Substance Abuse Community

Clearly, cannabis has been implicated as a causative or contributing factor in a number of psychiatric illnesses.

It seems clearer over the last couple of years that it either speeds up the onset of psychotic disorders or may even make them more likely to happen. These disorders do not get better with abstinence. It can also cause substance-induced mood, psychotic, or anxiety disorders, which resolve with abstinence.

Cannabis is clearly an addictive substance as well and may lead to bad consequences in a person's life. Hence, it is not a benign drug, and using it may lead to negative outcomes both short-term and long-term.

I think they say all that crap to try to keep it from being legalized. I think marijuana is safer than all the prescription drugs doctors get people hooked on. I have smoked for 16 years and have never had any kind of psychological problems. If anything it helped my anxiety and depression and helped me deal with stress a lot easier. I believe there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana in moderation.

I think you should do your research.... from an unbiased source.

More people that you believe become addicted to pot...nearly 25% of heavy users become physically addicted.

I smoked for a total of 5 years, the first 3 on and off. In the fourth year it was almost everyday and in the 5th it was nearly everyday. I became addicted to the point to where it was all I could think about doing during the day and it served as my motivation to get through whatever it was I was doing. I sometimes used it as a reward too. In the average week, Id have 3-8 grams, with or without friends. Often without when many were away at school. Early in this current semester, my business classes at my college were really starting to become intense and I lost nearly all motivation for my future and even doing my hw( as I would constantly put it off, or do it half-a**ed lol). So i realized that I had a problem that I had been denying for some time and decided to stop. [br>From the research that I've done it seems that people who have, or have a family history of depression or anxiety problems are more susceptible to becoming addicted than those who don't.
I fall into that category, and have had social anxiety ever since 8th grade and i'm 22 now. Smoking marijuana was a way for me to relax, and to not care as much and it allowed me to become the more social, outgoing person that I always wanted to be. Little did I know that I was slowly destroying my brain, and changing from the highly motivated, competitive, aggressive, good looking football player into the unmotivated, lazy, depressed, fat person that i'm now trying to change.


I am highly ambitious and I decided to stop to improve all areas of my life and to focus more on my business career and to improve all of my relationships by stopping. I believe that weed puts a limit on one's true potential to achieve whatever they want in life.
It can also distort one's perception of reality


Everyone's brain is different and everyone reacts differently to the substance. Pot has this uncanny ability to mask the damage it's doing by relieving the symptoms of the damage. But once it gets completely out of you, the symptoms show up. This is why many people believe that its a non-harmful drug. Users also like to protect their habit by making themselves believe that it is non-harmful. [br>Its now 7 weeks as of today. I have had problems with anxiety in the past and even more so now that I have quit, but Its getting better.


Like you, I used it to treat my stress, depression, and anxiety. Smoking allowed me to become the more relaxed, outgoing person that I always wanted to be (since i have some social anxiety) but eventually had its way of getting me into trouble and slowly destroying my brain. It got so bad that instead of going out and being social, I would just want to sit at home and smoke by myself on the weekends...usually when my friends weren't around. And I actually preferred smoking by myself because I would get much more high.


My withdrawal was so bad that I went to my doctor (who falsely diagnosed me with bipolar disorder) but realized this when my therapist who I have been meeting with for some time called him to let him know that im NOT lol. (my therapist was a former addict too and had similar symptoms when quitting and my Doc had never smoked before and wasnt familiar with the symptoms lol)
[br>It is more unhealthy than smoking cigs and lowers testosterone levels in males (and females) while increasing estrogen levels (which may be why some females become more sexual after smoking), and decreases muscle tone as a result, which makes it detrimental to serious athletes like I once was...among many other negatives. I once had big dreams of playing fooball at the College level (and the rare possibility of the NFL) and I definitely believe that my use negatively impacted my dream, as well as my motivationand drive that I once had.





From the research that I've done it seems that people who have, or have a family history of depression or anxiety problems are more susceptible to becoming addicted than those who don't.
I fall into that category, and have had social anxiety ever since 8th grade and i'm 22 now. Smoking marijuana was a way for me to relax, and to not care as much and it allowed me to become the more social, outgoing person that I always wanted to be. Little did I know that I was slowly destroying my brain, and changing from the highly motivated, competitive, aggressive, good looking football player into the unmotivated, lazy, depressed, fat person that i'm now trying to change.


I am highly ambitious and I decided to stop to improve all areas of my life and to focus more on my business career and to improve all of my relationships by stopping. I believe that weed puts a limit on one's true potential to achieve whatever they want in life.
It can also distort one's perception of reality

Sorry if part of it is repetitive, I copied one of my posts from earlier and had some trouble organizing my thoughts