I was admitted to drug rehab at Ridgeview in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA on January 4th, 1996. First, I was placed into cottage “C” for detoxification and drug testing. I told the staff that I had not drank any alcohol or used any drugs besides marijuana in the last 3 months. They definitely did not believe me because most addicts are known to lie about their drug use to other people. I figured what was there to lie about now, it was over and I had to quit.
I recall meeting a few different people in cottage “C”. These individuals were people that I would strike up conversations with during outside smoke breaks. Everyone, I mean everyone smoked cigarettes. I noticed that my cigarette smoking greatly increased immediately upon stopping my drug use. I think it primarily had to do with the strong obsession toward marijuana and trying to make-up for it. One thing that I remember about one of these smoke breaks was talking to an individual who told me the doctors found out that he was bipolar. I was beside myself when I heard this information. I was a psychology major at a university, so I had a little bit of knowledge on the subject. I thought to myself that it would be terrible if they found something like that wrong me.
After spending 24 hours in cottage “C”, I was moved into the Half-way house. This is the place where you go after they feel you are not going to hurt yourself (or others) and that you have successfully been detoxified from all drugs. Treatment centers really have to be careful especially for alcoholism. Alcoholics can die from withdrawal if not treated properly. It was known in the early days of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) for sponsors to care liquor with them to keep the new comers from dying from withdrawal.
Once at the halfway house, I was settled into a room with another individual. I can not remember who it was to this date. However; he seemed pretty nice like most of the other people there. It didn’t take long to realize that a lot of wealthy people including doctors and lawyers were also there with me trying to stop using various drugs. I recall that they had 2 group meetings everyday in the halfway house. One meeting was early in the morning around 8:00AM and the other one was in the afternoon around 4:00PM. Each one of these meetings consisted of everyone telling how they felt that day. But, before each person began to talk, he or she would state whether or not they were an alcoholic or an addict. Some people even stated that they were both. When it was my turn to speak for the first time, I stated that I was a Marijuana addict.
In between circle based meetings, we had classroom like schedules. Each class lasted about 1 hour and were instructed by different teachers (drug counselors). For the first week, I was pretty cheerful and answered questions while a lot of people made fun of how slow I talked. To me, I did not seem to speak in slow motion, but everyone else clearly noticed and made fun of me from time to time. This obviously was an effect of my long term use of marijuana. But, it wasn’t just my speaking that was impaired. Marijuana had actually slowed down my thought processes. This was one reason why I had been unable to finish my 4 year college degree in psychology. Honestly, my mind was not nearly as sharp as it was just 5 or 6 years earlier. Marijuana had turned me into a slow thinking, slow talking person. These problems along with a few others like the inability to read well because my eyes lost focus quickly would continue to cause me problems for the next 2 or 3 years. Click to Continue ->>
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Did you ever consider that, just maybe, the problem wasn’t the drug, but you?
That’s the thing with these anti-drug sites. You had a bad experience. You messed up your life. But there’s a lot of us out here who just want some respect, who want to smoke pot and not have to deal with these ridiculous, unsubstantiated claims. Weed made you slow? You made you slow because you smoked too much weed.
Ridiculous.
God I love to read these stupid sites.. You have some person that has absolutely no self control preaching about how they were addicted to marijuana. This is the same type of person that would get addicted to video games or cheese burgers because they failed to learn to take everything in moderation. Too much of anything is bad for you! DUH! Marijuana is not harmless, nothing is…. I had a friend almost die because he always thought he was gonna get dehydrated and drank too much water.. so like I said.. Exercise some control and stop spreading the lies and propaganda.. Teach people the truth instead.. Marijuana is ok if used properly, just like alcohol.
Most of the information given here about Marijuana is false. Though Marijuana addictions can occur, they are extremely EXTREMELY rare. As for the slow talking and slow speaking, that is a bunch of lies.
Slow reactions, speech and movement all may occur when under the influence of Marijuana, but will return to normal after the use of cannabis. Even after numerous years of smoking the substance, while sober people have similar reaction times, hardly effected speech, etc.
Stop spreading lies and Propaganda about Marijuana use. It may have caused harmful effects in your life, but it has certainly assisted many more people than it has effected negatively.
It is amazing to me that this website even exisits. These stories seem more over dramatic than a daytime soap opera.
