I’m really glad you wrote this Jeff.
While I admit, I have many friends who use Marijuana regularly and do just fine, and their lives are happy and good, there are people who have problems with the substance. I’m not saying Marijuana is bad, we all have many examples of people doing well with it. However, it can be used badly, and responsibility, personal awareness, and other factors are important. No one wants to talk about these examples, but they do exists and I’m glad you wrote this Jeff.
My ex-husband, the love of my life, sadly I lost to a combination of marijuana and mental illness. He loves weed, which is fine, except it interacted with his antipsychotics negatively. He needs his antipsychotics to be healthy, and he didn’t just use casually, he used constantly. His psychiatrist told him many times he needed to stop, but he didn’t listen. I first realized something was wrong when got mad at me for having a headache and not wanting to go with him to our friends’ house for the usual smoke/chill sessions we had. Our friends noticed him acting strange when he smoked, psychotic symptoms, sometimes he get so high he stopped talking and would ramble nonsensically and say chaotic bizarre things. He even fainted once and often would pass out. When I tried to confront him about it, he would get so angry and accuse me of being manipulative, citing that I was being controlling of his hobbies.
He smoked in the house even after my asthma got terrible and the smoke caused awful asthma attacks. All plans and ambitions he had for us getting a larger place, having kids, disappeared. Eventually there was a nervous breakdown where I had to leave him. He hit bottom after being evicted and sent to a mental hospital. He has been in and out of treatment programs and lost our home, his possessions, and me.
Marijuana it’s self isn’t bad. But it isn’t necessarily good for everyone. My friends still smoke regularly, they have not problems and it makes them happier. Look, I like to have a good drink every now and then and it’s fine. I have a number of friends who are alcoholics though, and they don’t drink. It’s not that the alcohol is bad per say, but it’s bad for alcoholics. Marijuana is a fine drug that helps many people. But just as it is for alcohol, some people aren’t good with the substance for whatever reason. It may be less than alcohol, I don’t know the numbers, but there are people like my ex who have problems with it as an addictive substance. I think so many people are so glad it’s getting more legal and it does real good for so many people, it’s easy to forget there are some who should not be using the drug. People need to know this when they start the drug and have their own warning signs of when it is benefiting them vs when they may have an actual problem.
If you’re reading this and you’re one of those many people who feel cannabis has benefited your life, good for you. I know you exist, in great numbers, and my experience, and Jeff’s experience in no way negates yours. Just as I enjoy drinking on a regular basis and find that it’s a great substance for me. But I know there are people who are alcoholics, just as I know there are some people who have very negative relationships with the cannabis, and it’s important to know this as the drug becomes more and more legal. It’s not that weed is bad or good per-say, but that we use responsibility, and part of that is knowing the risks and understanding there are people like Jeff out there, or my soon to be ex-husband.
