“Marijuana addiction differs…but internally, the same pain and anguish exist…An individual may wake up years into this chronic illness, without a reasonable understanding of how their life got so off track.”

– A Doctor’s Opinion about Marijuana Addiction, MA pamphlet

I had avoided using in high school because I was ambitious and wanted to get out of that tiny rural town. I had seen how pot had affected several of my friends and how they no longer wanted to participate in things like sports or musical events.

It still hurts to think how I turned my back on my family and made rare contact, usually to “borrow” money or make some excuse to avoid a holiday. It took two years to become totally addicted. When people who cared about me made comments on how I had changed, I truly thought they were fools for missing out on this glamorous decadence.

Things got scary more than once, but it wasn’t until I went to a meeting and heard people sharing about “audio hallucinations” that I realized, though I claimed not to ever get paranoid on pot, other things had been happening. I kept going back to meetings and each time I could connect the dots a bit more about how pot had caused depression and hopelessness. I connected with people who had learned the hard way that this “soft” drug could steal your life and make the misery unbearable. I learned that cross addiction was real but I also learned about friendship and self-respect and a loving God, and for that I keep coming back.

Final thought: Today, I’ve gone from a long, slow decline to “happy, joyous and free!”