19
votes
Would you consider it unhealthy to smoke pot twice a day recreationally?
i just started getting into drugs and have found that it's more comfortable to smoke around two bowls a day after lunch and after dinner, i only smoke after i've finished all my tasks for the next few hours, and i don't let it drain my wallet. opinons? also if anybody here is starchy against legalization please give me your reasons i want to understand both sides of the issue.
Inhaling smoke is never "healthy." There are other methods of course. I certainly wouldn't consider it abnormal or "bad."
The danger of pot isn't addiction, or gateways to other drugs or anything like that. The danger is that it makes you feel OK with your current situation / activities and that's fine if you're doing what you should be doing. But some people don't do what they need to do. They smoke too much, grow complacent and don't move forward in their life. Then they find themselves 50 years-old without much to show for it.
You are of course entitled to your personal opinion but the science is that marijuana is not physically addictive.
Seems like a good reason to draw that distinction to me
I think the issue here is there are different definitions of 'addiction.' There's physical addiction, where you can get harmful or potentially lethal withdrawal symptoms if you quit cold turkey (think heroin or alcohol), and then there's mental addiction, where the addiction is purely psychological, almost like a bad habit that you have a hard time quitting (i.e. gambling or weed). There is definitely overlap in these two categories.
@Pilgrim is technically correct in saying that weed isn't physically addictive, but is IMO being a bit disingenuous by ignoring the fact that mental addiction is also a thing.
I'm agreeing with you. Maybe 'bad habit' was a poor choice of words, it makes it seem like I'm downplaying the servery of mental addiction, which isn't my intention. I have a friend who's struggling to quit marijuana. It started off as a bad habit for him, because he did it to avoid feeling stress in certain situations, basically using it as a crutch instead of learning to cope with his stress. Then it became smoking just to feel normal, then he couldn't quit because he was pretty much addicted.
I was mostly just trying to define the two kinds of addiction to avoid petty semantics arguments. Although I'm not sure if I did that very well...
Speaking from personal experience, I don't think it is addictive. It's habitual. Sometimes it's hard to quit a bad habit but I just don't think it's fair to call it addictive.
That's almost exactly Randy Marsh from South Park's advice about pot.
Good advice, really. It's pretty much 100% the issue with improperly frequent pot use: it makes you complacent.
I always appreciate being compared to the legend himself
I was going to say the same thing. I can relate to this.
I smoked for 5 or 6 years. Started out slow but ended up at least once a day or sometimes twice.
I work in technology and while I was doing great at my job I was in a group that was stagnate supporting an older product. As it was retired I suddenly needed to know the latest technology. In my younger days, pre-weed, I would have kept up on my own. But the weed and, to be fair, being comfortable with my position and life, caused me to get behind.
Suddenly, my job was at risk and I had very little time to catch up. The weed caused me to get behind and was preventing me from catching up. I quit smoking and am doing much better at work now.
Quitting wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had a hard time filling the time I used to spend smoking. I'd get bored and want to smoke because that what I did every day at this time. Playing video games helped me fill the time until the habit was broken.
I enjoyed smoking because it was relaxing and it made sex so great. But eventually it caused my erections hard to achieve and short lived. Sex isn't as great since I quit but my erections are better.
I think it also effected my desire to travel. I used to have a huge desire to travel but while smoking I was always concerned about whether or not I would be able to smoke wherever we were traveling. Traveling seemed like a lot of effort. Since quitting my desire to travel has improved but it's still not what it used to be.
I quit 15 months ago. Since then I've smoked 3 or 4 times. The last time was about 6 months ago. I don't see an issue with smoking on rare occasions but daily no longer seems like a good idea.
Good read. Thanks for sharing that.
Well said. As for the danger of inhaling smoke (and therefore tar), edibles and THC oil are good alternative ROAs. Although edibles tend to be much stronger and last longer. THC oil not so much, in my experience.
I guess it would come down to your age and your personality. I've seen articles that say pot is bad for you in your teens/early twenties because your brain is still developing.
Personality wise if you find yourself "sneaking" in a hit or two every now and then that can quickly escalate. I know someone who smoked every day all day for decades and he had to quit because it started controlling their life. Yes, this might be controversial but pot IS addictive.
