This is Part #1 of a 4 part series on my reason to quit smoking weed.
I believe that it is a great idea to create an inventory of all of the reasons that I want to quit smoking weed. This servers 2 purposes: To clarify the negative effects of marijuana addiction in my life, and to use as a reference guide when I crave smoking pot, and think about relapsing.
The Negative Physical Effects of Marijuana:
Respiratory System: My respiratory system takes the largest toll when I smoke pot. I do not breathe as well as I would if I did not smoke at all. From attempts at quitting in the past, it takes about 2 weeks to a month to notice a change in my lung capacity. I currently have a wheeze if I breathe out quickly. My lungs have also been burnt from inhaling smoke that is way to hot, it usually hurts for about a day, then goes away. I also find myself holding my breath and creating tension in my body for no reason, like I am trying to hold in an imaginary hit of weed. I need to take slower, deeper, breaths.
My mucus production is through the roof. I don’t have the weed smokers cough right now, it seems to come and go. I DO awake everyone morning with a stuffed nose. If I get a cold, it takes me a long time to beat it. I had nasal congestion from late July to early October this year.
Skin: My skin doesn’t look good. I think this may be a blood circulation and oxygen thing from smoking pot. You know how you can look at a 60 year old and tell if they are smokers or not….I think that to a lesser extent smoking weed does the same thing. I quit smoking for about 3 months a couple years ago and noticed that my skin, particularly my face was way smoother and healthier looking. I also noticed when I quit that the bags under my eyes, and surrounding pores looked way smaller and better.
My thumb and forefinger are also discolored from holding onto joints and blunts. It is pretty common to burn the skin slightly when I am going for the last hit on a roach.
Eyes: My eyes get bloodshot and itchy when I smoke weed. When I smoke heavily, my eyes get kind of dazed, 1/2 open, and I don’t focus well. However, I will admit that smoking pot does improve night vision.
Teeth: One of my teeth is getting stained from tar and resin in the joints I smoke. I was smoking between 1-5 joints a day. So it does add up and it is visible to me.
Eating Habits: You are what you eat, and when I get stoned, I eat shitty fast food – and lots of it. Taco Bell, McDonalds, Jack in the Box etc. When I am too stoned to drive and too lazy to walk there is always pizza or Chinese food that can be delivered. Not only is this terrible for me, it also costs a lot of money. I don’t go to the grocery store that often because I don’t want to go stoned, so I would just smoke more pot instead and eat junk food. 7-11 is 24 hours, but the hot dogs are only good until about 2:30 am. I have put on about 15lbs in the last 2 years.
Lack of Exercise: I don’t do physical activity nearly enough. I used to be in excellent shape and need to get back to where I was before. Swapping the smoking habit and high for the exercise habit and high is a priority for me. My cardiovascular system has been beat up from all of the pot smoking. Once I have quit smoking weed, I should see that rebound pretty well – especially if I push myself with bike rides and hikes.
The best program that I have found for quitting marijuana is the Cannabis Coach system by Gary Evans, my physical shape has improved drastically since I quit smoking weed using his audio program.
See for yourself – Click Here to See the Cannabis Coach – Easy Quit Audio Program
What negative symptoms do you experience? If you think I have missed anything, or would like to share some of your own, please comment.
See Also
Part 2 – Psychological Reasons to Quit Marijuana
Part 3 – Reasons to Quit Marijuana – Relationships
Part 4 – Financial Reasons to Quit Marijuana
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During almost 10 years of smoking I experienced severe headaches brought on by the weed. Although I didn’t want to admit that my buddy was hurting me – it was. I never suffered headaches until I started smoking consistently. Almost everyday I would wake up with a pounder, I take about 6 headache tablets a day to ease the pain. When I get home from work and smoke, the headache comes back. Eventually by the end of the night its too painful to even sit with the lights on. The worste was waking up everyday with the agony. Its definitely no way to live. On rare occasions smoking weed would take the headache away, but then again the weed was the cause in the first place. My skin is pasty, my eyes have huge purple/blue circles, sometimes when I smoked a bong my lungs would hurt so much, as if they were popping, sometimes the tendons in my eyes got sore when I moved my eyes to rapidly to the side. Also waking up extremely groggy and tired no matter how long I slept, and this horrible stuffy feeling in my head that only leaves after 2 hours of being awake.
