Are you prepared about knowing how to quit smoking weed? Call it Mary Jane, pot or marijuana, this drug would do you a lot of good, when you notice the imminent effects after you’ve quit…
Marijuana/weed, from the cannabis plant in its true form, is a drug that is veiled under many names, like pot, Afghani indica, Crazy weed, Aunt Mary, and the like. This drug was most commonly used as a recreational drug, and is even for medical purposes like asthma and glaucoma. It grows in many parts of the world like the United States, Panama, Mexico, India, and even Africa.
Almost the entire plant can be used in preparing marijuana, but usually the seeds are first separated, with the leaves then being crushed finally by hand, and then smoked through a rolled up paper joint, mini pipe, or blunt (cigar skin). The pure resin scraped from the flowering portion of the cannabis plant, is clumped together and smoked as what is most commonly known as ‘hash’ or ‘hashish’.
When hash is smoked, it has a different taste and sensation, being a little stronger than weed leaves. Another commonly used term for marijuana, that has its roots from the Sanskrit script, is ‘ganja’. Pot is either smoked up or even eaten, by mixing it with anything that would overpower its taste. While at first it cuts food cravings, the aftereffects can result in a case of the munchies, where one feels extreme hunger pangs.
It can also induce hallucinogenic episodes, depending on the potency of the strain being smoked. While smoking weed hasn’t been deemed entirely dangerous, it can turn pot smokers into cigarette smokers. Weed is considered a gateway drug; it can make one want to experiment with chemical-based, hardcore drugs.
Quit Smoking Weed for Good
Taking that initial step and firm resolve to quit smoking, requires a lot of determination and self-control on the part of the pot head. Smoking is an addiction that labels you as someone who cannot do without weed, making you want to smoke it all day every day, or when you get together with friends. There are some people who do it behind closed doors or don’t frequently indulge in the habit (out of living circumstances), but are all the more addicts because of the craving. Here we help out those of you who want to nip the habit, and bid that stash of weed goodbye.
Say it Proud
Giving up the habit is no small feat, and it requires you to be bold enough to spread the word that you’re off the habit for good. It is important to make a conscious decision of how it would improve not just your health, but your life, if you were to know how to stop smoking weed. It’s no easy task, and it pulls in that help factor that you will ultimately need, from close family or friends.
Help from Family and Friends
If you’ve been doing this long enough, and your parents know about it, it’s time you put them out of their misery and confront them about needing support to quit smoking weed. They’d be glad to help and suggest places where you can interact with others in weekly meetings, on trying to stay off weed. It would help resolve a lot of issues, and build a bond between you and them, that was broken when you were indulging in your addiction.
The family strain wears out, and you can look forward to a whole new you. Friends alike who didn’t want to hang out with you, or those that spread the word to others about what you were up to, can be your stepping stone to quit drugs. Take their advice, and be open to suggestions to help you stay clean for good.
Managing Diet
Getting off the weed means dealing with persistent hunger pangs and overeating. It’ll take a while for your body to get used to the idea of not receiving any weed, and it will slowly adjust to the switch. Try eating healthier food like fruits and vegetables, without going overboard on junk food. Slowly help your system recuperate in its own way, and don’t let junk food substitute your healthy meals.
Stay Positive
Don’t worry if it takes time to get off weed. As long as you’ve begun and you have support from those around you, you’re well on your way to quitting. Because weed can act as a potential gateway drug, quitting now is only going to do your body a huge favor.
Submerge Yourself in Hobbies/Activities
Get active and immerse your thoughts in trying to fulfill a hobby you’ve ignored, or never attempted to try out, and be a part of different and new things. Help yourself to stay distracted, and not allow you resort to faltering, even for a second. There are many ways for you to start something, by doing ample research on recreational outdoor activities or centers that help you to be a part of them. Get involved and put yourself out there.
Brush Off Discouragement
There may be people who will put you down, by throwing discouraging/sarcastic comments at you. They can pass statements like ‘You’ll never be able to quit’, ‘You’re going to quit smoking weed? No way!’, ‘Losers can’t quit smoking weed’, and other such similar comments. Don’t let them get to you, and avoid backtracking into your habit out of depression, or turn rebellious as an outlet for your anger and frustration.
Tips to Quit Smoking Cigarettes
Smoking is another bad habit, that one shouldn’t overly indulge in, since they have repercussions that will follow over time. Look through, the harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes, to see what I mean. Here are steps on how to get started on quitting the habit.
- Tell family and friends that you’ve quit smoking, and stress how important it is that they support you. Tell family members to smoke outside the house, and don’t encourage friends from smoking at home, but outside instead too. After all second-hand smoking is just as bad.
- Get rid of the last traces of cigarettes in your home, and throw away ashtrays that you have lying around.
- Get yourself a nicotine patch, and try to seek help with Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), where a nicotine patch is stuck onto one’s arm, where it seeps through the skin of the smoker. It switches smokers from inhaling cigarette smoke, to nicotine providing patches, where they slowly stop using the patches once their bodies no longer crave smoking.
- When you get restless and fidgety after you’ve quit, keep alternatives to keep you busy, like carrot sticks, sugarless gum, straws, toothpicks and so on. Like weed, the body needs a distraction, since food cravings are evident here as well. Eat healthy foods or get involved in other distractions that don’t keep you constantly thinking of having a smoke.
- Use bupropion, which is an antidepressant, that will help you deal with depression bouts that tend to take place in those who want to quit.
- Varenicline, which is a medication for smokers, and has a success rate of about 44 percent in 12 weeks to help in snuffing the habit.
Aftereffects When One Quits Smoking Cigarettes
There are a lot of changes that your body goes through after you’ve let go of the habit of smoking. These changes include the following.
- Not having to deal with yellowing stained teeth.
- Sense of smell goes back to normal, and becomes more distinct in picking up aromas/scents.
- Clothes and hair don’t smell of cigarette smoke anymore.
- Being active doesn’t leave you gasping for air.
- Yellow fingernails and yellowish finger skin tones, will go back to their normal color.
- Food tastes a lot better.
- Carbon monoxide levels in the blood drop.
- Heart rate drops back to normal.
- Coughing decreases.
- Lessens the risk of infection.
- Lungs are cleaner.
- Decreases your chances by half in getting coronary heart disease.
- Chances of getting esophagus, cervix, throat, mouth, pancreas and bladder cancer decreases.
- Makes you avoid getting wrinkles, and stops you from aging faster.
Now that you know ways to quit smoking weed, as well as cigarettes, you are on your way to staying healthy by also noticing significant changes in your overall appearance.
