California Sober
I am Not Sober Despite Smoking Weed
I am Sober BECAUSE I Smoke Weed!
Many people assume that when someone abstaining from alcohol, opioids, cocaine, benzos, and the like decides to smoke pot, the smoker has some “weakness” or uses pot as a “crutch.” Those same people say that if they too went back to using pot, they would soon go back to alcohol or other poisons.
“Once you get high, it will not be enough, and you will move on to harder stuff.” I have been smoking weed while in remission from alcohol and crack for almost four years now. I have not touched my poisons. Therefore, at most, the statement is valid for the speaker alone and not for everyone. I do not advocate that everyone smoke pot, although I think everyone should see a doctor find out if it would be beneficial for what ails them.
I use pot — or more accurately “medical marijuana” — for several physical and mental conditions. My primary condition on my “suggestion” form is glaucoma. It has been working for that, to the point, it is no longer an issue. On the physical side, the “munchies” are life-saving for me. I have diabetic gastroparesis or a paralyzed stomach. People with my condition can die from malnutrition because their stomach is always full, sending signals to my brain not to eat. My brain tells me to eat again with weed, which is the signal I want to send to my body.
I have chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition for which there is no medication, and generalized anxiety which is treated with solid and addictive pills, benzodiazepines. Indica helps me deal with this anxiety like nothing else I know.
And, yes — here’s where I am controversial in some quarters — I use pot to stay away from alcohol. In some “recovery rooms,” they call this, disparagingly, “The Marijuana Maintenance Program (MMP).” Like using relatively harmless marijuana in place of alcohol and crack is a bad thing? It works. I keep my concentrates handy, so I can do a couple of “dabs” whenever I have that urge for my forbidden substances. You know what? It works.
If you think I used marijuana as a crutch, so what? I don’t care what you think. Are you the type of person who walks up to someone on crutches and pulls them away? Well, don’t do it to my marijuana either because you call it a “crutch.”
