What made you quit smoking weed?

41 comments

1. As I got into my mid forties, it just started causing anxiety and panic attacks. I know a few people this happened to later in life. I do still smoke on occasion and when I do, it’s quite a bit harder to wake up in the morning.

2. I wouldn’t say weed caused it, but I started having atrial fibrillation. Also, my girlfriend’s stepmother died of pneumonia. I figured it wasn’t worth the damage to my lungs.

3. I realized that it wasn’t solving the problems I thought it was solving and that it was holding me back more than I thought. I decided that I wanted to pursue another approach to solve the things that bothered me and focused on that goal.

   If you’re curious, those problems (that I was trying to solve with weed) were: Restlessness, insomnia, volatile attention, difficulty resting (my brain switches to “active” mode extremely easily), muscle tightness, and a few other. I have ADHD and it contributes significantly to most of those symptoms.

4. In europe we mix it with tobacco, and I quit smoking weed because I quit tobacco in a health crisis. Going through the withdrawals of both substances is enough reason for me to never pick it up again and go through the same process. Also financially and health wise, you’re just better off without it unless it actually helps you with pain relief or other medical issues.

   I’m not against it in any way though, I’ve had my fun with it and now it’s time to move on for me.

5. I haven’t stopped completely but over the last 2 months I’ve been smoking less and less. It’s just getting really boring honestly.

6. I ran out.

   I haven’t actually stopped but i have no problems being without it so i have long breaks multiple times a year, going on 2 months atm.

7. In the process of doing so. I am at the point where it doesn’t really do anything for me except drain my energy and make me feel lazy. It’s almost habitual at this point and I find myself wasting away hours of my day if I’ve got nothing else to do. I used to feel uplifted, energized, and euphoric. Now I almost feel guilty because I know damn well that it’s holding me back from potential job opportunities and goals.

   I think if it was legal across the board (federally) and it wouldn’t cause any issues with prospective jobs, I might feel different about it. But then again, I smoke when I don’t need to and shouldn’t need to.

8. The negatives outweighed the positives. I wanted to be in better shape and smoking made it difficult to breathe when doing cardio. The munchies caused me to gain a lot of weight too. It also made my head a little foggy so it was harder to think clearly and I did gain some anxiety/paranoia doing it too often. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a lot of fun to do, but I try and avoid it because I regress every time I smoke.

9. Anxiety

10. Having my son. Even though I live in California, the company that I work for has the right to require me to take a drug test based on any sort of reasonable suspicion they have. If I fail, they can fire me (I agreed to all this when I signed my HR paperwork). I LOVE weed but I just could no longer continue with something that has the potential to make me lose my livelihood and not be able to provide for my family. I would feel horrible if I lost my job over weed.

11. It makes you stupid. I was laughing like Beavis and Butthead long before they were invented.

12. I got tired of feeling lethargic and inactive all the time. I would also get paranoid about random things and my anxiety would get so bad that my chest would hurt a bit. On top of that, my finances took a huge hit buying weed every week. I quit nearly 5 years ago and it has made my life a lot easier. Problems still occur, but I’d rather tackle problems with clarity than be in a brain fog all the time.

    To be clear, I don’t think weed is terrible but I also don’t think it’s this miracle plant that only has good benefits to it. If you’re abusing marijuana, it truly will begin having negative consequences. Additionally, I find the whole “weed culture” really cringe or the people who say “they use it for sleep.” Umm, sure there’s people who use it for sleep but that majority of the one’s who claim this are really just huge potheads who use that phrase as an excuse to smoke. When you’re tired as hell and had a long day, trust me, you’ll be able to sleep without weed lol. There’s more to life than pot. When I see adults in their 30’s and 40’s walking around a store visibly high and smelling like they just burned one up in their car on the way over, I get second hand embarassment for them. Makes me remember when I was doing that and gives me the motivation to never go back to that lifestyle again.

13. Panic attack

14. Realized my life was beholden to a plant and I was tired of it.

15. Pre employment drug test, but I don’t have to urge or feeling to do it anymore.

16. Panic attacks, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pains when using a vape. I was daily binge-ing THC vapes and edibles for several months. I was diagnosed with Cannabis Use Disorder. I have lost sobriety since quitting but not on any THC.

17. I quit several years ago, but used to do it daily. I was incapable of doing it in moderation, and it cost a lot of money and was making me stupider.

18. Checkout r/leaves

19. I got out if the military. Smoked for years. Quit for about a year. And then recently started again. I think it’s better if you smoke it like once a week. I found the effects to be better than smoking all day everyday. Less paranoid, more euphoric feeling.

20. Because each time I smoked, my lungs would close up similar to how they do for an asthma attack.

    I was diagnosed with asthma the year after I started smoking, and for several years onward I was going to the Hospital once or twice/yr because I couldn’t even walk without collapsing.
    I needed an inhaler 10x+ daily and couldn’t even go up stairs at 20 years old, and I sure as hell couldn’t get a good nights rest.
    I finally had some sense poof into my brain, and literally the same day I quit smoking my lungs were perfectly fine. Now like two months into it and haven’t needed an inhaler since or even wheezed at all.

