How Difficult is it to Stop Smoking Weed? (One Week Experiment Results)

How Easy is it to Stop Smoking Marijuana – 20+year Chronic Smoker Quits for a Week to See How Hard It Really Is.

how hard is it to quit smoking weed

So just how difficult is it to stop smoking marijuana? Perhaps some of you might ask, “Why stop at all?” And to this I agree. If cannabis does not cause any issues in your life – then you should continue to smoke as much as you’d like.

However, as a self-declared psychonaut – on occasions – I like to detox my entire body. And yes, I know that “detox” is probably not the best word so let’s rather say “flush” or “reset” instead.

Why do I like to reset my body? Because fasting is something I do on occasions. In fact, there is a lot of scientific evidence that supports interim fasting for health benefits, but I’m not writing about those. Rather, over the years I have discovered that smoking for long periods of time will increase your tolerance to weed. [No Duh!]

This is especially true if you’re smoking the same strain. When you switch strains, you’ll get higher, however the peak and duration of the high will be shorter (especially if you’re a chronic smoker like me). And so, I find doing a period reset – perhaps every three to four months – allows me to continue to toke and get the most out of my highs.

This time around, I decided to become fully aware of what happens to me during the time of abstinence. Considering that I also quit smoking cigarettes, I have a point of comparison between the two experiences and I’ll also compare it to another drug of preference – coffee!

With these three drugs in a “head to head” contest, we’ll see just how difficult each addiction truly is.

How much weed did I smoke?

It is true, I don’t smoke as much weed these days as I used to when I was a younger man. However, compared to the average consumer, I do smoke a lot more. For instance, between my wife and I, we’ll go through a once in about 2 weeks. That’s roughly 7 grams each per week. This is slightly higher than the average.

This is also considered to be a “heavy smoker” according to most of the government standards and thus it should be “Difficult” for me to quit.

According to these agencies 10%-20% of users will develop Cannabis Use Disorder and the symptoms of withdrawal include;

Anxiety
Irritability
Depression
Restlessness
Disturbed sleep
Gastrointestinal symptoms
Decreased appetite

These would be the things I was going to look for in all of the three different substances.

7 Days Without Cannabis – Easy Peasy

I stop smoking weed at least four times a year to reset my tolerance levels. As with every other time, the first day is literally the “worst of it” – and by that I mean not a problem at all. Despite me smoking a lot of weed on the regular, I simply don’t feel the blunt of the withdrawal symptoms listed by the DSM-5.

Perhaps, I feel a slight anxiety and irritability, but these are all within manageable parameters. I know that I don’t “need cannabis” every day, I do know that it is a dietary essential. This means that I can get my cannabinoids without smoking weed.

During my 7-day fast, I don’t supplement my intake at all though. I simply wanted to point out that “you need cannabinoids” but you don’t necessarily need to smoke weed.

Anyhow, the first day is usually the worst, however incredibly manageable. You simply say, “Man, I wish I could smoke some weed about now” and then continue about your day. The day might seem a bit longer than other days and a tad more boring.

You might be a bit more productive too.

By day three, there is absolutely no “cravings” or even thought about cannabis. You’ve resettled and can go the next few days without weed with zero problems.

I had no issues with sleep, no gastrointestinal issues or anger issues.

It was quite easy to stop smoking weed for seven days.

7 Days without Coffee – This sucked!

I am a heavy coffee drinker from a young age. I drink more coffee than the average consumer and in most cases, I convert non-coffee drinkers to “the cause”.

It’s safe to say that I do have a physical addiction to coffee and so, when I detoxed myself from one of my beloved drugs – it was not easy at all.

Here, I did have some issues with irritability. I was foggy, slow, grunty. Mornings sucked. My stomach wasn’t working fine for a few days.

It took about 3-4 days for me to completely be “okay again”, however the symptoms of withdrawal was far more severe than that of cannabis (for me).

Nonetheless, the initial experience was not fun, but it did get easier every day. I also drank a shit-ton of Mate as a substitute and pissed more than I have ever pissed in my life.

I drink less coffee now after the 7-day detox.

Forever without Cigarettes – Easy only because I cheated

I smoked tobacco for roughly twenty years and during this time I quit three times. The final time I quit was the easiest, however, the millions of other attempts in between these major events – these were horrific.

Tobacco addiction is one that takes all of the symptoms of Cannabis Use Disorder, and amps them up a thousand times.

The final attempt to quit, I understood exactly what to do. It was easy because I broke away from the programming – which sub sequentially led me to see addiction in an entirely new light. I first read the book – The Easy Way by Allan Carr. Then, the moment I decided to quit, I just walked away knowing that I’ll never smoke again.

Every time I attempted to do it with will power, or due to some other reason – it sucked. However, if you’re really serious about quitting tobacco, just read the book and say goodbye to the demon forever.

Conclusion:

Stopping to smoke weed is the Easiest of the three substances. Coffee was more difficult than anticipated and Tobacco is easy only when you break the programming, if not – it’s nearly impossible and one of the most horrid experiences on the planet.