lol you are all kinda weak individuals. i smoked for almost 3 yrs now. 2 yrs as daily. only stopped for a week when i couldn’t find any.
i still play sports and i am a dedicated dancer. shit i even smoke before most of these activities, makes me stay longer and not be lazy. just recently started using a vape becasue i have asthma. but i still smoke occasionally. i had breathing test from before i started smoking weed and after ive been smoking for these 3 yrs.
my asthma doctor said that my asthma is still mild and my breathing test are the same every 6 months visit. but i will say weed affects everyone differently. but i guess since you people want to give up this wonderfull herb i would start by deleting are your contacts od your dealers and anyone else that would infulence you snmoking. easy as pie.
good luck im going to go roll a doob! =) peeace
For all of you people bitching about how marijuana isn’t addictive get the fuck out of here. Keep your wack crack and deal with your ‘real’ problems if you want to look at ours as if they don’t exist. Get off your high drug horse and use your brain. He did not say there was anything contained in marijuana that is addictive. He SAID it is a psychological addiction. It’s sad when someone wants to admit they have a problem to get help and losers like you want to say “your a loser, you don’t have an ‘addiction’ stfu with all that mess. Honestly when you would rather sit home all day and get high then go to a Christmas party, I think you have a problem. That is not normal, there are a lot of people who are like that but it is not normal to depend on something. It’s sad when people would rahter push the people who love them away and not get help so they can get high. Off of weed, meth, whatever is your fix.. it’s all the same rush to whoever prefers whichever. Quitting is not easy. It has to come from the heart. You may want to just up and QUIT but the want to get high will sometimes over power that want. So just whatever you do if you’re trying to quit, keep positive and stay strong. Remember you have accomplished bigger things then kicking the green
Good luck.
An addict is obviously weaker than the substance he’s addicted to. Practice saying, “No, no thanks. More for you.”
Man I can relate to a lot about what you talk about, but I think this website is very stereotypical. Not all chronic pot smokers behave the way you do. I myself fiend dope from morning til night and I have been doing so for many years. I hold a job as a junior engineer which involved an immensely difficult journey to acquire… 4 years of extensive university training in math/science, highly competitive job hunting. I am in excellent, well above average physical fitness and am highly active while stoned.
I can say myself that I have transcended the negative view towards pot which you hold and the cognitive side effects like social problems that come with it. I am capable of loving relationships but tend to stick with mainly pot smokers because they tend to be laid back and inquisitive. Seems to me like you are one of those people who cannot accept the different woldview encountered during the experience of the sacred plant.
I am also capable of extended breaks lasting for months.
You speak of these things “pot makes me stupid”, “pot makes me social awkward” etc. like they are facts. They are not. You create your own reality with your mind and if things arn’t working out you can’t just blame a plant because it is your own fault for failing to control the plant. The plant makes people naturally passive and relaxed in bliss
smoking weed is bad for you i tried to convince most of my friends tryed to make them understand that smoking weed is really bad for you it just kills your brain cells its give you nothing good instead of relaying on the weed to get off your problems face them like the man/woman you are dont let anyone tell you you aint worth it never stop trying to acchive your goal
Hey,
So I am on my way to recovery. I don’t like what I’ve become. It’s only been 2 days – but for me thats good. You have to start somewhere. Thank you. Hopefully I can quit and not fall back into it.
-Sober and loving it.
I have been smoking weed for just over 10 years, near enough daily. i can’t believe it’s been that long. at the beginning it was fun and sociable things to do and me and my mates would have a laugh. As I got older everyone stopped apart from a few of my mates. It was the only thing that mattered.
