Marijuana Really Helps Me

[Deleted member 5760]

Ok, I will go one further on this.

The title of this thread is 'Marijuana Really Helps Me'

When you post a title like that you should be aware that you're now placing any kind of action in the hands of marijuana. Because eh? It's the marijuana helping you, right? You've just crossed the line into abusing a substance.

Ie - 'It's all the marijuana - not ME at all'.

 

[Trinomial]

Luckily it's not my thread. ;)

 

[Trinomial]

Marijuana is a tool. You can use it constructively or destructively--just like a hammer, an antidepressent, or insulin.

Insulin is not to be taken instead of eating healthy and exercising--it is to be taken with those lifestyle changes to benefit the whole of that person.

An antidepressent shouldn't be taken alone. It should be taken along with some sort of talk or behavioral therapy, otherwise the issues causing depression are never resolved.

I don't advocate depending on anything other than the Self. I encourage personal responsibility and educated decision making, especially when it comes to putting things into your own body, regardless of what it is--food, drugs, herbs, vitamins, etc.

 

[Jade-]

The title of this thread is 'Marijuana Really Helps Me' .When you post a title like that you should be aware that you're now placing any kind of action in the hands of marijuana..

Yet if the title of this thread was 'lexapro really helps me', 'xanax really helps me', etc. you would probably tell me you're happy I have found something that works........

 

[Deleted member 5760]

That's generally how it goes... yup.

Catching on?

 

[Jade-]

I see you are totally against marijuana jen...and that's your choice.

Would you have a different opinion if i was getting it legally? Is it the legal aspects that you are against or do you consider marijuana in the same category as heavy drugs such as crack or heroin?

 

[Deleted member 5760]

Not at all jadebear. I'm a recovering addict. I used to smoke all the time and then swear every word that came out of my mouth was 'mine' and 'freeing'.

It wasn't me talking --- it was marijuana. And it's not been prescribed to you. If it had been prescribed as beneficial then maybe you could say it is. But it's not been prescribed. Thus - self medicating.

 

[becvan]

Having a therapist back you up and say, yes it works and if it's ever legal you WILL get a perscription, is not self medicating. It's using a drug that is unavailable to be perscribed with the full knowledge of your health team. I have been there done that, myself.

Jadebear, I'm glad it is helping but a word to the wise. If your gonna use it, don't use it all day and ensure you are also working actively to use coping skills. It's best to use coping skills first and then when you start having a meltdown resort to a bit of meds to help you through the meltdown, not the other way around. Reason being that any substance IS addictive and using it to avoid is the road to addiction.

I realize that the temptation to be "pleasant" to be around for your husband would be huge, but that really is taking the easy way out. Getting better is not a fun road and it's hard on our loved ones, but if they want us better then they are just going to have to bear with it for a bit.

Superjen: I realize that as a recovering addict this is hard to see (family and freinds are in the same boat) but it can and is used for medicinal purposes all the time without precrscription. It's just not available legally most places. When someone is using it with the full knowledge of their health team (therapists, psychs, docs etc.) and their agreement, it no longer stands in the self-medication category. They can't give it to us but they can keep an eye on us. The problem arises when their health team doesn't know about it and it's abused.

For the record, I haven't needed any in over a year. I did the whole only use it on a meltdown method, and it help negate the worst effects while I used coping skills I learned in therapy. It really can help, if you use it right.

bec

 

[anni]

If the idiots in the phamaceutical companies put this in a neat and tidy, completely legal blue pill, let's see, ''Chilleze", they'd make another one of their gazillion dollars and the sociological aspects attached to the subject, hence most of the implied guilt, go poof. I don't get it. Seriously. I really don't. Did Nancy Reagan, et al really have this MUCH of an effect on the way the entire world views pot? No, escape into any form of 'other consciouness' is not 'good'- is it always 'bad'? The thing is, pot doesn't do this. Smoking it once in awhile does not instantly mean one is dependent, either- it just does not, an more than having a beer once in awhile means you're dependent on alcohol. Before anyone tells me it's not the same thing, sure it is. Otherwise one would drink a ginger ale-there's alcohol in it, one can have a beer and relax somewhat. Guilt guilt guilt guilt guilt. Escape? What's that? You mean escape from grinding, pitiless emotional pain? Oh, let's see, there's what, Lorazapam? The array of heavy-hitting, wildly addicting benzos or just the SSRI's which help us torque the chemicals into their correct place, with side effects. There's too much on this subject to cover well, and without footnotes I'm too frazzled to go look up. I do not mean to start a war here. I just think we all have enough to feel guilty and 'bad' about. I personally can't smoke pot these days because the heavy smoke sets off an intolerable headache-it's the cervical spine thing. I very much wish I could, and would in a hot second, legal or no. Escape this pain and thereby be able to process resources to be able to contain LIFE today? Yep. Everyone is different. This is me-that is Jadebear-and others. Guilt, judgement- gets nobody anywhere.

