Your history with weed

 

I was a huge consumer from around 15 to around 30 years old, I planted and harvested my own for years and smoked on nearly daily base with friends. We consumed also worse things for a long time but since I was 38 (8 years ago) I am clean except for cigarettes and alcohol.

 

The effects of any drugs are highly dependent on the personality and strenght of the consumer, some people manage to keep them within reasonable limits, others can fall prey and get caught in a spiral to the worst. Be very aware of what kind of person you are before letting them into your life.

 

I can not say I regret having done them, they can provide amazing experiences, and for one thing they can help experiencing prog music in a way which is unthinkable when being sober.

 

But they surely pose dangers. I never found weed particularly addictive, normal cigarettes or alcohol are much more physically addictive. What happens is that it becomes a lifestyle, when you and your friends consume drugs it becomes very difficult to stay away or control the magnitude, you are together so consuming becomes the norm, and one pushes the other and the magnitude or the kind of drug being consumed can easily get out of control. It's not the physical addiction but the "social" addiction which can become very dangerous.

 

I'm now 46 and I'm a "normal" person, with a good respectable job, I'm not a wreck. But I have some problems with memory, concentration, motivation, willpower etc. I will never be able to know how much these are related to my heavy consumtion of drugs in my younger years but they could definitely be related.

 

And I stopped with illegal drugs but I still smoke and drink. I can not say for sure but possibly once addicted to something you remain addicted to something even if it's not the same "something". You just need some addiction to carry on.

 

Bottom line: as an avid user having enjoyed it for many years and still healthy, leading a normal respectable life (and never been in jail ) I can not honestly ban it, it would be hypocrite from me, but I guess it's better to stay away from it, and if you ever think about trying think twice before starting and most of all think of how strong you think you are to keep it within reasonable limits and not falling too deep, and be careful with friends, consuming yourself is one thing, but getting into a lifestyle where the norm of everybody around you is consuming is dangerous.

 

 

 

I guess that they all contribute, but don't ask me why, I have the feeling that in terms of affecting long-term brain performance, cannabis (in both forms hash and weed) is the one which has had the most negative effects. Maybe only because it's the drug I consumed when youngest and therefore when the brain is still most vulnerable, other drugs I only tried when already an adult.

And in any case I can not be sure that my (relatively minor) problems are related to drug consumption at all, it's only a guess or a feeling.