Analyzing a Redditor’s Guide to Healthy Weed Consumption

reddit weed information online

Weed is a fascinating plant and depending on who uses it, can be of great benefit or could become a hindrance to others.

Of course, over time – experience turns all newbies into pros and so today we’ll be taking a look at the sage wisdom of a Redditor who wrote a guide called; Lessons learned after 10 years, a guide to healthy use

Check out the original comment here.

Seeing that I’ve been consuming for more than two decades now, I brought it on myself to ‘fact check’ the redditor’s guide.

I’ll post their original statement and in italics and my responses will be normal.

Here we go!

Even if you abuse weed – you may not be an addict!

it's possible to lose control of your usage, sink into a pattern of abuse, then return to healthy usage - just because you've abused weed does not mean you need to assign the label of "addict" to yourself or feel like you've irreparably broken your relationship with weed

The fact of the matter is that our consumption patterns will change depending on what’s happening in our lives. Sometimes you consume more, sometimes you consume less.

Sometimes you’ll be bong-ripping first thing in the morning, and other times you may be so busy that you only have time to take a hit from a pipe at the end of the week.

However, when you do go into what you could consider “abusive consumption” – you have the ability to course correct – so do just that!

Willpower is king!

during every withdrawal there is a moment of peak darkness when all your reserves of motivation are gone, and you have to make that gut-wrenching decision to continue even though your mind is inventing reasons to quit. Once this part is over everything gets easier

You can experience cannabis withdrawal – especially if you’re smoking the good stuff! However, as with anything in life – framing yourself correctly is key.

There will come a time when you feel like, “SWEET FUCK, I WANT TO SMOKE A JOINT!” but if you are committed to your personal self-development, it will be a piece of cake.

Those that are truly addicted would first need to clearly identify their motivation for cutting back, embrace all the potential “negatives” associated with quitting and commit to it.

Anything less will always make you quake under harsh conditions!

Withdrawal is a waiting game…

withdrawl is a waiting game, and an art that you have to master if you want weed to enhance your life. The sword cuts both ways: if you incorporate weed long term, you have to embrace the pain when it's time to withdrawl

Yes and no.

While withdrawal is a waiting game in that it becomes less severe over time, I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea of withdrawal.

I quit smoking tobacco after about 15 years of smoking. That’s five years more than the redditors time smoking cannabis, and considering that tobacco is infinitely more addictive than cannabis – I didn’t suffer withdrawals.

Don’t get me wrong, I felt it – but unlike what the Redditor is describing, I enjoyed my nicotine withdrawal. That’s because I framed it in such a way that feeling the effects of withdrawal was a ‘sign IU was winning’.

I knew that every time I felt “bad” – it was because the addiction was dying. In this case, the right frame of mind is more important than waiting. If you know your motivations – you can weather any storm!

Passion is key!

it's almost impossible to control your use if you dont have a passion/hobby that drives you more than weed

I agree, if your weed smoking is your passion – you’ll end up smoking pounds per year, never doing anything significant. Of course, you could start a Youtube channel, grow your following and turn your excessive use into a career – but most people won’t do that.

Be sure to have something greater than weed in your life.

Create Consumption Cycles

Once you've developed a pattern of consistent, daily use, your brain becomes wired for that reward, and it's very difficult to cut back to weekend/"moderate" use. In the process of attempting moderate use many people exhaust their mind/body repeating this process of half-withdrawling. In reality you just end up wasting a TON of mental energy fighting off cravings. Better to have periods of being 100% "off" or "on", so that you dont have to waste so much time/energy fighting those thoughts. Being 100% on allows you to build a nice tolerance and enjoy the weed + avoid guilt. Being 100% off allows you to avoid fighting cravings all the time, and truly focus on your 'grounded' life

This is sound advice. I’d take a cannabis Tolerance break every 3-4 months, doing it for at least 21-days at a time.

Also, incorporate things like meditation and Breathwork into your daily routines and you’ll notice an effect on your consumption habits!

How to be moderate?

The perspective that "moderation" means using every few days, or on the weekends, is often counterproductive when it comes to weed. A more realistic definition, IMO, is waiting till the very end of the day, and taking as little as possible to get the desired effect. Weed is not alcohol, and our strategies/definitions need to be different when we approach it

Agree! If you use weed as your “end of the day” activity, it will help you be productive. Firstly, you won’t have the opportunity to get into a heavy consumption cycle, and secondly, it will help you get better sleep.

If you must smoke for anxiety and stress, I recommend using CBD or simply prepping a tincture. This will help you calm yourself without enforcing the act of toking.

Self Medicating

IMO many longtime stoners who feel guilt and sadness over their use have actually been self medicating since the beginning, for many reasons. The ones who have the hardest time stopping are the most dependent on their medication, and because addiction gets mixed into this everything becomes even more confusing, especially to those on the outside

I think we’re all self-meditating, whether for stress, pain, anxiety – or a mix of them all. Even recreational use – chasing a bit of euphoria – is a means of detaching from a high stress environment that surrounds us.

However, some people suffer real depression, and without the proper help from a professional – you’re only dealing with symptoms and not the cause.

Part 2 Coming Soon!

I’m going to call it right here and will bring the second installment of this article next week. For now, this is more than good enough to provide some insight to cannabis use. I’m not 100% in agreement with everything the Redditor has to say – but all in all, so far – he’s been talking wisdom!