Case studies
Tony’s story
It all started back when I was 14 years of age at school. I had a taste of pot with a friend; it didn’t really seem to effect me so I didn’t smoke again. I then had an accident when I was 15 years old where I ended up in hospital and it nearly cost me my life. After that I lost motivation and went into a day dream and started smoking pot. In the first packet I bought there were some seeds, so I started to grow the stuff. I had friends who I would go on a drug odyssey with for weeks at a time, smoking lots of pot and a bit of alcohol. So I pretty much was a heavy pot smoker from day 1.
When I was 16 years old my dad said you need to get a job and I then started an apprentiship. I kept smoking for the first year of the apprentiship. I was hesitant to do things with people, like I would pull out of camps with other kids. I eventually got caught smoking by the trainer at work. We got a caution, and I stopped for the next 3 years of my apprentiship and I had more motivation and friends. I went overseas for a sunny holiday and went on another drug odyssey, smoking hash, magic mushrooms and alcohol. Those drugs stuffed me up for 10 years. It was like I was absent in my mind, I was depressed spaced out and vague, I couldn’t make up my mind about anything and withdrew.
I kept smoking pot again, went home and was studying. Study was really hard because I was stoned but I kept on smoking. In around 1990 I stopped smoking for a year when I went to WA- I was feeling great, I had a good job, new friends and my own house. I then came home, fell in with a group of people who were growers and smokers, was smoking myself, wasted my life savings on drugs and got depressed again. I kept on smoking even though I knew there was something wrong with me and I was depressed. I kept having a thought I need to stop smoking as I was in oblivion and my life was a fiasco- pot wasn’t helping me at all. I was going to doctors and saying there is something wrong with me. I kept on smoking, and finally got to a psychologist who recognized I had a mental illness. I then went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with clinical depression.
I then came to the Cannabis Clinic as my psychiatrist said if you keep on smoking pot you will end up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which was a worry. This was the start of my life and I am now I am feeling happy and better than ever- the change is amazing.
At the Cannabis Clinic I started to realize the source of my unhappiness was my cannabis smoking, and the cannabis smoking was making my depression worse, it was stressing me out more and more, making my anger outbursts worse and worse, it didn’t solve any of my problems and made them worse. I was smoking about 25 cones a day. I firstly cut down my cannabis with the clinics help, and I noticed if I smoked more, I would then get more stressed and more negative thinking and sink back into obsessive thinking. That’s when I took it seriously and realized I needed to stop and go tea-totaller.
What I found helpful was keeping a diary of my mood and how it related to my smoking. This gave me an insight into the bad effects of cannabis, reinforcing the fact I needed to stop if I wanted to get better. A big one was challenging my negative thinking, distracting or finding something else to do with my time like walking, things that I wanted to do anyway but the pot had stopped me doing. Also, letting the urges come and go without acting on them, as the cannabis urges are only brief and soon go if you don’t act on them. Whereas if you act on the urge by smoking, the urges just come back stronger. Once I realized I didn’t need to act on the urges it gave me more inner strength. Now the urges are fleeting and rare.
I have been cannabis free for 3 ½ months and don’t look like relapsing. Now I can go for jobs that they test you. I don’t have anything to hide anymore, no more skulking around to score or smoke. My thoughts are more happy and I feel clearer headed and it’s a lot easier to make decisions. I am way less apprehensive about socializing. The other great benefit is my lung capacity; I can walk up hills without puffing and I am getting fitter.
It has been so helpful to have someone to talk to from the clinic who understands my cannabis problem and has helped me come up with strategies for getting off pot.
Now I have no vices and it’s a great feeling!
Tony, 44 years old.
