Giving up the hash!!! (for good)

cheeky_guy

Hi im in my early twenties and i have a 'BIT' of a hash problem. Ive been smoking about 3 years and really heavy since July when i went off the fags thanks to the hypnotist and i am now a hash ADDICT. Contrary to what you might have heard or believe, hash is a seriously addictive drug, it does make you go all paranoid and wierd and when I run out of it i could be a smackhead with the cravings and anxiety that flies through my head.

I am working in IT and have a good degree from college, lack some social skills as sometimes i am very conscious of everything that is going on. Now i did try and give it up before but i get BAD BAD BAD depression when i do. Id be lying there in bed and it always comes into my head about dying and that il be dead in a few years and i cant get it out of my head. What im wonderng is, has anyone gone through anything similar to my own experiences and come out on top. How can i stop the depression long enough for the dope to wear off. I really want to give it up and stay off it, i really do. Any help gratefully appreciated....

Cheers!


P.S> 4 - 6 joints per day!!

CiaranC

How do you go about smoking 4-6 'joints' a day without smoking tobacco?

I dont think you've given up 'the fags' at all, have you? Perhaps you are confusing the physical addiction you have to tobacco and the physcological addiction you have to cannabis?

stevieg_irl

im 21 and smokin since 15, hadnt had any problems like that, but some people have different reactions, so maybe ur best giving it up,
play some sports or learn an instrument maybe, instead of using spare time for smokin

Blisterman

Are you mixing tobacco in with the hash? That might be part of the addiction.
Try taking up a hobby, which would require a clear head.

Ag marbh

I don't believe this is the hash at all. This is simply your smoking habit, I have friends who 'give up smoking' but still smoke hash and when they have done that they amazingly crave joints more than usual. Also 4-6 joints a day isn't a great deal compared to some people out there. Being soapbar too without a great deal of THC in it would also lead me to believe it's the smokes only.


Telling yourself a lie kind of

SpAcEd OuT

As other posters have stated if you mix your joints with tobacco it is more than likely that you are getting those cravings for tobacco

CiaranC

A simple way to find out is to smoke cannabis exclusively from a bong, pipe or vaporizer for a while. Ill wager youll still suffer the same withdrawal.

I quit taking all forms tobacco altogether when I (succesfully) gave up cigarettes a couple of years ago, it was wierd the way you could have smoke in your lungs from the bong and yet still be dying for a smoke. Even now when I take one of my regular breaks from cannabis, I have to go through nictotine withdrawal each time, because of my preference for smoking a 'joint' as opposed to a bong or pipe. This involves a few days of cravings, irritability, sleeplessness and even mild depression - and thats at doses much smaller than 5 full joints per day.

ferdi

CiaranC wrote:

A simple way to find out is to smoke cannabis exclusively from a bong, pipe or vaporizer for a while. Ill wager youll still suffer the same withdrawal

truth

rick_fantastic

look mate if u are serious about giving up smoking hash, see a drugs counsellor if u cant just stop smoking it.

i had to give it up because of a court case involving drugs and seeing a drugs counsellor was the best thing i ever did. i didnt smoke drugs for 2 years and thats going from smoking it constantly for 5 years

i still smoke occasionally (some weekends) but i found the counsellor really helped me a lot along with getting fit

Goodshape

CiaranC wrote:

A simple way to find out is to smoke cannabis exclusively from a bong, pipe or vaporizer for a while. Ill wager youll still suffer the same withdrawal.

True. I've had a fierce smoking (joints) habbit in the past, and if I have some weed/hash I'll still smoke a joint over a ciggarette. But if I haven't got tobacoo a bong or pipe is always a lousy substitute.

It does sound like you're still addicted to tobacco.

Andy-Pandy

snip

LegacyUser

Hi
I used to smoke hash as much as you. I agree that it is addictive to some people. I have quit both hash and tobacco for over 2 years.
Hash can be part of a whole social life or even sub-culture. I'm someone who was never that comfortable in a loud nightclub or crowded pub, but very happy indeed in a sitting room smoking with a few people. The feeling that you are tuned in to things in a different way to other people and so on.
As far as quitting goes I think it is a case of changing your environment as much as motivation. Don't hang around with people smoking dope. You'll lose friends. But it will be a while before you can sit in a room with people passing joints and say no when you are offered.
It can be a bit like waking up in a loud bright room when with a headache and not enough sleep and too much to do when you stop smoking it. You will have more motivation and be a lot less passive. You need to focus on something/s and use that. Exercise is good because it provides a natural relief and also you know you will lose the results of your hard work if you go back to smoking lots.
best of luck anyways

sportswear

i understand completely what you mean. hash is an extremely addictive drug.
and its influence creeps upon you and takes over life slowly yet surely. i'm not sure about the suggestion of stopping hangin around with people who smoke it. That just makes you lose friends. i think you could take part in a sport r something might help.

