Comment by TaylorAlexander | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TaylorAlexander | Hacker News Reader

TaylorAlexander

Just thought I would share that lately I vape marijuana via my PAX3 vape roughly twice a day. I am going through a stressful period, and probably don’t consume it as often normally. But once a day has been typical for me for the past few years.

Something I have observed is that I used to drink alcohol daily. Now I don’t. I’m not sure if it was personality changes or my brain just wanting something, but either way the vape feels way healthier for my body than drinking. I can’t believe I used to drink every day, alcohol is crazy bad for your body.

I think marijuana helps me cope a lot with life. When I don’t vape, stress builds up in my life. I think I do have ways of processing stress without the help of any substances, but I’ve found that even when I’m using much less, some marijuana on the weekends helps me process my stress, chill out, sometimes cry, and get past the hard parts of life.

For everyone out there that still believes the crazy stories about marijuana that many of us (myself included) were told, don’t believe that stuff. Like alcohol, marijuana offers the potential for abuse. But it’s not the devil substance so much propaganda has taught us.

I came to similar conclusions, but then later realized that cannabis was simply making me numb in certain ways. (Subtly dangerous ways, in my case at least. My empathy became retarded.) Sedation and analgesia are incredibly useful tools but ought to be treated with care. Most pain is there for a reason and most of it can be altered, dissolved, or accepted.

I also want to add another personal experience: Cannabis cookies were extremely beneficial to a loved one after an amputation.

I think this is a great observation and I'd like to add to it. I've used it nightly for many years with some breaks of various lengths and am back on a break from it. My mental acuity and ambition have shot back up after a week of discontinued use. I'm a very nice person but it does affect your ability to be empathetic which I'd call almost a creative process although we've been taught or at least repeat that weed is supposed to help creativity. This may go hand in hand with the mental acuity. Luckily I am aware of the importance of and have the capability to stop when I endure a large life change and realize the need to process these things in a sober way. However, once these fade I find myself slipping down into the hole of "well it's ok to use on weekends" -> "it's ok to use on week nights as long as I don't have anything important going on" -> "I don't know how I'd fall asleep without it". So therein lies the danger and as someone who is fairly young especially for the crowd here, I'm actually quite frightened that this may hinder my ability to do fulfilling and ambitious things in life.

I quit marijuana 2 months ago being a smoker since 15 (11 years). I felt it was making me stupid. I never really was much of a drinker, but now that I've quit weed, I probably have 3-4 beers a night. Drinking definitely makes me feel worse than smoking weed, but I think long-term weed use might be worse for your brain.

Ideally I wouldn't be drinking or smoking, but there's this urge inside of me that just makes me need to do something to change my cognition.

It could be worth seeing a Doctor about it honestly, or a counsellor/therapist. They might even suggest CBT, which could be beneficial to you. Mindfulness practice may also help you.

Good luck!

Just some anecdata and personal experience, feel free to disregard:

Smoking marijuana for 11 years is a long-term habit. I, personally, wouldn't expect to just be able to stop and not have something else to fill the gap that used to be filled by cannabis. To me, it totally makes sense that you're now drinking every night. Have you tried tapering off of alcohol slowly? I have an extremely addictive personality and whenever I have had to quit a substance (tobacco, caffeine, etc), slowly tapering has been the most effective method for me. Rather than suddenly opening a large habitual gap, it slowly shrinks the gap and allows me to acclimate gradually.

Everyone should choose for themselves of course, but once a day for three+ years is more than plenty to hinder proper REM sleep and start damaging your ability to handle those emotions that are contributing to your sense of stress. Take a month off, you might be surprised what comes up after a few weeks without the vape.

> But it’s not the devil substance so much propaganda has taught us.

I think the danger with many psychoactive substances is the diminishing ability to judge what "normal" is. And that applies to all sorts of stuff, legal and not.

Might be worth considering removing the crutches for a couple of months, dealing with life head-on, and seeing if it's really so bad.

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