since the age of 12. It really hit home for me when I did the math and calculated that I had been smoking it for over 20 years! Even worse was when I looked back at my old journals (writing is a fave hobby) and saw how many New Year's resolutions were to cut down on smoking pot.

Here is a re-cap, so hopefully others can learn vicariously through my experiences. OK, I know we almost all need to learn the hard way (first-hand), but if this helps even one person it will be worth it.

1996 New Year's Resolution: moderate use of booze and drugs. Quotes from myself during that attempt: "I feel as though pot almost bores me now." "I learned a lot through that stage in my life, but I can no longer allow the world to pass me by." Lasted 4 days without it.

1997 New Year's Resolution: No pot use. Smoked on New Year's Day. Then quit for 8 weeks, until some old buddies came for a visit with the chronic skunk weed. Lesson learned: Don't taint reunions with old friends by smoking cannabis. It kills the party and turns conversation awkward.

Later in 1997, off for one month ending at Christmas when I was offered a frosted, super-kind bud by an old friend. Led to paranoia and 3 days of feeling burnt out.

1998 New Year's Resolution: Substitute exercise for drugs. No record of how long that lasted. . .

1999 after one week without "I feel like GOLD!" I stayed off for one month, then smoked due to relationship stress. Late November 1999: trying to get it down to once per week. Note to self: For me, moderation does NOT work.

January 2000: Attempt to quit. Lasted one week, until my girlfriend had menstral cramps and suggested we smoke.

July 27th-October 18th of 2000: Totally weed free! 3 months! Used again to "merge with Gaia". Lesson: in the future use alternate means to feel connected to the Nature vibe/spirits (eg. drumming, music, dancing, tai chi, yoga, smudging with sage . . . )

December 2000 lasted almost a month without. Started again due to insomnia.

Started 2001 sober. New Year's Resolution: Moderate use of bud and booze. February, 2001: feeling focused. May 2, 2001: started smoking again. Super-chronic summer 2001: everyday was good, but it was like the movie "Groundhog Day" where the same thing happened EVERY day! No joke, the summer was such a blur to me that I can remember doing only one thing: smoking weed and going to chill at the beach with my newborn son.

Here is where I started to clue in on the cycle that I kept on repeating: Moderate use led to chronic use, led to burn out, led to quitting, led to relapse, led to moderate use, REPEAT.

I am sure you are getting the picture. Continue only if you really need to see how I fit the definition of insanity: doing the same thing, but expecting a different end result.

I was smoking lots of bud from 2001 until July 22 of 2006. I did take one big break in 2004 (after a dude I blazed a joint with committed suicide). The trigger that drove me back to weed after that break was that my girlfriend was smoking beside me in the car. Normally I could resist, but this was some ‘organic outdoor’ that had been given to us by an old friend we had been visiting. The smell overtook me, so I caved. All it did was make me slow down excessively while driving and I got incredibly irritable when we got rained on while camping that night. It sucked! The stupidest thing is, I went back to smoking regularly the next day, since I was burnt out from the night before and wanted to feel “normal” again.

I was able to quit this time (40 days today!) due to a variety of positive influences, not the least of which is the amazing online presence of people I can relate to on this site.

My story comes out in bits and pieces. As they are 100% my own experience, I don’t claim to have all of the answers for anyone else. All I can do is be entirely honest, and with any luck, you’ll see how retarded (literally) it is to keep on smoking the sh*t and expecting your life to improve on its own.

It does take work, but it is totally worth it!

I can totally relate I smoked from 1976 till Jan.2005. The only breaks from smoking was from early in 1980 till the end of 1983. I had the good sense to stay pot free while I was pregnant with two healthy sons, who are 18 mths. apart. For some reason it was easy quitting for pregnancies(maybe because I knew I could go back to it). I also made my husband quit smoking in the house when I was pregnant. Anyway we blissfully smoked are way through the 70's,80's,& 90's. My husband quit in 2001(job was randomly drug testing) & even though he asked me to quit(I'm self employed,no drug testing)it took many tries and many failures till I finally got serious on Jan. 10, 05. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, after that many years of daily smoking your brain does some really crazy things. My husband quit and had no serious withdrawls at all. For a few weeks he couldn't sleep solid and a little grouchy, but that was it. Me I was okay for about two days and then I just shut down. I went into this deep depression, slept all the time, didn't eat, constant headaches & just didn't even want to live. My husband put up with that for about a month and took me to our family doctor. Long story short I went on anti-depressants, in therapy, and now I'm off meds, out of therapy and life is great. I get so mad now when I see people typing marijuana is not addictive, it's a soft drug. Maybe for some it's not, but I'm not the only one who has had a rough time quitting pot. You just don't know how it will effect you until you quit and see how you deal with it. I was on another site before this one and you would not believe the people that defend pot use, and claim I was weak. But we are all different, I never thought a herb would be so difficult to quit, but I'm so glad I was able to get through that and now I want to help others get through there tuff times. Sorry this was so long, but we are talking about an almost 30 yr. habit. Good luck and God bless anyone who is trying to quit any addiction.

