I’m Just a Middle-Aged House Dad Addicted to Pot
The New York Times 6 October 2018
Family First Comment: “When I had my first cup of coffee in the morning, I pressed the little button on my vape pen, waited for the blue glow, took a huge inhale and then blew it into the mug so that I could suck in the THC and caffeine at the same time. Then I took another hit, and another. In the afternoons, I’d smoke a bowl, or pop a gummy bear, or both. At night, I got high before eating dinner or watching the ballgame. Maybe I’d stop getting stoned a little bit before bed, but what was the point? If I went to bed high, I could wake up high, too.”
No thanks.
www.SayNopeToDope.nz
Cannabis should be legal, just as alcohol should be legal. But marijuana addiction exists, and it almost wrecked my life.
My name is Neal, and I’m a marijuana addict.
A year ago I wouldn’t have said that, because it would have meant giving up marijuana. I would rather have given up breathing.
When I had my first cup of coffee in the morning, I pressed the little button on my vape pen, waited for the blue glow, took a huge inhale and then blew it into the mug so that I could suck in the THC and caffeine at the same time. Then I took another hit, and another. In the afternoons, I’d smoke a bowl, or pop a gummy bear, or both. At night, I got high before eating dinner or watching the ballgame. Maybe I’d stop getting stoned a little bit before bed, but what was the point? If I went to bed high, I could wake up high, too.
What a time for people to get stoned! Marijuana has left the counterculture, exploded into the mainstream and transformed into a multibillion-dollar industry. Cannabis is now an essential part of any hip wellness and beauty regimen. Netflix offers a marijuana-themed cooking show.
But I’m not a child with intractable epilepsy, or a veteran with PTSD, or a person who just wants to chill a little, or Willie Nelson. Unless you count writing articles about marijuana, I’m not profiting from the industry. I’m just a middle-aged house dad with a substance-abuse problem.
Like most pot addicts in denial, I spent years telling myself that marijuana isn’t addictive, and so I didn’t have a problem. But clearly I did. And I’m not the only one who suffers this way.
Though marijuana addiction isn’t deadly like opioid addiction or toxic like meth addiction, it still wastes millions of lives. Around 9 percent of users become addicted, and about 17 percent of those who start as teenagers. That’s less than the rate for alcoholism but still significant.
READ MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/opinion/sunday/marijuana-addiction.html
