California Sober
I’m Guilty of Trading One Addiction for Others
And I Couldn’t Be Happier
I have friends who, in early sobriety, became “gym rats.” I never heard anyone tell them that they were just trading one addiction for another. The same when it came to “dating” apps of the hookup variety. Nobody in AA had a problem with that. I put on twenty pounds eating donuts as a person with diabetes. The folks in AA assured me I would have time to lose weight so long as I didn’t drink. Only one addiction was terrible, where energy drinks, vaping, tobacco, and sugar were good.
You guessed it. Try telling people that, like me, you gave up smoking crack, snorting powdered coke, chugging booze, and smoking cigarettes, and all you are now is a weed addict. I have friends whose children give them shit. Of course, people in AA flip out and start muttering about drugs, an outside issue that most of them know nothing about.
I use weed to stay off all those substances. A dozen times, I have felt like a cigarette but satisfied my craving with a joint. My track record proves it. I started going to AA in 2009. I got one period of 2 years and 4 months, thanks to lengthy inpatient treatment, but otherwise no more than about 7 months from 2009 to 2018. Now I have 3 years and 10 months without a drink. But only by smoking weed was I able to get that length of sobriety.
People say it makes you lazy. Well, a few months ago, I picked up an old 10,000-word rough draft of a book. I now have 42,000 words. I know from Grammarly that I’m prolific. My psychiatrist recently asked me if I considered whether weed and alcohol stunted me educationally. I asked, “So an honors graduate of Stanford Law School at age 23 isn’t enough of an accomplishment?”
There is absolutely no support for a causation effect. I would argue that in this chicken and egg dilemma, lazy, stupid people gravitate to weed, rather than weed causing anybody to become sluggish or stupid. And who says lazy people are stupid? What’s the fucking hurry? I challenge anybody to point out where I am stupid and lazy. I am 56 and retired. I am writing for fun and profit. All of you who look down on potheads are probably working your asses off. And for what? To drop dead of a heart attack on the job?
I just made my monthly purchase at the dispensary. I got about two and a half ounces of high-quality flower, three grams of concentrate (shatter), one gram of kief. I got 8 cans of infused soda and four chocolate bars. All set for November. I fit the criteria for severe cannabis use disorder. Still, I am trading it for severe alcohol, cocaine, psychedelics, and cigarettes. I refuse to give up on my weed.
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