I a an addict and I use Marijuana to deal with my depression. I find it works better than any anti depressant I have tried. And I’ve been on a lot of them. Use of Marijuana is legal in my country, but then I think am I still just substituting my addiction?
Almost guilty, that I cannot reach that state of mind to have 0 dependency to any drug even pharmaceutical. What are other people’s thoughts on this?
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What’s your Drug of choice? For me, when I would replace alcohol with weed, it would work for a little while then eventually I always end up going back to booze. All depends on what works for you I guess.
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Methamphetamine, before that it was alcohol for many years.
I was hearing somthing pertaining to the illusion of self and it relating to depression and depression vs sadness today. Only when i can accept myself as i am can i begin to work on the defects of character i have. Part of that is realizing i was hiding behind a facaude of a persona also aided by my using to escape what was unacceptable to me or somthing i refused to look at being persons places or things. Which leads up to sadness. It happens and we work through it or seek aid especially in recovery. Depression is a sickness spiritually, mentally, physically of our body telling us somthing isnt right and it cant take it anymore. Most times respectivley its mental and truamatic experiences that fight us subcaunciously and caunciously it too can be chemical imbalence or a combination of the two. Things that we cannot do or relief ourselfs and rarely drugs cannot relieve them either only supress or postpone. For me finding the root cause of my depression was the key not medicating it. A higher power helped me relieve it. The drugs and booze was but a symptom
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So I’m a drunk. Not my place to say yeah or neh about others or how they cope. I do think if a person can smoke a few times per year and be happy, productive, healthy, maintain good quality relationships and grow. I say hell yes.
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I find this is a big issue for alot of people, struggling to accept that they can’t manage anxiety and or depression solely on their, own without medication. However, when its caused by a chemical imbalance, self care etc can help but will only get you so far… it’s not going to compensate for what’s out of whack internally, only medication can do that. I’m not speaking for everyone, just what I’ve seen and experienced with myself and those close to me who have tried.
As for marijuana, I know alot of people out there say pot is harmless and non addictive but I’ve seen it lead to other drug use. I’ve also witnessed it help but also trigger anxiety and know of people who have had withdrawals when they’ve stopped using it.
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Your choice your life. It’s up to you what you want to do with it and how. My DOC’s were alcohol and weed. Lots and lots of weed for years and years. In the end all I did was sustain a habit, for all it did was make me tired and anxious. So I’m probably not the most objective guy to comment on this. And I’ve been on antidepressants for a year now. Going to make an apt. with my GP and try to stop it. There is a difference between prescription drugs and weed you get yourself I think. But it’s a blurry line. Success.
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Withdrawal off anything causes anxiety for a few days,then replace with good food and supplements,CBD oil, C60 oil,black seed oil,omega 3, camomile tea,no caffeine for a bit, meditation and breathwork,WIM Hoff method is cool to get into…watching cool series like on gaia.com to learn about the body and mind,and venting in meetings with like minded addicts.
personally i now need to get off sugar, it’s causing hangover-like symptoms when I wake up in the morning and ridiculous tiredness most of the day,another Endless cycle of eating sugar to not feel tired but needing to stop the sugar to get rebalanced!!..sound familiar addict behaviour 
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When you give a substance or action a function, it usually looks quite problematic to me. Unless it’s prescribed AND you don’t abuse the prescription. But if weed really isn’t a problem and you don’t abuse it, then I won’t say you shouldn’t, but I wouldn’t recommend it either
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He Chris, thnx for sharing
I am an addict and my substance was cannabis.
The idea off it helping makes sense.
To me all drugs initially start off with a goal or a function in the users life.
The fact is though cannabis is an psychoactive drug so it wil influence your brain.
My depression disappeared over time when i quit using drugs and alcohol, i follow a twelve step program that helps me to accept feelings of anxiety or being down. Those are also allowed now.
My suggestion would be try life clean for a year. You can always pick up if you’re not satisfied after that year
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Marijuana is clearly a mind altering drug, which is or has been a problem for many members here. So I’m not going to sit on a sobriety site and advocate for it. As per the rules -
Saying that, it is up to all of us as individuals to decide whether substances/ behaviours etc are a problem for us. As others have said, no one else can know that apart from you.
From my experience, working through mental health problems is hard. It is so individual and a big messy mix of our experience and brain chemistry that I don’t pretend to understand! But depression really fucking sucks and I can relate to the feeling of wanting it to stop.
I also think the line between antidepressants and other forms of self medicating can be blurry, I have considered micro dosing etc. It led me to ask some serious questions about my motivations and whether I could truly do that in a way that wouldn’t undermine my sobriety. I never really came to a conclusion on that. I have been fortunate to find an antidepressant that, for now at least, takes the edge off. I don’t feel remotely guilty about taking them.
Not sure that is particularly helpful, but you asked for opinions and there is mine 
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Good to read this Menno 
hope you’ll find your calmth in this next step in your recovery, proud!!!
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Isn’t dosing part of using 
1 is to many and 1000 isn’t enough for me.
Hands off policy works for me 
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Have you consulted with your medical caregivers to discuss the possibility of be prescribed a medically beneficial dosage of THC?
I don’t view those who are prescribed THC and use it only as directed as drug abusers.
On a side note, recreational marijuana becomes legal in my state on July 1. I still won’t use it, because I suspect I’d like it too much.
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I have doses with my mental health medication 
Not trying to advocate it, just sharing my experience and for me there is a grey area there. Just because something is medically prescribed doesn’t necessarily mean it is the right option. My depression was at it’s worst while on an increased dose of SSRIs which were under review with my GP. Edit - and I had three different Doctors give three different suggestions on how to deal with that!
Of course the ideal would be not to have depression in the first place! But we can only respond to the situations we find ourselves in.
Whether I would be able to micro dose without then starting to actually get high… I don’t know. I don’t believe that perceptibly altering my mental state is the right option for me though. That’s why I’m here! 
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Are you using medical marijuana or recreational? My thought is that anti-depressant use would be monitored by a medical professional. Same with medical marijuana. But with recreational marijuana you are self medicating and determining your own dosage and assessing the efficacy. That is very risky for an addict.
Go see your doctor and have an honest conversation with them about your drug history.
Yes I have, and I Pam able to grow more for personal use, and I get access to other strains that aren’t available for recreational.
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My thought is if you are using marijuana as prescribed by your doctor and it is helping your depression, that is a good thing! The issue for me is if I abuse the prescription.
As Becsta mentioned, self care can only go so far for some of us and our body chemistry may require medications to bring us to balance…yet there is a stigma still in some of the recovery community.
For myself, I use medical marijuana as prescribed at bedtime for PTSD and insomnia. I am using it much less as time goes on, and I am grateful to have it…30 years as an insomniac is no joke.
Only you know in your heart if you are using to get high or using to manage your depression. Being honest with ourselves is the most important answer to your question in my opinion.
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That’s my problem, I’m using it too much I think. I used psilocybin to get off of meth use, which by the way worked great. As long as you know the purpose for the mushrooms. I took golden teachers 5grams (which is heroic dose) all with the intention to stop the use. And I haven’t used meth since the trip.
I have been in active addiction for 33 years of my life 7 of those years spent painfully at the end of a meth pipe. I have bartered heavily with my addiction, tried it all, “just a little bit of this or that, doing it this way or that.” “Weeds not so bad” but that leads me right back to booze. I will call it like I know it., you are an addict and weed is a drug. It’s been my experience it will do you no good smoking it.
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