I was in deep denial that it was effecting me, i feel like it sucked the life out of me. I started getting really paranoid and depressed. Didn’t want to see my friends or go out or talk to anybody. If I did go out I’d wished I hadn’t and stayed in to get stoned. It was a vicious circle, the worse I felt the more I smoked to forget things.I got the munchies all the time and put on weight. I found going to work really difficult, i would wake up on the morning with a weed hangover, and couldn’t concentrate or remember things at work. I would call in sick just to stay at home and get stoned.
Several people i know had psychological problems and sent to Mental
Institutions. So I know just how bad things can get.It can take over your life!
It’s stopped me having proper relationships.
For ages I wanted to give up but never had the will
Power and kept telling myself I was fine.
I have only stopped smoking for a week now but already I feel much better, I’m more positive and feel more clear headed. It’s time
To get my life back on track. I wish I had quit sooner. Although I do miss the feeling of being stoned and relaxed.
Smoking weed is definitively addictive, much more than people think.
Well its been almost two weeks for me, I now have the confidence to actually quite smoking pot, but I can’t lie about the side effects. I can honestly tell you they are real and my evidence is my high level of anxiety, and insomnia. Last night was the worst night so far. I slept for maybe 2 hours and tossed and turned for the majority of the night. The positives are my new found energy is everything I do. I’m beginning to dream again and to believe that I do have choices and my life is what I make of it, and a life centered around the pot culture is hindering my potential and puts me in a self defeating cycle. I am going to end this cycle and I am going to quite. I finally applied to go back to school, and I have more motivation then I’ve ever had in the ten years since I took my first hit. Thank your for this website and the information in it. It feels me with hope and confidence every time I read new posts. Here is to taking our minds back and to sober active minds.
Ughhh i have insomnia while im reading this. Ive been smoking for over six years now pretty much everyday. Worst part is i dont smoke joints i smoke blunts and about 3 a day. Its honestly a drag in my life but for some reason part of me doesnt want to let it go. Ive quite for tqo weeks then went back and months later here i am tommorrows day 5 but thats nothing. Word to the wise if you want to quit smoki ng dont lie to yourself and say your going to cutt back. It takes true will power and an actual want to cut the stoner acts, but if you want it as bad as you say you do then the road to success happens to be very rewarding.
I agree with the coughing and cold parts, but my fingers have never changed color from being burned, they will definetly collect resin if you smoke enough, but thats just as true as cigs.
id say the only withdrawals youll feel are, an induction into the real world’s brainwave, insomnia for a couple nights, and I noticed i was laughing alot harder than anyone else at the dumbest things.
clears up your head and is definetly benefitial to your spirits and well-being, then, smoke and have fun all over again! its not good to stay high by smoking everyday even once daily. i can feel it the next morning, just a ‘reset’ feeling, which is okay, but I’m growing up, and my surroundings are changing so its good to be on one brainwave or train of though instaed of getting stoned and going into outerspace and back daily.
Martijuana can be over-whelming at times, but its important to be around other people. VERY important, otherwise shit just goes sour cause being alone sucks enough as it is, ad then you smoke to cope, and its downhill from there.
I usually get inspired to workout when i look at my scrawny arms, and MJ has no noticable effect on the amount muscle i gain, and its actually good to eat alot around exercising
also, exercising takes away from the mental buzz, so its nice to get high and workout and reallllly relax and veg out and not feel bad about it.
the oly bad times ive had on weed is with alot of people, where communication is lost, or by myself, its always good with other people even if i dont like them.
I have been smoking weed for almost 10 years now and DAILY.