Most Importantly though; If you are going to make a website that is trying to educate people why don’t you tell them facts instead of lies. This site is full of non-sense that is so far from the truth I wonder if you all even know what marijuana is.
Next time you want to make a website, try talking about something that you know anything about.
Okay. So you became “addicted to marijuana.” But some of the things described here (i.e., “These problems along with a few others like the inability to read well because my eyes lost focuss quickly would continue to cause me problems for the next 2 or 3 years.”) have never before been documented by any credible source. The effects, both short-term and long-term, of marijuana have been well documented and what you are describing is an anomaly. Did you see and ophthalmologist?
Also, you say you quit cocaine, but somehow the addiction to marijuana lasted? Something is inherently wrong with this one… First of all, dopamine is an extremely temperamental neurotransmitter, and it’s release/re uptake inhibition is the source of the high feeling for numerous extremely addictive drugs, including (but not lumited to) cocaine, methamphetamine (Desoxyn®), methylphenidate (Ritalin®), and bupropion (Wellbutrin®). It is easily corroded, which leads to a state of ahedonia, the inability to feel pleasure from normally pleasurable things. How the want to drink and smoke marijuana surpassed the want to ease the ahedonia is beyond me.
I’d also like to point out a couple of other things:
Much of this article reads as if copied from an anti-drug pamphlet, website, textbook, etc.
There is an uncanny resemblance of this “rehabilitation” (Alcoholics Anonymous included) and cult brainwashing.
Alcoholism is definitely dangerous, because alcohol is a toxic, narcotic, physically addictive, and easily available drug which definitely has the potential to ruin lives and severely damage health. However, while marijuana can be addictive, please bear in mind that so can shopping, gambling, video games, and junk food, and believe it or not, despite marijuana’s legal status, it is one of the least harmful things to become addicted to. It’s exactly this kind of propaganda that catches the eyes of the passers-of-laws. My only objection to marijuana is the fact that it’s purchase funds organized crime and, consequently, gang violence.
this justice guy is wrong. Pot is bad for you. It kills brain cells and leads to depression. Makes you go insane, suicidal and paranoid.
“Makes you go insane, suicidal and paranoid”
And who told you that? An Above the Influence commercial?
Do you have any idea how many people actually smoke weed? Way more than you think, and you want to tell me that all of these people are insane? And what exactly do you mean by insane? Like, running around the desert screaming about bats and manta rays? You’re only making yourself look stupid because it’s obvious that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
And to the admin, it doesn’t sound like the problem is marijuana, it sounds like it’s you and you’re ignorant family that tells you it’s wrong based on what the tv tells them.
Gummo,
Maybe you should take a look at this article. Doctors have been suspecting for a long time that marijuana use causes mental illness.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/news/marijuana1.html
Notice also how the article indicates that THC stays in your body for a long length of time. It also mentions that it sticks to brain tissue causing a dangerous build-up over time.
This article confirms why it took me YEARS to get back to “normal” after smoking heavily for 4 to 5 years.
Hey admin, that study on schizophrenia is bs. What they did was take the number of marijuana smokers, which they saw was rising, and matched it to the number of reported cases of schitzophrenia, which was also rising and said that there must be a connection… just because both statistics were rising.
People with that disorder commonly use marijuana to help alleviate their symptoms. Check out this study which proves that it IMPROVES schizophrenia:
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7908
Also, THC does not stay in your system more than 72 hours, it is the THC metabolites that stay and are detected in drug tests.
And it doesn’t take years to return to normal, i’ve quit for months at time, and return to “normal” instantly. Your either weird… or you’re lying.
Gummo,
I personally have a friend who is schizophrenic and whether or not pot makes it worse is definitely questionable. This friend of mine is an AA buddy and he smoked a lot of pot too, but he was definitely schizophrenic before his heavy marijuana use began.
The only problem that I saw with the group study was that it was only conducted for a very short period of time. Schizophrenia is treated with medicine that basically tranquilizes the person. So it does not surprise me that synthetic THC might make a schizophrenic individual feel better because it does have a tranquilizing effect on most people. Lets suppose that it does ends up being something that helps people with schizophrenia. Do you have schizophrenia? Do you have access to synthetic THC? A long time ago THC was approved for cancer patients, so I do not see any real difference here.
