Dear Emily:

The power of a comma: “I’m thinking of something like number painting and a pet, weed is not a healthy hobby”.

“I smoke weed everyday… it relaxes me or helps me shut off my thoughts to sleep through the night… quitting was a lot harder than I thought… weed is not a healthy habit“, you wrote yesterday.

green camp. com has an article titled “What happens when you smoke weed every day?“. It reads in part: “Long- term effects of smoking weed every day:… Which organ is the most affected when we smoke weed every day? If you answered ‘the brain’, you got it right… A study conducted by researchers at Duke University found a strong correlation between frequent marijuana consumption and cognitive decline…

“Are there any benefits to smoking weed every day?… cannabis is increasingly being used for medical purposes…  medical marijuana  is consumed differently than the one that we commonly refer to as weed (usually in the form of pills or oil), so you need to keep that in mind as well. If they need to smoke weed for health reasons, people usually do it to relieve stress, anxiety and similar issues. In any case, cannabis can be beneficial when used responsibly and in moderation. That’s our bottom-line.”

“Does weed cause addiction? Consuming marijuana on a regular basis can cause something called cannabis use disorder. If you’ve been smoking it for years on end, it might be very difficult to stop. Trying to quit this habit can cause a range of different withdrawal symptoms including a loss of appetite, irritability, insomnia, and anxiety”.

Thrive works. com: “Several long-term health risks are related to cannabis use disorder, including: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Chronic inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and bronchitis… serious upper respiratory infections, such as influenza and rhinovirus, Raised heart rate and blood pressure that can harm people with pre-existing heart disease…

“Long-term use of cannabis is related to amotivation syndrome, which is a gradual shift into indifference and apathy—goals will be unmet, no new goals will be set, everyday tasks will be left unfinished and responsibilities will slowly be neglected… When a person seeks treatment for cannabis use disorder, they have a great chance of stopping its use. Many people realize that using cannabis is hindering them in achieving success, but they’ve been unable to stop on their own…

“Cannabis use disorder is often treated with individual or group therapy following the rational emotive behavior therapy model… People with the disorder learn to recognize, tolerate, and manage their emotions instead of using cannabis to help manage their moods. Psychoeducation is used to challenge the false beliefs individuals have about cannabis use, such as thinking its use causes no harm. This type of education provides factual information about the addiction. Twelve-step groups can also help in recovery in offering support, accounting for the behavior, and motivating the individual to stop cannabis use. In addition, attending 12-step groups can be helpful in replacing the relationships that are harmful (people who continue to use cannabis that the individual used to spend time with) with healthier relationships. The connections with sober, responsible individuals can model healthy behavior and offer incentive and encouragement to help the individual remain free of cannabis”-

– Attending a 12-step group will give you the opportunity to be around people, to have some social life to replace the relationships with people who you blocked, and help with your boredom and depression (“I still don’t have much of a social life I block a lot of people because I’m sensitive… I’m desperate and don’t want to get bored and depressed”, you wrote yesterday).

anita