the only thing i am sure of is this: seeing a drugs councellor will improve this situation dramatically. there are lots of people in your situation that are helped all the time. depression is a common symptom of continuous cannabis abuse and withdrawl, but if you don't stop and get help the cycle will just go on and on, and waste and eat up your life. a councillor is experienced with these things and if you need to they will reccommend a course of anti-depressents for perscription.

its not as wierd as you might think going to a councillor. it will do you wonders. this kind of thing happens to people all the time you are not alone. you need it and you will never regret it. good luck.

UberNewb

Well I had the same problem as you. About 5 years ago I quit smoking and would just have a spliff or 2 after work. I noticed that after a while it was every night about 6 spliffs and I was getting the same cravings as you. Even going through the ash tray to rip apart roaches to make one awful spliff. Some people who didn't know would think that I was addicted to hash but it’s the nicotine. I ended up back on the cigs and was able to reduce my spliff consumption back to only a couple nights a week.

This time I decided I would quit smoking hash first and then quit smoking cigs. Quitting smoking the hash was the easy part but I started smoking more cigs!

Then when I decided to quit smoking cigs I didn't have any excuse to get my nicotine from anywhere else which made it very difficult for the first few weeks but now I don't miss the cigs or spliffs!.

Go back on the cigs full time and then quit smoking the spliffs then after a month you won’t be missing the spliffs at all. Then when your ready quit smoking cigs and you'll see how hard that is.

Try it and the best of luck!

StupidLikeAFox

Try allen carr's book, i know its aimed at just smokers but it'll help pretty much any addiction.

Exon

I was addicted to hash for a couple of years, it can be very mentally addictive. I also used to think I was dying all the time etc but I gave the hash up and about a year later i'm not half as paranoid as I used to be but i'm still a little bit paranoid. PM if you want to talk!

LegacyUser

*NOTE* Some contents may not be approved of!


Hi,


Reading the first few replies I may say straight off, lads a lot of you are on a permenent hard-on for the anti-tobacco lobby, and while your crusade is all very worthy, i'd say it gets a little annoying when people come looking for help about something different. Your ignoring this fellas comments very quickly and jumping to lazy conclusions based, perhaps, on your own experiences and assuming everybody elses to be the same. I smoke fags and joints, and experience the very same things as this poster when I cut out the hash and stick to the cigs. Some of the other lads in the house find it the very same.

To the poster... If you want to give up (and since I haven't succeeded in doing so myself for any genuinely extended period of time i'm not gonna get too high and mighty here!), make sure you really want to give up and know exactly why you want to give up. If its because of the guilt you get knowing your wasting years of your life then your probably not going to manage it this time either.

Definately don't fall into the trap of pondering how wonderful and life changing its going to be when you do give up. It's going to suck balls for a while and you know it! You'll find yourself questioning why your bothering and unless you have an answer prepared for yourself you'll be right back smoking again.

From a physical point of view you've spent pretty much all your free time getting stoned for the last few years i'd say so naturally your body is going to find it an adjustment. Not so much a withdrawal system, just that you wont be used to your body functioning normally! You'll be edgy and less relaxed. For some reason I always notice my back gets stiff as if very tense. I'll get in trouble for saying this here because what i'm about to suggest is probably physically more addictive than cannabis, but the only thing i've found to take the edge off in cannabis' place is Valium. And i'll get in real trouble now but i'd say about 20mg does the trick. If you've 5mg or 10mg tabs thats not a lot. If you've 2mg tabs you'll probably rethink things when you see ten of the ****ers in your hand :-) Doctors regularly prescribe valium to sufferers of Muscular back pain as well as pissheads going cold turkey. Whichever your best at acting as!

The worst element is obviously going to be your mind here. Cannabis is a very habit forming little substance. Your mind has been working overtime for years while in a certain state and its not easy snap out of it. As some of the others suggested here, a hobby is nice. If your like me at all you probably haven't cooked yourself a dinner in a few years now. When you come in from work, roll yourself a spliff as normal but just before you light it, go make yourself some dinner. The spliff is gonna be your after dinner reward. Then clean the kitchen after ya. You assumedly have a PC and Internet access so there's a few hours killed too. Just don't put yourself in a position where your sitting down thinking at any stage because it only ends one way. If your having a weak moment, feel free to roll a spliff but dont smoke it just yet. Smoke it right before bedtime. If you just have those two joints you wont feel the panic about giving up, you wont dread the minute you get in from work, and you'll see the benefits of the time your not smoking to the point where you'll be pretty close to quitting altogether.