Studies show that cannabis does negatively impact cognitive abilities, particularly memory and the brain's ability to recall words is significantly influenced in later stages of life. At around age 40 the differences between frequent cannabis users vs. the control group was statistically significant. The divergence continues to grow more significant for each decade beyond that point. We don't yet know why cannabis seems to have this effect, but we do know that it happens.
It's better for you not to and you'll build tolerance if you smoke daily. There are also aftereffects, although vague, you're under the influence to some degree for longer than you think. It affects your short term memory which probably isn't good.
I've been a daily smoker for years, but after 5ish years I realized I started fooling myself, quit smoking for a year and now smoke only on occasion (and the occasional binge) and I overall feel much better mentally.
The thing with pot (and probably most drugs) is that you don't really notice how you're affected because it's so gradual. Taking regular breaks and really reflecting on your use and the negative effects is important to be able to have a sustainable use in my experience.
And if you take breaks, you get that first-day-back high that's really nice, and not possible if you're a daily user.
But I had a very different experience when I quit entirely for six months. I was a wreck mentally; my anxiety returned in full-force. I could barely drive from anxiety. I finally brought home a bag and bowl from my shop where I'd hidden all my weed paraphernalia (if it's not in the house, I can't smoke it was the thinking, and it worked). I feel a lot better know, but I'm not sure I can credit weed. I just don't smoke in the quantities I used to.
Are you younger than 25? Do you have an addictive personality? Are you severely asthmatic? Are you predisposed to schizophrenia or other forms of psychoses? If you answered yes to any of these questions, proceed with caution. If not, then cannabis is virtually harmless for you, enjoy. If you're under 25, you should know that cannabis use stunts brain development.
Medically harmless to you? Sure. Physiologically harmless? I disagree and point to Pilgrim's comment above. Downtime is great and fine. People should be able to relax. But if your first thought about what you're going to do during your downtime always falls back to cannabis, and not just relaxing, going out with friends, learning something new, going for a hike, etc, then you should re-evaluate why you have cannabis in your life and what you could be doing better.
You're totally right. I wasn't suggesting that only using cannabis to relax is good for your wellbeing, I was just saying that given a healthy person, it won't be detrimental to your physical health.
That's fair, and agreed.
As someone under 25 that likes marijuana, is there any safe amount? I don't use it that frequently. Probably around a dozen times in the last 2 years.
You're fine. Moderate use is okay as far as I know, only heavy use can lead to stunted brain development.
define heavy use, if I smoke like a gram in a week is that light?
That's moderate to me, but I'm an old man. I smoke casually, but generally almost every weekend (hell, I might as well admit it to myself—it's every weekend). There are ~28 grams in an ounce, making a quarter ounce (sorry if this is old-school, but it's how we always measured weed, and how I still buy it in a non-legal state) equivalent to seven grams. A quarter lasts me a couple months, so roughly a gram a week, give or take, but I smoke with other people. By yourself, that's enough to be considered more than "light" use, but not heavy. At my worst, I was blowing through a half-ounce a week.
I'd worry more about the "twice a day" thing. That means you're spending a decent portion of each day high. Try to take days off, or only smoke once certain days. You don't want to get to where "high" feels normal.
I'd call that moderate. I smoke about an eighth in a week, which I consider somewhat heavy use.
Of course I think it's unhealthy. Whether it's alcohol or nicotine or marijuana or methamphetamine or opiates or whatever - it's unhealthy to take these drugs even once, let alone take them every day.
But it's your brain and your body, and it's your right to do whatever you want to them. Enjoy! Meanwhile, I have some fried food to eat, followed by a big sugary dessert... (we all have our different ways of being unhealthy)
Cannabis has documented inhibitory effects on REM sleep. It disrupts phasic sleep. Regular cannabis users often experience powerful and intense lucid dreams when they go on a break as their body is finally able to enter REM sleep once more. Considering how important sleep is for general health and well being I'd say the answer to your question is unequivocally yes. Regular, long term use of cannabis is unhealthy.
That said, I don't believe that recreational use of cannabis is intrinsically negative. Anyone who's used it can attest to the fact that it can be a fantastic recreational drug.
