Steps to Quit Weed

Essential Steps to take when you stop smoking marijuana and emergency stop "jonesing" methods.

1. Get rid of all your dope-smoking paraphernalia immediately! Do not tuck your pipes, papers, tobacco, bongs, lighters and tools of the trade into a nicely packed box and slide it under your bed, thinking that out of sight is out of mind. Give ALL of this stuff away or throw it ALL in the trash. Don’t cling to those items, they represent the part of you that needs to be put to rest. Ditch all of it right away, don’t keep anything you use to smoke pot. Your "marijuana brain" may not remember much these days, but I guarantee that it knows where the papers are.

2. Keep busy! Make a list of replacement activities. As I always say, anything is better than getting high again. Do not sit idle and obsess over the idea of getting high. Keep yourself busy with projects. Build a new spice rack, buy some oil paints and a canvas, organize your photos into albums, do your bills, join a yoga class… whatever. Keeping your mind occupied is the key.

Need more ideas? How about joining a Yoga class, life drawing class, French class, martial arts club, indoor soccer team, start swimming, make holiday season or birthday gifts for your friends and family with stuff from the craft store, join a book club or a chess club, take guitar lessons, etc. Believe me, you’ve been missing out on all kinds of things you would probably like a lot. Remember, you don’t have to think of your replacement activities as defining you, they are a means to an end. When you are free from your desire to get high, you can do whatever you want.

"Don't think of your replacement activities as defining you, they are a means to an end"

Volunteer. If you can’t trust yourself to be alone after work or school with nothing but the TV and your dealers phone number cycling through your head, then you might be better off not staying home. Find a place you can do some good like your local animal shelter. Go help some dogs and cats that need your love.

3. Keep Away. Stay away from you old haunts and pot-smoking buddies. Avoid social functions where you know there will be pot-smoking. Call up one of your non weed-smoking friends and make different plans – go go-carting instead, or go to an art opening at your local gallery, whatever. You won't have marijuana on the brain while you're taking corners in go-cart and it costs about the same as a gram - perfect for your budget!

4. Find a new way to Relax. You’ve been using weed as a vehicle to relax for too long. Find a new one. Listening to relaxation music, meditating, or practicing yoga can really help retrain your marijuana brain to relax properly. Your body mind and spirit will benefit from each of these activities. One, or all of these suggestions are great ways to really relax yourself, and achieve real results, unlike smoking up.

"Relaxation music, meditating, or practicing yoga can really help retrain your brain to relax properly."

5. Save your weed money. You know on average how much your pot habit cost you right? Take the money you would have spent on pot and put it in a jar. Please do this. It’s very important to have something tangible to look at as you push yourself to quit weed. Watching you savings grow is exciting and empowering. By the time six months goes by, you will have a nice chunk of change to do something really great with. Imagine saving $10/day for six months, that’s $3000.00!

Emergency Stop "Jonesing" Methods:

1. Roll joints with the worst tasting tobacco you can get your hands on. Find something that literally makes you feel physically ill. Associating your “feel good” drug with “feeling sick” will make you want quit in a hurry. This can only work if you really are honest with yourself, and use this method in times of desperation, not as a replacement for every joint you would normally smoke.

2. Replace your joint with ONE glass of wine. Take a sip and savor the taste when you feel like the temptation to get high is becoming too overwhelming. The wine will give you a nice warm feeling and a pleasant taste to focus on, which will help take your mind off the urge to roll a joint. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS. If you have a history of alcoholism in your family, or dont know your own limits with alcohol, DO NOT TRY THIS. This is simply something that worked for me in EMERGENCY situations. Situations where I would have otherwise relapsed.

3. Floss, brush your teeth, and rinse with mouthwash. Go into your bathroom and brush with a soft toothbrush for a couple minutes, floss, and rinse with mouthwash. After you finish up with dental hygiene, go make yourself busy with a project. Replacing your gum rotting joint with your self-imposed dental hygiene program will replace the satisfaction feeling of getting high, with the satisfaction and pride you will take in having the best pearly whites.

4. Give yourself a new reward. Potheads always think of getting high as a reward for accomplishing ordinary daily tasks. Try making yourself your favorite dessert, or fun snack like celery with cream cheese and peanut butter as a reward instead of lighting up a joint. Don’t abuse this one and turn yourself into a big fat beached whale. Emergencies only.

5. Phone a friend. Only some of us have someone to talk to about these types of things. Admitting that you have have a problem to yourself is hard, but to someone else can sometimes be impossible. But wait! Don’t underestimate how much your close friends and family love you. If you have someone you trust in your life, call them. Tell them you are freaking out because you can’t smoke pot anymore. Talk. Wait until you get distracted in conversation and the craving passes.

Be creative. If you want to quit smoking weed, find new ways to replace your craving for weed. You can replace the act of smoking up with something pleasant, or with something unpleasant. I’ve tried both, and in the end, a combination of methods and my own determination is what worked. Referring to my list of reasons to quit weed really saved me from relapsing more than once.

The precise combination of methods and behaviors that will help you quit weed are your own. Everyone is different. Just as certain things will work for some, you may not respond to the same marijuana treatment techniques and need to adapt them to suit. Keep your "marijuana brain" active by thinking of ways to satisfy your urges with other rewards, keep busy, and avoid bad situations. In a few months your life will have taken a new direction, you will have money in your pocket, and you won’t look back.