Addiction Recovery May Include Cannabis?

[Magna]

Marijuana 'Kept Me Sober' Says Jelly Roll, Rapper-Turned-Country Star Who Overcame Addictions To Become Music Award Winner

^ This article caught my attention. IF (that's obviously the crux), if certain recovering addicts avoid relapses by using cannabis instead of abstinence from all drugs (except the chem dep accepted nicotine and caffeine), then I have to wonder if in the future, addiction recovery may change to adding cannabis along with nicotine and caffeine to drugs that actually help (certain) addicts to maintain their recovery from more dangerous drug use.

I'm betting it will.

 

[marc_101]

I wouldn't take advice from a rapper on the future of addiction recovery policy.

Having said that, it is not unusual to use drugs to treat addictions. Methadone and buprenorphine are pain killers that help with withdrawal and addiction to pain killers... Nicotine gum or pills are used to treat addiction from nicotine in tobacco.

(Buprenorphine is an opioid used to treat opioid use disorder.)

 

[Rodafina]

I think something important to consider is what exactly one means by cannabis these days. With the legalization of marijuana in many places, concentrates of THC have become widely available. When using a concentrate (usually an oil or wax based product) over what is considered “flower,” the concentration of THC can be 97% for the former as compared to about 13 - 30% for the latter.

Most people consider marijuana a more mild intoxicant, which it generally is. But with prolonged use of 97% concentrates, it starts to act much closer to harder drugs. This includes an ever increasing tolerance and a physical withdrawal in absence of THC. This changing availability of products with extremely high concentrations of THC can have a distorting impact on people who think they are using “just a little weed.” It is very easy to use high doses of almost pure THC to simply morph and prolong an addiction rather than treat it.

 

[thejuice]

I've heard it described that swapping addictions as changing seats on the titanic. Oddly they were okay with smoking ciggies and binge eating though but I suppose you can be functional (just about with bingeing) and not get arrested!

Weed never sat well with me, I'd need alcohol to take the edge off

 

[Judge]

In AA they described swapping addictions as changing seats on the titanic. Oddly they were okay with smoking ciggies and binge eating though but I suppose you can be functional (just about with bingeing) and not get arrested!

Weed never sat well with me, I'd need alcohol to take the edge off

I'm thinking that for much of anyone with any real addiction should prudently abstain from using anything with potentially addictive properties. That it ultimately isn't about social acceptability or scorn, or what is legal. It's just what gets you truly hooked, when things begin to go downhill for most folks sooner or later.

 

[Magna]

In AA they described swapping addictions as changing seats on the titanic.

^ Interesting analogy. It puzzles me though because nicotine addiction, even severe nicotine addiction as well as heavy caffeine addiction has always been accepted in 12 step.

 

[thejuice]

@Judge I agree. You can self sabotage using a sledgehammer or tiny papercuts

 

[thejuice]

^ Interesting analogy. It puzzles me though because nicotine addiction, even severe nicotine addiction as well as heavy caffeine addiction has always been accepted in 12 step.

Its a double standard for sure but I do get why they turn a blind eye

 

[marc_101]

^ Interesting analogy. It puzzles me though because nicotine addiction, even severe nicotine addiction as well as heavy caffeine addiction has always been accepted in 12 step.

They are not as bad as cocaine, opioids, meth. Nicotine itself does not destroy your body (tobacco might kill you, though). Coffee gives you a buzz, and coffee withdrawal is mild.

I don't think it's double standard for all. Not all addictions are the same, as @Rodafina mentioned. Consequences are different.

 

[Judge]

@Judge I agree. You can self sabotage using a sledgehammer or tiny papercuts

Absolutely. That the precipice of where one can become addicted may not take much at all, whether it's patently illegal or commercially advertised. Tragic, but it reflects pathological considerations where some may be more vulnerable than others to much of anything with addictive properties.

 

[stevens]

Well, it's anecdotal but I know half a dozen people who stopped drinking by using pot. The problem is that all 6 of them smoke pot nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One has a trailer in the back yard for smoking pot. But for sure, they're alcohol-free.

More anecdotal evidence. My dad was a member of AA for 30 years before he died. Every single person he knew from there chain smoked cigarettes and never stopped drinking coffee all day long. There's something called an "addictive personality" and it has some common features.

 

[Magna]

Well, it's anecdotal but I know half a dozen people who stopped drinking by using pot. The problem is that all 6 of them smoke pot nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One has a trailer in the back yard for smoking pot. But for sure, they're alcohol-free.

More anecdotal evidence. My dad was a member of AA for 30 years before he died. Every single person he knew from there chain smoked cigarettes and never stopped drinking coffee all day long. There's something called an "addictive personality" and it has some common features.

^ I witnessed the same. An alcoholic grandpa who stopped drinking and was sober for the remainder of his life; but, literally chain smoked filterless cigarettes all day and drank coffee all day. Killed him in the end.

 

[thejuice]

Addiction literally rewires the brain which is where the disease bit comes in. I know it's hard to swallow for some to call it that, especially as it appears and is so selfish. Non alcoholics can't understand how hard it is to resist for a chronic user. Luckily it can be reversed with time.

 

[Rodafina]

I think there is some value in the concept of "harm reduction" for dealing with addiction. Harm reduction is an approach to treating addiction that recognizes that not all addictions are equally harmful and that it is better to engage in less dangerous behavior in lieu of total sobriety.

As a case study, I will offer my own experience as an illustration...

Over the course of more than 20 years, I went from misusing opiates (very high risk of death), to alcohol (moderate risk of death which increases with continued use), to weed (negligible risk of death except possibly from lung issues due to persistent smoking).

So, in many ways, I was getting "better" and the progression through these substances was helpful in simply keeping me alive. But, at the same time, it extended my addiction problems into multiple decades because I had to slowly come to terms with the detrimental impact of each new substance. What drove me to use substances was never fixed while I was going through this course of slowly reducing harm.

Until the underlying cause of each person's compulsion to engage in harmful behaviors despite the negative consequences is resolved, the addict remains an active addict. I will always consider myself an addict, but now, I can add the words "in recovery."

Harm reduction can keep us alive for long enough to work on the true issues that cause the addiction. So, there is great value in that. But for some of us, the real freedom comes when there are no substances at all.

 

[Judge]

A song to go with this subject...."Putting out the fire with gasoline".

 

[Nitro]

It is also important to note that that most don't choose their addiction, their addictions choose them