12 lies of marijuana

From a Marijuana Anonymous newsletter Jan 2007, written by Jeff.
www.marijuana-anonymous.org

I wrote this one evening after a meeting, based on a revelation that came from something that was shared. It started me thinking about how I’d lived in a world of lies and was never able to access my emotional truth while I was smoking pot. It’s important to note that, while these are called The Twelve Marijuana Lies, pot never lied to me. It’s a plant; it grows in a field or just sits there in a bag on my coffee table. The lies were created by me and my illness. It wasn’t until I’d taken the time to step back and look at my life objectively that I was able to identify the lies for what they are and to make adjustments in a healthier way. So here they are, in no particular order.

1. You can’t get addicted to pot.
Many people feel, and studies have shown, that you cannot become physically addicted to pot as you can with alcohol, heroin, cigarettes, coffee, or chocolate cake. But most people don’t understand the insidious nature of addiction. It will overtake someone who has an addictive personality by going through the path of least resistance.

2. Smoking marijuana will make you more creative.
This is quite possibly the most dangerous of all the lies listed here. People who are creative by nature (though not exclusively them) become drawn to pot because they feel that it allows them to get in touch with their creative side. This may even be true on some occasions, but that’s mere coincidence. Remember that you always were creative, and that you always had creative abilities within you. You can have creative inspiration without having to smoke pot.

3. Smoking marijuana will help lower your inhibitions.
Smoking pot raised my anxiety and inhibitions to new heights, or, rather, new depths. The loss of control just made me anxious, even around my closest friends. Ultimately, I didn’t like to get high and be around people, so I came to believe that people were the problem, not the pot. I took people out of my life and kept smoking pot, always by myself and in a way that made me more and more isolated from others. My inhibitions could not have been higher.

4. You’ll make friends and meet cool people when you’ve got pot.
You will meet other potheads, thieves, con artists, dope dealers, insufferable flakes, and a lot of other types of people you’d never associate with otherwise, just because they smoke pot. You’ll wait for hours in unsavory places waiting to score. You’ll talk and laugh about things that are neither interesting nor funny. You’ll sacrifice your integrity just to be in with these people and to support your addiction.

5. Smoking pot will help you “see God.”
Yeah, whatever that means. Pot will actually help drive a wedge between you and your spiritual self. You will think that the effects of marijuana are some form of spiritual awakening, but it’s just the pot. Ending your dependency on pot will allow you to open yourself to the possibility that there is someone or something that is greater than you, and that only that Higher Power can help take away your need for pot and restore your life to sanity.

6. Smoking pot makes you feel good.
I admit, I felt real good knowing I was home and I could shut the door, load up the bong, and go into my own world. I felt good touching it, smelling it, preparing it. But once I was stoned, I felt regret over what I’d done. I wished I hadn’t gotten high because I knew I was just going back into old behavior again.

7. Pot is a great thing to bring to a party.
Pot is a terrible thing to bring to a party. Once everyone’s stoned they tend to just sit there and go into their own minds, without saying much or interacting with each other because they’re too wasted. There’s no interaction, no meaningful dialog, just people sitting around being stoned.

8. Getting high helps you appreciate music, art, sex, etc. more.
You name it, pot can enhance it. That’s what I always heard. As it turns out, I’ve been able to enjoy all of those things just as much without pot as with. So if taking away the pot doesn’t change your ability to enjoy things, you never needed it in the first place.

9. The local cops won’t bust you if you just have a little pot on you.
This may be true in some locales, but why chance it? The police can decide to let you go, or they can turn your life upside down for simple possession. Do you want to have to explain that to friends, family, future employers, and college admissions?

10. Everyone’s doing it.
No, not everyone. Just the stoners like me, who were the only people I chose to hang around with. I’d turned my back on people who’ve tried to help me or reach out to me, all because they didn’t share my craving for marijuana. It’s a shame, because they were nice people who really cared about me, but I cared more about the pot.

11. It won’t give you lung cancer like cigarettes will.
OK, I’m no doctor, but burning leaves that you inhale into your lungs and hold for as long as you can isn’t good for your health. I guess that there haven’t been enough studies done on this, so the jury is still out. In the meantime, why engage in risky behavior?

12. I’ve always been a pot smoker; it’s a part of who I am.
No, it isn’t. One day I made a conscious choice to change who I really was and become a stoner. I thought being a “head” appealed to me, that the world of erudite free-thinking pot smokers was the life for me. Once I learned that I had actually made a lifestyle choice around pot, it became easier to make another lifestyle choice to be clean and sober.