Re: Cannabis - health risks & addiction issues - Re: I'd like to hear more about this Uny...

still popping in to read occasionally, but not posting... though when I saw this I had to respond.

My DH was a long term pot smoker, probably 30 years, more lightly in recent years, but he had a daily habit when I met him that continued through our first year of living together. It made me crazy because while I wanted to be "cool" about it, I knew it was a problem, he just was a dumber version of himself when he was high, disconnected, and it made him withdraw, though in his mind it made everything better.

He admitted to needing it to feel normal. We very nearly split up over it, I just couldn't see myself long term with someone who couldn't be "normal" without weed. As far as I know, he's been "generally" clean for the past 5 years, he said he'd been wanting to quit so he could be sharper and more in keeping with his spiritual practice, but I honestly think he would have put that off indefinitely if he didn't have something major to lose (me). He's doing his life's work now, and is so intelligent and so good at what he does, but he pushed a broom for a living for 20 years, and while he'd never admit it, I gotta believe the smoking habit was part of a lack of motivation to reach for his true potential all that time.

I know he still uses it occasionally - when he goes on his yearly hiking trips, etc., so he's not truly "clean," but to this day he still maintains it was just an attachment, not a big deal. He went through all those withdrawal symptoms described, and frankly I'm surprised he managed to ride it out without resuming. I assumed he couldn't "dabble" without starting back into a habit, but unless he's become an expert at hiding it, it seems like he's the exception. I'm glad it's behind us, but I know it could resurface, I know he still misses it, and I'm just trusting that he knows his path, knows what he's doing, and I can't dictate his choices, anyway. I hope his lungs are OK.

Incidentally, he is much more the man I knew he could be, now. He's so much more present, needs less naps, seems more even keel emotionally. I don't buy it either, that pot is just a benign little plant. Has it's place for sure, medicinally, and maybe even very occasionally recreationally, but humans just do everything to excess, don't we?