If you are lacking motivation and forgetting everything when u smoke weed, then maybe I shouldnt smoke it. I personally think its bullshit to say you have an addiction to weed. If you go into a
Narcotics anonymous meeting and say I
Am addicted to weed, they are going to laugh you out of there.. If its
Financial problems your having, then u should find another supplier or get a better job…. I am a pathologist…. Studied at the university of western Ontario in London Ontario and I think you guys are all off your rockers saying pot is addictive but if u choose to quit then thats you and to those that posted on here that smoke pot, WELL KEEP ON SMOKING MY FELLOW POTHEADS
Tht was supposed to say maybe U shouldn’t smoke it lol
This is a great website. I find it interesting that some people come to this site to “correct” others by telling them that marijuana can’t get you addicted. In the same breath they’ll say that one is “weak” for being addicted. (which seems to contradict the idea one can’t get addicted)
Is there anything in life that is 100% good? There is a dark side to everything. People get on their high horse and speak about marijuana about gives one special access to a spiritual realm and that one has failed in some way if they have a different relationship to the plant. Why don’t these people ask themselves why they need the plant at all?
The way I see it, if this is a truly intelligent plant – its probably just telling the people who are having negative experiences with it “You don’t need me. Stop taking me.” Deepest of luck to those who are parting ways and becoming free and independent of this lifestyle.
I have quite smoking now for almost a month now. I started smoking 5 years ago and heavily 3 years ago…
I started smoking because all of my friends were doing it. I took a hit, and loved it ever since. I always argued with people that pot wasn’t bad for you, that it’s not addictive, that it doesn’t effect your mind. I stood by those beliefs and kept on smoking. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting high. It is one of the most amazing feelings I have ever experienced.
Well, I am here to say pot is fucking addictive. You love that feeling of being high. But when you are high for so long, you forget what it is like to be YOU. That’s one of main reasons why I stopped. I found myself sitting in my room getting high watching tv. I also stopped because I had a hard time remembering things that were important in my life. When I was high, it was all a blur. I also got tired of paying a drug deal 20 bucks for a gram every day. I have probably spent $10,000 dollars on pot in the last 3 years, maybe more.
Since my friends and I have started smoking pot, I have watched all of them fall apart to nothing. It started out as marijuana, then other drugs. The culture behind it is terrible. Kids, DUI’s, jail.
The week after I quit, it was hell. I would see all of my friends smoking and I relapsed. When I got high, I felt really ashamed of myself. I told myself I was quitting, and now here I am. After that, I knew I had to grow a hatred for the drug. I listed all of the negative things about pot and then put the positive things along side of them. Needless to say, the negative list was much longer.
Now I work out 2 times a day 4 days a week, I have so much more ambition and energy since I quit. I hardly ever want to be inside. The day that you quit smoking, you will be reborn into reality. Sure, you will have to deal with extremely hard decisions, hardships, and frustrations. But that is part of reality and life. Pot just pulls the shades down on your brain from these real experiences. But it doesn’t make them go away. Quitting has been one of the hardest things for me to do in life. But after quitting, it has been one of the greatest feelings. I feel like everything in the world is new and exciting again.
The day you quit smoking marijuana is the day the voyage of reality and life begins, and I hope everyone will join me on it! For those who disagree with my experience, I understand. But one day you will wake up when your old, reach for the bowl and suddenly realize… where did the time go.
I´m just reading all these posts and it’s fascinating.
Weed has been a part of my life since I was 14 or so. At first it was such a laugh, just to sit with my friends and laugh at every stupid thing. But that changes, the effect it has on you changes and in the end I have found that I have been craving the stoned feeling, but when I’m stoned I want it to stop and dislike how it makes me look at the world. This is not good, it creates an internal dissonance like the Lemonheads song “I don’t wanna get stoned, I don’t wanna not get stoned”….
I have given up in the past without really feeling like I was missing anything. Sometimes I’ve scored only to be relieved when it’s all gone (but at the same time missing it a bit). I can say that the happier times of my life, the most interesting times have been the times without weed.
For the last year, I’ve been smoking in the evenings, EVERY evening. I notice the effect it has on my mind and this is the number one reason for me wanting to stop. I am getting forgetful and feeling intellectually below par practically all the time.
Also I’m 34 and feel like a loser for not leaving my weed habit when I graduated from Uni like most others.
