Hi Sam, I recently got into a argue with someone online about whether or non you can be fond to cannabis. It's such a polarizing topic that it's hard to know if the fears around addiction are legit, or if there's truth to the idea that you can become dependent on it.

I ask because I've had problems with alcohol before, and cannabis is now legal where I live, so I'm wondering if it's risky for me to try it? Any thoughts?

I totally hear yous on the murkiness around whether or not cannabis habit is a thing. I've really wondered the same thing myself! I'g likewise glad y'all're being cautious earlier diving into this. I think slowing your gyre is a smart choice (pun intended).

But I'g wondering if the addiction question is the right one — because I'thousand not convinced that the semantics here actually matter.

More chiefly: Tin your apply go problematic? Can it brainstorm interfering with your life in means that have some pretty uncanny parallels to booze addiction? Tin can cannabis utilise be matted without beingness an addiction?

Abso-freakin-lutely.

In that location are very few open up and honest conversations around what happens when cannabis isn't so fun anymore. I could write advert nauseum about the complexities of addiction and whether or not cannabis falls nether that heading. Simply I don't necessarily think that'south helpful.

I believe it's more important to be able to recognize when that line is crossed

While I'm non a clinician, I do think my lived feel offers a snapshot into what this kind of disorder can look like.

For starters, clocks were no longer a way of telling fourth dimension — they existed but to time my edible consumption and then that it hit the exact second I was washed with piece of work.

My schedule slowly warped, until information technology was essentially built around the adjacent fourth dimension I could get loftier. At offset it was a small, occasional part of my calendar week, until it was all of a sudden the main result… every single day.

I ready rules for my apply, only the goal posts constantly moved. First, it was simply "a social matter." Then it was a "weekend thing." It was merely at home, until information technology was at habitation and at yoga class, until somewhen all bets were off and y'all'd be difficult-pressed to interact with me when I was sober, assuming I ever really was.

My utilise became so excessive that I had the highest tolerance of anyone I was around, and while I ready limits, I never stuck to them.

My ratio of THC steadily climbed until eventually, I was vaping pure THC concentrate, and spent most mornings trying to piece together what happened the night before, my retentivity every bit hazy as the smoke filling my tiny flat every evening until I vicious asleep.

At my worst? I'd had so much THC in my system, it had induced psychosis (to be clear — I consumed the amount you'd normally give to four people).

I had to call in sick to piece of work the next day because I was (1) still loftier the entire next day and (2) experiencing traumatic flashbacks from the paranoia and hallucinations. Those flashbacks haunted me for weeks after the fact (it didn't finish me from smoking once again, though).

And despite my dogged determination to cut back on my use? I never seemed to be able to.

You mention having had a "problem" with alcohol. Ditto, friend. And in many recovery spaces, I know that folks are divided as to whether or not cannabis can ever be used safely past someone who has a dicey relationship to other substances.

And I totally get it. For a while, I actually thought cannabis was my go-out-of-alcoholism-free card. So much for that.

I know folks who have used cannabis to wean themselves off of alcohol, or every bit a form of damage reduction, opting for the "safer" substance when the compulsion to apply comes upwards. This has been an important step in recovery for many people, myself included, and I'd never discourage someone from making the safer choice between the two.

Some folks in recovery stick to CBD products and opt out of THC. (I tried this but I e'er slid backwards subsequently a while, eventually reintroducing THC after a period of feeling a picayune too comfortable.)

There are others who are in recovery from addiction who seem to be able to handle cannabis just fine, or manage to for a few years and and so suddenly cross a line, in which they inevitably return to sobriety. And in that location'south every kind of person in-between!

The point is, each and every person is unique. I can't say for sure what your relationship to cannabis is going to be.

But what I tin can practise is give you some information to brand the best possible decision for yourself:

  • If you know you've had bug with other substances in the past, don't
    innovate anything else — weed included — without a mental health provider on
    your support team.     While many mental
    health professionals will not endorse using cannabis to anyone with a history
    of substance misuse, this extra supervision, or transparency with a
    professional, can help ensure that if your utilise starts to get problematic you
    can formulate a support plan for getting sober, sooner rather than subsequently.
  • Consider attending a harm reduction back up grouping. If you're specifically exploring cannabis because you're struggling
    with alcohol or want an alternative, it'south all-time to have a support system of
    others who are navigating similar situations.
  • Do you accept any co-occurring mental health issues that might increase
    your gamble of misusing cannabis?     This can
    include weather condition like PTSD, ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and low. If so, hash out with your care providers
    if cannabis might exacerbate your symptoms (for example, weed definitely made
    my OCD much worse), interact with your current medications, and whether the
    benefits of apply are strictly short-term or sustainable over a longer menstruum of
    time.
  • Know the signs. Does it feel more
    similar a thoughtful choice or an urge or coercion when you use? Are yous able to
    take a intermission from using? Is your tolerance growing? Has it interfered with
    obligations or relationships in your life? Has information technology created issues
    (financially, emotionally, socially, even legally) or taken you lot away from
    things that are of import to yous?
  • It's helpful to keep a journal and log your employ, specially if yous've had problems with other substances in the past.
    In improver to looking for the signs above, consider the context in which
    y'all're using. Is it in a recreational setting? Or in response to a trigger,
    stressor, or uncomfortable emotion?

While the DSM-5 does acknowledge cannabis employ disorder, I retrieve that's largely irrelevant here. Because every ane of us, whether we risk habit or not, should be monitoring our substance use and checking in to ensure that it's not impacting our lives negatively.

That should be part and parcel of whatsoever kind of substance use — alcohol and weed included.

The bottom line? No one should be on autopilot when they're using mind-altering substances, however normalized it is in our culture

My days of "Sharknado"marathons and "green outs" are a distant, baroque memory, which I'm pretty glad for. My circus does not need any boosted monkeys, even if those monkeys likewise happen to make ice foam taste 10 times amend (*cue sad trombones*).

I'thou completely sober (and happy!), which wound upwards being the best possible choice for me.

At the end of the day, this is a personal conclusion that but you tin can make (and, depending on the legality inside your country, please be advised it might also be a criminal decision).

It may be "just a plant," but plants can be harmful, also. Did you lot know that tomato plant leaves, for example, are mildly poisonous? If you lot tried to swallow an acorn, you could nonetheless scrap your tooth or choke on it (why would you do this? I don't know, I'one thousand non here to gauge you — maybe you were roleplaying as a squirrel).

Accept it from someone who learned the hard way — information technology's all fun and games until you're so paranoid that you're convinced the illuminati is after you (yes, this seriously happened to me). Which makes for a hilarious story, but trust me, there are a meg improve means to spend a Friday night than having a completely unnecessary panic assault.

Cannabis might be "only a establish," but that doesn't make information technology inherently safe for each and every person! My best recommendation is to tread carefully, seek out additional back up, and exist thoughtful about your use.

Your brain is a very precious organ, then care for it that fashion, okay?

Sam

Sam Dylan Finch is a writer, positive psychology practitioner, and media strategist in Portland, Oregon. He's the pb editor of mental health and chronic conditions at Healthline, and co-founder of Queer Resilience Collective, a wellness coaching cooperative for LGBTQ+ people. Yous tin say how-do-you-do on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or larn more at SamDylanFinch.com.

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