Flowerchild, wow that is what I am afaraid of, my brain wont even function if I quit, and the emotianal part of it.
That is about the year I started, So its been a long time.

What about your lungs, are they bad? Did you have asthma?
I smoked cigarettes before that, so my lungs are shot I'm sure, and I am afraid that quitting might actually casue many problems. I read that it inhibits your immune system, so if I quit will that suddenly go into overdrive?

What made you quit after all those years?

Don't let unknown fears stop you from quitting. You could be like my husband and quit with little to no problems. You won't know until you try. So far so good with my lungs. When I went to my doctor for help, he also ran tests, X-rays, blood work etc. Don't make excuses to your self on why you shouldn't quit either, your better off quitting now then later, it will just make it harder if you wait. Why did I quit after all those years? Well first I tried and failed many times, but I really believe the Good Lord intervened for me. One day after catching a buzz, I got so paranoid( never felt that ) and I was so freaked out ( thank God I was home) and I thought I was going to have a freakin' heart attack. I flushed about a half an ounce down the toilet and said enough is enough. Last year I never prayed so hard in my life for God to help me get through it! There were times I was so mad at Him, because I suffered so much emotionally. But I soon gave in to the thought that it was happening for a reason. This year I realized that maybe I could help others with my story and knowledge, about an addiction. So after learning how to use the computer, I researched the bad effects of marijuana, and joined in on forums like this one, to help anyone and everyone I can. So from the bottom of my heart, anytime you want to talk, want encouragement, a computer to cry over, advice or anything, I'm here, just a message away! Good luck to you Nlee, I'm here if you need me, take care, I hope we talk again.

I cant imagine how much money that adds up too. I know Marijuana is expensive. I mean just think how much money could have been saved over those 20 years.

If your talking to me tmassays, I know, alot of money. But as I always say you can't look back and regret, it does no good and it doesn't change the past. When I was on another site trying to talk a teenage boy out of not getting started on marijuana, I brought that fact to his attention. I told him I probably could have bought a few new cars with the money that went up in smoke. I hope he thought about that and didn't get started. Not that I'm defending our spending, but when we first started in the 70's ,you could buy an ounce for about forty bucks. A much cheaper habit then it is today.

im really curious about what long term affects you long term marijuana users who have quit have experienced. do you feel like there have been any lasting affects on your mind and body? if so, could you describe them and also mention how much you smoked and how long ago you quit.

Duration of habit: age 12 (first smoked hash) until age 33 (quit this summer) Total 21 years. For the teen years it was mainly recreational usage (parties, weekends, the odd school nights). Summers were chronic (daily) smoking.

Young adult habits (after moving out of the house at age 18-25): Heavy smoking, but not usually wake-n-bake (not first thing in the morning). Daily intake of between one joint to maybe 5 joints.

Slightly-mellowing adult habit: age 26-33: periods of quitting for up to several months. Usually I would start back with moderate use (once per week, only on weekends, etc.) which led back to chronic (daily) use. Daily intake, usually less than a gram per day (for myself, not including all the other people I smoked with). Waking up and smoking was always still more of a special event (weekends, hung over, hadn't slept, etc.)

Long-term effects: I've been off cannabis for 6 weeks and feel physically fine, but slightly emotionally stunted. I am a healthy person (and have been for most of my life) who only smoked cigarettes for a brief time in my early teens. I feel like my body will definitely recover without much trouble. It is the psycho-social aspect of relating to others that I am working on at the moment.

If you read my post on 8/31 you know how long I smoked and how long I have been pot free. Smoked on a daily basis. I have to agree totally with wakinglife on the psychological effects. Now again, everyone is different, you may or may not experience withdrawls. Quitting pot and suffering with withdrawls or not, is like a game of Russian roulette, you don't know who will get the bullet! I was really unlucky in the psych. dept., I wasn't as social, didn't laugh or think things were funny, I thought I really fu*ked my brain up and would never get better. But things run there course and everyday gets easier and better. Now 20 months later, I feel wonderful, life is normal and everything will be okay, of course none of us know what the future might bring. The only thing I am sure of , is that I will NEVER do drugs again.

ive been off weed for 10 months and i still feel f***ed up. my mind doesn't feel like it used to, i still feel burnt out like i smoked a joint yesterday. my lungs are screwed up and i sometimes i just feel totally dead inside. like that dull numb weed haze feeling never left. ive been trying to get in shape by playing tennis but i had a few episodes where i started to feel really faint and like i couldn't breath. im wondering why im suffering so many health problems from weed when you guys are alright when you smoked for so much longer. i only smoked for 2 years.