I started smoking when I was 17, and finally quit when I was 27. I’ve had many beautiful and worthwhile experiences while high, but I was never able to keep it a “once in a while” thing like some. Neither could the majority of my friends, although we liked to assume we could quit anytime if we just had a reason to.
This may not apply to you, although it probably does, but daily marijuana usage made me dumber, slower, and less capable of planning for my future. It created a thin, lingering fog around my mind that was imperceptible at the time, but regularly led me to make decisions that were rewarding in the short term at the expense of my long term happiness and well being.
My dreams were always just a few years away. Every year was going to be the year I got serious about doing [insert dream here], although tonight I just feel like getting high and chilling out. The days blur together, and you may find yourself having little to show for it years later.
How about you keep smoking everyday, but set daily, weekly, and monthly goals for yourself. Exercise X times a week, spend X hours practicing piano a day, etc. If you’re meeting your own expectations you have nothing to worry about. Either way you’ll have your answer.
Yes, the same way I would think it's unhealthy if you substituted booze in the same situation. Or if you smoked a tobacco pipe instead. It's not super terrible, but it seems like you habituate to the point of reliance. It's not healthy.
I'm strongly in favour of legalisation.
I'd be concerned about someone smoking as much as you do, especially if you have to drive or operate machinery or look after vulnerable people.
I've been smoking multiple times a day for about ten years. During that time I've tried different things like edibles and vaping and I've taken a couple mult-month breaks. I personally think my quality of life is better smoking a couple times a day than abstaining. I can still run, ride my bike, remember things, and be productive. Obviously smoking is going to be detrimental to your lungs. At one point I started running and switched to vaping and edibles to get maximized performance. I smoke at about the level you do now, and I don't run, but it does not feel hard on my lungs. Using a bubbler or a bong can help too
I'm way late to the thread, but excited to give my two cents.
I'm pro-legalization and against use.
Why Pro?
Considering the risk of possible additional crime and the potential health risks of marijuana use it seems like it's much more expensive for society to stop people from using marijuana via the police than by educating people on negative effects. It should be pursued in the same way cigarettes have been demonized.
Why am I against using?
Well, anecdotes.
I've personally known 3 people that have used marijuana to treat other mental health problems, smoking made them feel less depressed so they smoked. Which some people might count as positive. However, in all of these cases, the side effects of marijuana caused them way more problems. The lethargy for these folks got intense and they're lives went down the drain. Can't pay the bills, oh well. My kids can't read, no big deal. The car got towed, someone will help me out. It's a bad thing for people to treat their own depression without professional help psychoactive drugs on top of severe mental health issues can be very dangerous.
Your objections might be that it was there mental health problems that caused their lives to go down the drain. But many times I had seen these same people get clean and their lives turned right around every time. You might say it's because they were using other drugs or alcohol and that's probably true. It's really hard to say. But I'm trying to give some background on what's formed my opinion and that's my personal experience with people who use marijuana daily and that experience has been really bad.
Also, it's definitely addictive, maybe not in the same heroin is. I worked with someone at a large retail chain that would smoke all day. Before work, on every break, and after work just non stop high all day. I don't know how he managed to keep his job. He eventually went to rehab to deal with the issues he had that he felt made him want to be high all the time.
So what's my point?
Marijuana has the potential to ruin lives. I would say treat marijuana the same you treat alcohol -- which also ruins lives -- which you consider it too much if someone were drinking twice a day every day? I will leave that up to you.
Note: This is me trying to be helpful, don't beat me up. I wouldn't might having a constructive debate though :) .
As far as drug habits go, weed is one of the least bad ones. For some people, it's antidepressant effects outweigh the negatives. If you're going to smoke I highly recommend using a vaporizer or concentrate. I'm 25, smoked bud for the last couple years, and recently cut back and switched to vaping. I have been coughing up foul tar for weeks now. Would not recommend.
This seems contradictory.
Not OP but the they're referring to their lungs clearing out the tar from the previous smoking.
Only after switching to vaping my lungs have healed enough to start clearing years worth of bong smoking tar from my lungs. I don't recommend someone smoke weed daily for years because it will damage their cilia and they WILL have an accumulation of tar in their lungs.
That being said, vaping does not have this problem, which is why if you're going to consume weed its so much better to vaporize it than the alternative.