Listen I have an open mind, if a bunch of studies come out and all the psychiatrists start jumping up and down about how THC helps depression or anxiety, then that would be something. This is never going to happen because THC does stick to brain tissue. I’m walking, living proof. In the long term heavy marijuana use caused me to slow down to the effect that other people made fun of me. They said I talked slow and seemed stoned up to 2 or 3 years after having stopped. The weird thing was that to “me” I could not tell any difference (as far as the slow speech was concerned). My short term memory loss was definitely noticeable to myself and it got back to normal over time.
Here is what I will say is good about heavy marijuana use (after you stop). Your memory and your regular brain functioning returns to normal over time. It’s still up in the air if pot causes/worsens mental illnesses. I am bi-polar (manic depressive), but I know for sure that I had this condition before I started smoking pot heavily. Whether it made it worse, I have no idea.
Also, keep in mind that I’m the guy that quit. What would my life have been like if I would have kept smoking pot? I was delivering pizzas making a good living when I was smoking pot. Now I’m a college professor teaching computer courses. (That’s where the website comes in.) Do you think my life got better after I stopped? You should see the nice house I live in (Florida – 15 minutes from the beach). You should see my beautiful wife and our little 4 year old son.
My life would have been totally different if I would have kept smoking pot. I know this for a fact. I never dreamed my life would be as good as it is now. Sure, I have problems just like everyone else, but the quality of my problems have greatly improved.
When I was smoking pot and using other drugs, I promised myself that I would stop by age 25. By age 25, I had completely given up. I was the guy who didn’t like to have to deal with all of the crap that came along with buying pot (some of the people sucked). When I went into rehab I had half a pound in my closet because I had given up. Too many DSP notes that never got me anywhere. Thank goodness for my little brother Greg who told my parents about my problem. I went into rehab on January 4th, 1996 and have been sober ever since.
Have a nice day everyone.
James-
“this justice guy is wrong. Pot is bad for you. It kills brain cells and leads to depression. Makes you go insane, suicidal and paranoid.”
Thanks i’ll go kill myself before the black helicopters invade area 51 and release all the aliens who will blow up the earth…
You’re serious?
u r stupid because half the stuff u said isnt true. ive been smoking it for years and i have not gotten one thought of suicide, am very smart, and not depressed one bit. so u r saying the beatles and bob marley and pretty much every good person in the world is insane. people like u ruin the world and cause violence. i hope your ashamed
I love your humorous story. You talk about how bad weed is yet you smoked cigs, something to be proven far worse than weed, in rehab?
Either you are a troll, or just stupid.
it’ is when we talk about things that we do not know of that we look to be ignorant to others, some of the admins post right here proves that he does not know enough to condemn it, he can only theorize on it and after smoking pot for the past 19 years ( start when I was 10)way to young to start anything, I find that it has not adverse affects on me other than being really pissed when people use it as a scape goat, can’t they at least pick something thats proven harmful, ie crack, cocaine, meth.
Once again it’s like peace humans are just too dumb to get it.
dude, I know people that have been smoking pot for over 5 years that talk a million miles an hour without studdering, unlike yourself who I almost guarantee had a speech impedement or was slightly retarded as a child and took up pot cus you couldnt keep a steady conversation goin, dont blame the pot, blame your dumbass brain, its makin all these retarded articles about lies that you can think of in order to scare kids into not smoking. If you made a website about any other drug, I GUARANTEE you would not be given much crap as you are writing about how weed “will make you slow talking and slow thinking” you disgust me
Is this site satirical or is the creator actually serious? I can’t seem to tell, if it’s serious then you should consider writing for abovetheinfluence.com. I don’t think there’s enough BS on that site already — you two should consider merging sites, maybe you’ll get a medal of honor. Or, you’ll just waste your time preaching to the choir, if you can’t tell 99% of the people that frequent this site don’t take it seriously.
I would like to see actual evidence that THC “sticks to your brain”. Just because one has a speech impediment and smokes marijuana does not mean that marijuana caused the impediment any more than it means the impediment caused a desired for marijuana. Sorry for your troubles but most you are the only heavy smoker I have ever heard of this happening too. Many things cause speech impediments but mj isnt one of them.
Wow, I’ve never heard of anyone going to rehab for cannabis, without a court-order that is. That is beyond pathetic. So you’re one of the mighty 2% who become braindead from pot. Why make ridiculous blanket claims as if everyone’s neurological makeup is the same? And nice try lumping alcohol and the other substances together. Which pharmaceutical giant’s paying you to write such rubbish? Good thing most people don’t buy this line of crap anymore.
