Staying true to your screen name, what an insanely immature way to look at drugs. There are more drug psychosis cases caused by cannabis than pretty much any other recreational drug. Especially if you are smoking high grade stuff like skunk etc.

Thanks for this thread. I have been in recovery from drug addiction for almost 8 years now. I did many different drugs but what really brought me down was heroin. It is pretty cool to see you have the success that you have had but I have to say I am a little jealous because I always envisioned my eventual ME victory being notable because I am in recovery but now I see that you are the poker pioneer for people in recovery. But seriously that is awesome to see someone in recovery have success with this. There are a number of people I know in recovery who are always trying to tell me that playing poker is a bad idea for an addict but I feel like it is different for people who take the game seriously and aren't just trying to be degens about it. Anyway, maybe we will meet someday and we can discuss poker and addiction in more detail. I am rooting for you in recovery and at the FT. Peace.

As someone who has had huge problems with 'bath salts' for the last 3 years I can def relate to this. Great thread.

don't mean to be out of context******

typing on the i phone while jogging can very tough

calm down

Yeah that's called addiction, lol.

I have a lot of experience with it and pretty much never see myself "recovering" from it in the general sense the term is used.

You'd be surprised.

I think it does more damage than quite a few other things that other people tend to think are a lot more harmful... LSD and mushrooms specifically.

explain

this may be relevant to some of you.

I just seen weed control so many people's lives. Many of my close friends were all addicted to it for a long period of time (and still struggle w/ it) and an ex girlfriend of mine was super addicted to it. I worked with her trying to get her off of it and when she stopped she had like severe mood swings and really didn't act like herself at all. I almost kicked her out of my place cuz she was acting crazy but I had to remind myself ... the stuff is super addictive and she had been smoking it every day for a long time.

Most hallucinogens ... I don't see people getting addicted to really ever and I see people just mostly having a good time on them. I can see why they are more "feared" than something like weed tho cuz people will do crazy stuff and act very abnormal on stuff especially like shrooms. I could never talk to a cop on shrooms. I'd have trouble on weed too, but LSD, not really. I only have ever had good experiences on LSD, except one time, but that was one of the first few times I took it, I've taken it many many many times since then and it's always all good and we always just have a lot of fun. That's just me though.

interesting experiences itt

Hardcore opiates and Methamphetamine are by far the worst though. Everybody I see get into either of those seems to always end up in a bad spot. I remember a friend of mine back in college had chopped up some oxy in order to snort it after begging me for some for days and days. When I saw he had it and was ready to snort it I smacked it off the table and all the crumbs of it fell onto my floor, at which point he actually started to cry a little bit, then he got on his hands and knees and started to pick up every little piece that he could. After that I knew, this stuff is bad news and I wouldn't give it to any of my friends after that and always warned anybody I knew about what it could do to people. And I steer clear of anybody who ever asks me for the stuff or talks about it like they do it on a normal basis. I've never seen a functional meth or heroin addict (maybe they are out there, I've heard other people say they've seen them but never myself personally) while I've seen many functional alcoholics (myself) or any other type of drugs besides meth and heroin/oxy.

Grunching, but isn't 20mg / day a pretty low dose? I'm pretty sure my ex used to take 60/day and had been doing so for years.

Not saying that was healthy, but just curious since you seemed to present it as evidence of your being off the rails...when it seems pretty reasonable, dosage-wise, no?

What I think happens is that a lot of people are self-medicating with weed, especially the people who use it every day. What happens when they stop using it is the problems/mood swings they were using weed to medicate crop up again. This happens a lot with people using it for anger management/stress mngmnt, because it totally mellows you out and kills many aggressive/angry impulses. So when a habitual user stops, it brings these repressed feelings to the front.

Weed is not "super addictive' in most people. Just the people who are using it 24-7 are more often than not self-medicating to deal with some problem that they have.

I agree that psychedelics are less prone to abuse than weed.