I think it's entirely relevant to this thread, 'M really helps me'. You notice I'm not attempting to spell anything difficult. :)

I lived with a raging alcoholic who was also a cocaine addict and wish to hell he'd have added pot to his list if substances at the time.The bottle of Jack enraged him, the cocaine gave him 24/7 mania to pursue the violence- he could have used some pot chill and saved me some trips to the ER.

 

[rjtransient]

Superjen, you're generalizing your experience to an awful lot of people. It reminds me of Trinomial's point that most of us have known someone who abused some kind of psychoactive substance. It's easy to let that experience cloud our judgment about the medicinal properties of that substance. It's a reasonable opinion, but it's a weak argument.

I disagree with the idea that the medical establishment has the final say on whether a substance is beneficial or whether it's safe and ethical to use. It would be ideal if everyone who uses a substance for medicinal reasons has the ability, willpower, and self-awareness to use it responsibly without circumventing the law, but we know that isn't the case, and I would argue that it doesn't matter. Two decades ago, you could buy a substance called sodium oxybate for $10 off the shelves. Now it's only available to patients with sleep disorders at $2800 a month.

I was talking with someone on the forum about junkies who ruin everything for legitimate patients. I don't think they do, really, except in the public eye. Who's regulating controlled substances? The FDA and the drug companies. If anyone thinks the FDA is purely rational and objective, you're lucky enough not to have extensive experience with the politics of drug regulation or the frustration of paying out of pocket because your insurance provider doesn't cover the off-label use of the medication you need.

Self-medicating refers to the idea that a patient is using a substance without a physician's approval. Literally, yes, smoking weed to help with anxiety is self-medicating. That term also implies a level of danger, right? The way I understood Trinomial's post, that term doesn't necessarily apply here. Most of the drugs doctors threw at me had worse side effects than marijuana would have. I expect that my doctors are mostly competent, but the written prescription alone doesn't guarantee that a drug is safe or more beneficial than a substance that has no legally sanctioned medicinal properties.

If you're reasonably smart and self-aware, the "self-medicating" construct starts to break apart. If self-medicating is dangerous because people can develop addictions and wrongly believe they can stop anytime (or can't stop when they want to), then blindly trusting your psychiatrist's drug regime puts you in a similar situation. Not the same situation, but similar enough. That's what I took from the post comparing a prescription drug regimen to the "self-medication" label.

If you are capable of taking responsibility and making educated decisions, the usual worries about self-medication aren't quite as much of an issue. Some people end up with bad experiences, but that's as far as it extends: a personal experience.

Drugs can change you, but whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is subjective.

We're getting into philosophical territory, and I hate philosophy. :)

 

[Jade-]

All I really have to say is being the mother of 2 drug addicted sons, I would be happy if all they did is smoke weed. I would much rather they sit and smoke all day long than do what they do.

No matter how much someone tries to tell me marijuana is harmful or a 'gateway' drug or is in the same category as heavy drugs, I will never agree with it.

I have had drug addiction problems myself in the past, I know how addictive they can be, I know how hard it is to stop. Weed is NOT like that at all. There's no withdrawals from it, I know I'm not going to be sick, I know I don't have to wean myself off of it. It's not the same as other drugs at all. I don't even know why it's considered a drug in the first place, it's just a plant.....

I have smoked k2(synthetic marijuana). It's totally legal and can be bought at the gas station in my town. I stopped smoking it because It made me hallucinate and I couldn't control my behavior. Why is something like that legal, yet something that doesn't make me hallucinate and helps me is illegal. I just don't understand the laws at all. The same with kava kava, I used to take that and it worked as good as valium, yet was natural. It was pulled off the shelves and I can no longer buy it in my town. Seems like anything natural, that helps and makes us feel good is outlawed.

My point is, marijuana really helps me. I will continue using it as long as I can. Call it self-medicating, call it substance abuse, call it whatever you want. I don't care. It helps me and that's all that matters.

 

[AdamAnt]

We seem to think that Pot is a recent thing...it's been here since the dawn of man. If you would like a lesson in what the media is capable of, google Hearst, Hemp. All questions about why pot isn't legal and why laws don't reflect public opinion will be answered there!. It's All About the Money!

I applaud you Jadebear, for trusting yourself!