Are you serious?!? You have mental issues and are smoking cannabis, self medication is bad…get professional help. Just because you can’t deal with cannabis don’t create a website about it, get over it and move on. The drama of your posts have all the feel of a paid for project of the DEA. How much does one of these writing jobs pay? Want to make a difference in the country, tackle meth and Rx abuse.
I’d love to know, did people laugh at you in rehab when you told them you were addicted to cannabis – I would’ve. How about you stop wasting space for people who are actually psychologically and physically dependent on harmful substances like, meth… Why make other’s suffer due to your weak-mindedness and inability to form plausible arguments. Your blanket statements aren’t fact – it’s a little thing Hitler used too, propaganda (lies),
this website was obviously created by big tobacco to promote tobacco use and discourage use of other drugs.
What a load of crap. You were predisposed to these mental conditions anyway. Yet another bunch of lies against cannabis. It’s not 1937 and we have overwhelming proof of how safe Marijuana is compared to Alcohol and the Tobacco you so proudly menitoned smoking during rehab. Get real. You people can’t lie to us anymore.
after 14+ years of smokin it, i have successfully quit the stuff because as they say; it is the gateway drug, when i was younger, i said “I will NEVER do coke, I’m all natural man” that only lasted until my early twenties, that all lead to all kinds of other sh*t! it is good these days to be sober:-)!
Who the hell goes to rehab for marijuana? Your site is a joke.
The worst problem is, these whacko nut-jobs still get business given to them by the court system, which knows a money-maker if not justice.
Persecuting pot growers and smokers is a crime against humanity that will, in time, be noticed for what it is. Witch trials. Invasions of privacies, excuses for more prisons and police.
The crime here is not by the pot smoker, but by the state. As citizens we have a “right to be secure in our persons and effects”, and if they doesn’t mean my urine, my blood, what I eat and drink, or smoke, then what kind of liberty are we talking about, anyway?
smoke weed. it doesnt harm you if done in moderation. chode blower. SMOKE WEED EVERY DAY IF YOU WANT. dont let this dbag or the government tell you different. we all pop out of a womans vagina, we all know that no one REALLY knows, and we all know pot doesnt harm you like the govt says. peace
this website is filled with way to many lies about marijuana. This website should be shutdown. Maybe if you told teens the truth instead of lying they wouldnt do it as much. this website should to get there facts straight.
You spent 24 hours in cottage “C” and you were automatically 100% detoxified?
What a rube.
“after 14+ years of smokin it, i have successfully quit the stuff because as they say; it is the gateway drug, when i was younger, i said “I will NEVER do coke, I’m all natural man” that only lasted until my early twenties, that all lead to all kinds of other sh*t! it is good these days to be sober:-)!”
the only reason that pot CAN be looked at as a gateway drug is because it is illegal . you go to your dealer and buy a bag and he says hey man wana try somethin? you say WTF and go for it. There is no substance in marijuana that makes you go out and look for other harder drugs!!!
make it leagal and that fixes that ^
lol this is funny! this guy is probably related to the guy that played world of warcraft so long he died. some people just dont have self control u know?
Your story speaks like a book of lies. My favorite is when you say you were moved into a half way house 24 hours after you went in for your :”addiction”. You had to be detoxified from all your drugs. It only took 24 hours for you to detox? You know nothing about addiction or withdrawal.
Stop telling your lies to people. There have been many studies that say cannabis use helps depression, bi polar depression and PTSD. Your full of crap buddy.
Stop blaming a plant GOD gave us on your problems. You still smoke tobacco though huh? Over 5.4 million a year die each year from tobacco. Deaths per year from cannabis………0. Choke on that OP
I understand wanting to quit something that has become a habit, and I have a deep respect for anyone who has the willingness to do so, but this guy doesn’t sound like he’s changed anything at all. He’s traded his previous addiction with another even more dangerous and–in my opinion–more obnoxious than before. Pot is addictive depending on the person. I believe I have a psychological addiction to marijuana, but getting online telling people this is bogus and it’s not plausible information. I suggest to anyone who wants credible information about this subject is to check scholarly websites i.e googlescholar. those are legitimate sources for this kind of information. Rather than one persons life experience.