I mean, I don't disagree with you for the most part. But what you are saying about weed being used to manage stress/anger and for those feelings to crop back up when the weed stops being used therefore it's not the weed that's addictive... I would say that xanax has the exact same effect on me that you are describing weed has on people who are addicted. Are you going to try to claim that benzo's aren't addictive?

(Disclaimer: I am certainly not "all for alcohol" in the way Bukowski is saying, however I just thought this was an interesting perspective on marijuana specifically, especially coming from such a notorious degenerate as Bukowski.)

I agree that too much of anything can be bad for humans, with that being said....

Institute of Drug Abuse made a chart rating the addictiveness of various substances. On it, marijuana was rated as less addictive than caffeine.

View this chart hear----> http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/28

take a look at this excellent piece of how caffeine is a more dangerous "drug" then the THC or Cannabods found in Cannabis

In addition here is a good read from the Collegiate Times about how Coffee can be more dangerous then Cannabis
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stori...n-marijuana/p2

a few quotes from the piece

"Unlike caffeine, most evidence suggests that marijuana is not physically addictive"

"Furthermore, while it is true that there are many carcinogens in marijuana smoke, a 2006 UCLA study concluded that heavy marijuana smokers do not seem to be at an increased risk of lung cancer compared to non-smokers"

"Caffeine, an addictive and potentially harmful drug, can be purchased and consumed almost anywhere. Even young children have access to caffeine in caffeinated soda and coffee"

"billions of government dollars are spent each year to keep marijuana, a drug that is less addictive and toxic than caffeine, illegal.

"Since the human brain is already attuned to receive cannabinoids, it does not alter a user’s brain chemistry in any significant way. The binding of cannabinoids to the CB1 and CB2 receptors is an entirely natural chemical reaction"

Those are strongly physically addictive. Marijuana is not. I was just trying to explain why select people might "freak out" when they go off of regular weed use.

I've been around people using weed (myself included years ago) and stronger things, it does always seem to be the weed that brings on the majority of drug pyscosises or acts at least as a strong catalyst. Some people can continue to smoke weed with very little side affects, much like Snoop Dogg or heavy stoners who are able to just smoke all day without paranoia etc.

Everyone is different, we are all made up of different DNA and hereditary flaws/strengths/diseases/addictions/mental illnesses so yeh there will be people who can binge on coke/booze/ketamin then live normal lives, there will also be people who smoke alot and continue to be ok, there are also heavy drinkers (like myself) who can continue to drink and not let it become a major problem but there are also more people on the flipside which is why I think drugs are just so bad ala Bukowski type belief. However having been around the 'party scene' and people using recreational drugs, drinking & people using class A's heavily, marijuana seems to be the most prevalent drug to bring on a drug pyscosis much more than anything else (and im not talking about taking a one off bad trip of acid, im talking regular habitual smoking of high grade weed). Im not talking about addcition here, just the effects on your mental health.

you're right. normally prescriptions begin at 15-30mg so its a relatively low dose.

When did you know you hit rock bottom? I think I'm getting there.

Thanks for brave enough to share your story, Greg. I've never posted here before, but reading your story and the stories of others has compelled me to step forward. I guess I just want to know what my next step should be.

I've been abusing drugs on and off since I was 16 years old. Been to rehab several times and my last stint of sobriety was my longest ever, 6 years.

Earlier this year, after noticing dramatic changes in my friend, I asked him what was up and he told me that he had been taking Vyvanse, which is manufactured by the same company as Adderall and used for ADD as well. He said he became more productive and lost a ton of weight. Vyvanse is suppose to be longer lasting with less of a crash afterwards.

Ignoring every alarm bell in my head, I went to see a doc and basically told her exactly what she needed to hear so I could get a script.

Scared, I asked for a small dose (20 mg). Nothing. She increased it (30 mg). Felt a little more focused but I'm used to the rush of crack, cocaine, meth, speed...so we bumped it up again.

I now have bottles of the stuff in 20 mg, 30 mg, 40 mg and I mix and match the dose according to what my day is going to be like. I take it first thing in the morning, I boost in the afternoon...

Literally not one person in my entire life knows what's going on. I have a family and I'm too embarrassed to look at them in the face. I avoid my spouse at all costs because we've been together long enough that she may know what's going on.