It’s gonna be kind of hard to stop, as my boyfriend smokes it and isn’t thinking of giving up. It is something that we’ve shared, but now in the evenings I will have to find other activities besides smoking weed…exercise, reading, socialising.
Weed definitely can take away your motivation in life. As this site says, you become “comfortably numb”, you stop pushing yourself forward and your interests narrow.
Now I am thinking of studying some more and pushing myself forward in life. Weed does not make me happy, it saps my energy, makes me passive and unsociable.
I’ve been thinking about stopping for a while. Now it’s time to take action. Here I go…
I have been a pot smoker for 35 years and a daily smoker for at least the past 20.
I just recently decided that’s it!
If I could add up just the money alone, never mind the health benefits I would have a serious amount of cash in my bank account.
For all of of you that say “Its the person, not the pot”, you keep telling your self that….what ever makes you feel better about your addiction.
For those of you that were like me “Chronic(no pun intended) daily pot smoker”
Happy trails to a life without the need to justify why it’s ok to smoke weed every day.
Cool site. I understand where you are coming from with your posts, I do not disagree with most of them, but the conclusion I get is that you should use only at night when not on a date, infrequently like that. My point is that it seems like MJ is not bad – its overusing MJ that is bad – just like anything in life. Although, that said if you can’t control yourself to use infrequently as many can’t, then you should quit.
I gotta say though, from my youth before I quit, I would actually smoke before lifting weights, it really helped motivate me and gave me a nice energy rush, so I strongly disagree on that point; I think even Arnold did this too at times, it really helped me focus almost like a meditation when lifting weights. But again, I could see how it could stop you from more social sports for sure.
After reading, I have to say that the most ignorant thing I found was that a person could choose to judge others based on their personal experiences. Actually, I think that’s called “bigotry.” It’s like saying “I drink and drive all the time and I’ve never killed anyone, so I don’t think drinking and driving is dangerous.” It blatantly overlooks the research and common sense involved in judging these situations, however, it brilliantly portrays the mindset of an addict. “I do it, it doesn’t hurt me or anyone else, so it’s not a problem.”
Any individual can find their self addicted (psychologically, which can translate into physical effects) to practically any substance for any number of reasons, and if they find that this lifestyle doesn’t suit them and they want to live a more progressive and healthy life–it’s blatantly ignorant and arrogant to assume that this person is ‘weak’ because of their personal assessment of how a substance or activity you might a part of personally affects them. It shows insecurity in the person who can say “this is something I do, I feel like you’re attacking me by attacking my lifestyle, therefore I find it necessary to attack you.” IE the individuals claiming they are educated or physically elite in some form or another. They have taken this person’s account of quitting, assumed it to be a personal attack on their lifestyle, and they’ve chosen to a) personally attack them and b) validate themselves by flaunting examples of personal accomplishments. It’s like saying “How dare you make me think about the way I’m living–let me show you all the good things I’m doing so I don’t have to think about what I need to improve upon.” And this is classic of any poor lifestyle choice and the person who has chosen to use it as a safety blanket.
For those of you who have chosen to quit–rock on. We all have things about ourselves we, at times, notice and feel the need to change. For those of you who haven’t chosen to quit, and who have in turn chosen to pass judgment–you’re insecurity is transparent as is your ignorance. You have, just as the person who choose to quit, chosen your path and you should very well show a bit of respect as the attitude that “my lifestyle is fine as is, and your choice to change is poor” is a sad argument if not absolutely pathetic.
where is the proof that any of that wouldnt of happened naturally to you man, quit complaining and saying the things you think are happening to you are, because it could very well be you just growing up finnally, and selena, it doesnt kill your brain cells that study was done in 1974 it was the dr heath/ tulane study, they forced 30 columbian streingth joints down those poor monkeys lungs, their brain was deprived of oxygen, so of course their brain cells died. You all need to do more research before you make up lies about a beautiful plant sent here by the almighty one “i give unto you all seed bearing plants”
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