Marijuana calms the mind. But it also opens the mind to whatever issues are happening. I used to be a major marijuana junkie. No marijuana addict wants to admit it, but Mary Jane has a dark side. At first, it calms your mind down, makes you feel happy and relaxed. Nothing wrong with that. But if you smoke it all day, every day, for years, it turns on you. It eventually creates the very demons you’re trying to escape from. Been there, done that. Smoked that t-shirt. Just my own experience.
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I smoked for years but never all day (daily at times for sure). I stopped when the kids knew the smell. I had no problem stopping. I had no withdrawals. I love the smell.
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I have been doing exactly that, which has helped me get him off the beer. Started by getting him to the gym. Was a way of getting him out of the house, but also started him thinking about his health. Now we go to the gym literally 7 days a week. 2 1\2 hours each time. As with everything, I have to be patient but over time the workouts got him thinking about food. Started incorporating healthy food into everything. As much organic and pesticide free as I can. He is not ready yet for much else, but the fact that he got here blows my mind. Wasn’t that long ago that I was having a hard time believing that he could ever have a life again, he was that sick. Now, he is starting to mention the state of his lungs. He is getting concerned, which is great news for me as now I can see that door starting to open.
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That’s brilliant. Also I’ve seen research (only on rats unfortunately!) that says exercise+socializing (but not only one of those) increases intelligence so I hope (for my son too) that it can arrest or reverse the cognitive decline typical of sz
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When we first started going, he could not make eye contact with anyone. He was on a treadmill laughing to himself and quite obviously listening to people in his head. He looked so disheveled, and sick, and he was. If someone did say hi to him, he would look down and walk away as fast as he could. One year later and he says hi to all the staff in there, makes eye contact with them, no longer laughing to himself but does talk my ear off the whole time we are there 
I will take that anyday. This is the same young man who cut his own throat 10 times (shallow), who has hundreds of cutting scars on his arms. Who could not do anything but pace, and rant and rave about the secret world that I knew nothing about. As most of our loved one’s he was so ill it broke my heart, I believe, the exercise sped up some healing process in his brain. That it helped prevent him from going into a major depression as he started to feel better, And I also love that it is helping to build up his sense of worth. Sadly not everyone with this illness could handle doing that kind of exercise. Too many people in a gym for them.
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@Leiann - I am so glad that your son is doing so well at the gym. Another story that gives me hope! Thank you for sharing!
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Sorry to hear about your son. I used to be addicted to marijuana, for years, all day every day. So I know exactly what he’s going through. The old school treatment for marijuana addiction is smoking lavender. Sounds weird, but it calms the jonesing. It helped me get off of it. Plus it smells pretty. Drives the girls bonkers.
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Good to know, thank you! When he is ready, I will suggest this. Wish it would happen now, but I know that he has to want this addiction gone, not just me. The signs are starting though that he is getting a little sick of it.
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Yeah - a person gets sick of it after a while. That’s what happened to me. I call it the dark side of weed. It just flips on you. It starts causing the very symptoms you’re trying to alleviate. No matter how much you smoke, you just feel paranoid and dizzy. You can pick up lavender at a food co-op, or just order it online. He’ll need a pipe of some sort. I used a steel pipe I picked up at a head shop, designed for marijuana. But it worked for lavender.
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@mpilting I have never heard of this. I have tons of lavender. I will give it to my son and perhaps try it myself. Thanks!
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It’s not an instant cure. You gotta want it. You gotta know, to the core of your being, that you need to quit. It’s gotta get so bad you can’t stand it anymore. The lavender is just a temporary substitute, while you wean yourself off.
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This sounds like an okay thing to do, but blend it with other non-psychoactive herbs:
Mullein is one. I have known people who smoke it. Smoking anything is always basically bad for the lungs.
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@mpilting - Agreed. I stopped about 15 years ago. I was not addicted I just didn’t feel it anymore. A friend gave me a joint a few years ago as he was doing a story on it, so I took a few hits. I got super paranoid and couldn’t stop coughing. I was like never again. Thanks for this tip - I will pass it on.
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Yep, once you quit, you’re pretty much done. If you try it again, you’ll regret it. You’ll sit there with your head in your hands saying, “Why did I do this?! Never again!”
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The NIH says pot users are at small risk of developing “marijuana use disorders,” not addiction, per say.
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Is it safe to smoke lavender?
I love the scent
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Nothing is safe to smoke. Anything you smoke will hurt your lungs. Plus, certain herbs are downright dangerous. Like lobelia and gotu kola. They’re both depressants. But lavender is non-psychoactive, and it’s not a depressant or a stimulant. If you’ve ever drank lavender tea, and felt its soothing effects - smoking it is basically multiplying that times 10. Is it safe to smoke? It won’t hurt you, if that’s what you mean. The worst it’ll do is make you smell like a burnt dryer sheet. Hey, some girls like that.
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LOL
Okay it’s wants 20 character lololol
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Maybe you could turn on a burner on your stove and sprinkle a little lavender on it? I’ve never tried that, but I’ve heard of people doing that with cinnamon. To be safe, it might be best to put the lavender in a pot and put it on the stove. Poor man’s potpourri.
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Based on my own experience, It wasn’t until my son had been completely off marijuana did I begin to see improvements in his disease. I had to kick him out of the house, while providing him a place to rehab that was sensitive to his disease. It was the hardest thing that I ever, ever have done. He has not smoked marijuana for about a year now. He attends a drug avoidance group and I randomly test him at home. He has a long way to go. We all do. Maybe now, I can start to worry about stuff like his his weight and cigarette smoking; instead of his irrational and sometimes violent behavior.
You’re right, I do feel like a warrior who is battling an invisible foe. I owe it to my son to be strong for him. Good luck to you. I will be looking for a response. I hope that I havn’t been to direct in my response.
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