The drugs have altered my mood and my behavior. I'm partying more, drinking more because it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to feel drunk on this stuff, I'm being risky like I used to be when I was addicted to cocaine. I am hanging out with people I don't think I should associate with.

And I cheated on my wife.

My sex drive is just crazy these days and I've never felt like this before.

I'm ashamed and I hate myself but I can't imagine not being on this stuff anymore.

in regards to the assumptions that Cannabis causes psychosis or other mental disorders.... There is not enough evidence to prove this, it is simply not true

Lynn Zimmer, PhD, late Professor Emeritus at the Queens College, noted in her 1997 book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts:

"Cannabis psychosis is self-limiting, disappearing in a few days with or without medical treatment"

Hollie V. Thomas, DPhil, Director of the MSc Program in Psychiatry at Cardiff University, wrot

"The evidence that cannabis has a causative role in chronic psychotic or affective disorders is not convincing, although the drug may modify the course of an already established illness"

The Institute of Medicine published in its report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base" that....
^^ This is probably the most highly respected organization which operates under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences

"Although euphoria is the more common reaction to smoking marijuana, adverse mood reactions can occur. Such reactions occur most frequently in inexperienced users after large doses of smoked or oral marijuana. They usually disappear within hours and respond well to reassurance and a supportive environment."

It has been proven smoking cannabis does not cause psychosis or other mental illness(s), rather that psychosis is brought on by already established illness(s) that effect both cannabis smokers, and non cannabis smokers

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/s...IOM_Report.pdf

While I do feel that it is a grave injustice, based on (literally) Puritanical morality, that Marijuana is illegal, and that logically there can be no justification for this gross hypocrisy, which costs tens of billions of dollars, corrupts law enforcement, empowers vicious Mexican cartels and causes hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans to suffer in jail needlessly...

While I do feel very strongly about that, at the same time, as an individual, I can see that Marijuana is a problem drug. I'm not sure if it's the over-use of the drug that causes the problem, or certain personality elements of particular users that causes the problem. This might even relate to the Meyers-Briggs typology somewhat, with strong "I-N-x-x" types having a more difficult time from it, the weed causing them to become overly introverted or borderline Asperger type of syndrome, or creating panic attacks and anxiety. The effects on motivation and clarity of thinking are well-known, and anyone who is honest about it and has been around a lot of weed smokers will probably know what I am talking about. I can often spot a weed smoker the second they open their mouth and say one word, because their vocal pacing and intonation is different. I watched my ex-GF go down this path for several years. Literally, I could see her changing before my eyes, to the point where I eventually got bored with her and left her, ended up thinking she was a stupid ass, where before I was wildly enamored with her beauty and cleverness.

On the other hand, there are very well-adjusted, together people who don't seem to be adversely affected by Marijuana at all. Some people get high grade weed (not sure if they go for the "body high" type weed or the more "head high" variations) and can have a glass of expensive red wine and a frozen bong hit in the late afternoon sitting in the garden watching the sunset, and, hey, for them, it is great.

But for tons and tons of people, especially addictive types, especially those who haven't got their personality all together, weed seems to have a very destructive effect at least some of the time.

On iPad and its being dumb but in regards to Anilyzer quote 'can have a glass of expensive red wine and a frozen bong hit in the late afternoon sitting in the garden watching the sunset, and, hey, for them, it is great.' this is pretty much what what life is about, balance. And that sounds damn good, even if I don't smoke weed anymore.

You are obviously smart enough to know what your doing is bad and is a result of your addiction. It doesn't matter if it's coke, alcohol or some random prescription drug I've never heard of, you are clearly cross addicting. Go back to your sponsor or get some help somehow, don't wait till your in the gutter ( metaphorically speaking), there is clearly an empty void that you need to address. I'm not qualified at all, but having had so many friends and close ones destroy themselves through illegal and especially prescriptive drugs (which imo are in some ways worse than heroin/crack or meth) I know a lot about it, I understand addiction pretty well.... Get help.