The depression and paranoia I put down to years of over-thinking while stoned, and the fear of unchartered waters when giving up. Easing yourself off as i've said above will, I reckon at least, help out with the depression side of things.

Myself - 10 and a half years since first joint. Gave up for 6 months a few years ago, did a couple of months off in the last few years, and a few times managed to cut it down to between 1 and 3 a day for a few weeks. On the other hand, i've still not found a reason to convince me to stop!

Best of luck fella

Ruaidhri

TBH the first few days are hell. After that it's grand. Just keep yourself busy.

UberNewb

Not Logging In! wrote:

On the other hand, i've still not found a reason to convince me to stop!

Thats your problem right there, you don't won't to stop. simple!

pcwares

Sleep deprivation adds to your feelings or anxiety and depression:

get a relaxation cd from easons. Practice the technique and you will relax your mind and get to sleep fast. It takes a little time and you will feel like your a tit doing it, but trust me it works.

Stop hanging around with anyone that smokes hash or is involved in drugs. Difficult to break bonds but in the medium to long term you will get a handle on life and be in a position to effectively change your life by making your own informed decisions.

Change your habits in the evenings. Throw out music that stems the melancholy and it just reinforces it. Bin them tomorrow. You will feel a weight lifted if you accompany your smoking with tunes.

SPORT SPORT SPORT. Any sport. Social skills will develop stronger and faster if you pluck your courage up and join a local soccer team/hurling team. And the sense of 'i'm on the right track' will lift your spirits.

When feeling depressed - acknowledge to yourself vocally that you are feeling depressed in a mirror - only be acknowledging to the self can you break the hold of depression. Tell yourself that you cannot be defeated. Say it numerous times. AGAIN you will feel like a tit but you are reinforcing the positive person in you.

Talk to a counsellor who will guide you to reinforce positivity the advent of the new you. Life doesnt change for you because you think about doing something to change the negatives in your life. You have to take some form of action to effect any positive change. The first action you have taken is by typing and posting your original post.

sportswear

to take the edge off in cannabis' place is Valium

ignore this. this is silly.

clearly.

LegacyUser

sportswear wrote:

ignore this. this is silly.

clearly.

Told ya so!

rubadub

Blisterman wrote:

Are you mixing tobacco in with the hash? That might be part of the addiction.

MIGHT BE!!!!
Mother of god, if you mixed any substance with the most addictive substance on earth it is fairly sure that you will be addicted to it. I know so many people who "give up smokes, but not joints" and go about stoned stupid, putting miserable amounts in joints, and they are the ones going mental when there is a "drought".
There has never been a medical study showing cannabis to be addictive, yet every medical text lists nicotine as THE most addictive substance known, more than heroin or crack cocaine.

If this guy said he was though he was hooked on apple juice and put heroin in it would be closed for trolling. The main people you hear saying cannabis is addictive are heads of addiction centres, but these people are mixing it with tobacco. Tobacco on its own is the most pointless drug going, no pleasure except releif of withdrawl symptoms, all it is is an addiction. Cannabis, pleasant high, not addictive. If you mix it with tobacco it becomes a super addictive drug, just like heroin mixed with tobacco.

It is like an alcoholic claiming he is off the booze, then moaning "I'm addicted to tonic water now though, don't know why, I still put gin in it but thats just for taste".

AngryBadger

Yeah I went through this. Long story. Bottom line: You will experience depression without it, and things like panic attacks, and insomnia for the first while.

the only advice I can offer is to throw yourself into things. Exercise regularly to exhaust yourself, and accelerate your bodys clearance of the hash.

I can relate to the confidence issue socially, (honest!), all I can say there is, you're worrying about peoples' reaction to you, and it makes you paralytic, because you can't possibly accomodate everyone.

Try to remember that, in life, you have to do what YOU want to do, and as long as you're not hurting anyone elese, you don't owe anyone any apologies for that.

LegacyUser

'Have finally woken up to the fact that I'm living with a hash addict, tobacco with hash, pollen, grass whatever, its now destroying our lives. Can't believe we lived through the E period of '94 - '98 and then the coke '98 - '03 with no casualties to arrive at this stage. The man I once knew is gone, the other postings on this thread at least have made me realise he's not unique. Now need serious help, home, work, family all being destroyed but he's still in denial. Any light at the end of the tunnel'