21. Edibles

22. Smoked a lot in my teens and twenties, and then last two times it just made me depressed. So I made the decision to not smoke it again.

    My two longest friends smoke it pretty much daily.

23. It started gives me bad paranoia, from at first it was silly giggly moments but after smoking everyday for years it got worse. Now if I were to smoke I’d be paranoid staring at the clock waiting till my high comes down to be sober again. I feel so much more clear and adventurous since quitting.

24. The day I moved out of a bad marriage. Before that, being high was the only way I survived.

25. Wife didn’t like me when I was high, and I love her a lot more than I do being high, so it was an easy choice.

26. Reading all the other comments makes me realize I’m going through the same things but I can’t stop even though i want to. People say it’s not addictive but it can be.

27. 2 months 14 days sober. 26 female. Started at 17.

    It makes me lazy, and my life ended up being revolved around weed. Let me stay home and smoke weed. Let me go out for a walk, I end up walking to the park and smoking there. Beach day! I’m at the beach stoned as hell. I wake up and look forward to my first puff. I couldn’t eat or even want to have sex unless I smoked.

    I felt unproductive and like a loser. Also, when the dealer was late or on my way to the coffee shop, I would get so cranky and mean.

    I want to have a smoke with friends, but it always leads to a full-on relapse where im back to smoking from morning to night.

    I don’t trust myself to smoke again. I hope in the future I’ll have the strength, but I see myself as being an ex addict.

    Edit: Just realised the sub is AskMen…

28. I was stuck in a rut and weed wasn’t helping. It made me more anxious, every little thing made me paranoid, everything made me turned on. I rarely had a smoke sesh that was actually relaxed. So I decided to cut it off cold turkey and haven’t looked back. Plus it helps having clean pee for those drug test and not having to worry about getting clean or fake pee for drug test. Going on five years sober and live is just a little bit better for me personally.

29. I got to the age of about 20 (having smoked since I was 16) and I distinctly remember getting high one day and having the flash realization that I just didn’t enjoy it like I used to. The whole experience had gotten stale and I was just wasting hours upon hours doing nothing, just vegging out instead of attending to the responsibilities I should’ve been. After quitting I started thinking a lot more clearly, my sleep problems subsided, my memory improved and I decided not to go back. It’s been a decade now and I don’t miss it at all.

30. I grew up and realized life was better and easier without it. It was a burden.

31. I quit to pass a drug test for a job. Weed isn’t what it used to be when I was younger, this stuff was literally making me cough blood after smoking every day for almost a year straight and every time I smoked I’d feel dumbed down and sluggish. It seems when I was young the weed wasn’t so strong or harsh. But I could have kept smoking after I got the job, everyone at work smokes and the policy changed, but I’m glad I didn’t pick it back up. I don’t like how it makes me feel anymore.

32. [deleted]

33. I would get caught in a loop every night trying to tell myself to stop. After months of this I finally woke up and decided enough was enough.

34. I noticed i was abusing it. Using it to just feel numb and avoid thinking about my problems. I know it can be used as medicine and still support its legalization. I think everybody would be way more chill if they smoked some ganja lol just not me. Not for now at least.

35. I forgot my mom’s birthday

36. In my early 20s, I used to be a daily smoker until the age of 26. During my studies, it was not a real issue. However, when I landed my first real job, I realized the impact it was having on my focus and productivity. Smoking the day before work left me unable to concentrate, and I struggled to fall asleep, often plagued by unnecessary worries and overthinking.

    Eventually, I decided to quit smoking to improve my productivity and overall well-being. The process wasn’t instantaneous; it took me a month or two to completely quit, but I remained determined.

    After just a couple of weeks of being sober, I experienced a remarkable improvement in mental clarity and overall well-being. Life seemed brighter, and my sleep quality drastically improved. Even mundane tasks and daily assignments became more enjoyable and manageable. I no longer wasted my free time on mindless activities like binge-watching shows and munching on snacks.

    Though I’ve successfully quit regular smoking, I do occasionally indulge when I have a few days off and a clear mind. However, I’ve learned my lesson, and I won’t let it become a regular habit. The difference in productivity and mental clarity is too significant to overlook.

37. I’m 34 and just started. I just use it to help me sleep, I genuinely do not like being around people when I’m high. I get grumpy when I’m sleepy and pot makes me sleepy.

    It’s a bedtime only activity for me.

38. I cant begin to describe the positive effect that quitting smoking weed has had on my life. Its not even because of the health implications, but rather on allowing me to simmer in my boredom and improve my life in ways that I otherwise never would have if I was just stoned.

    I have ran marathons, I have joined group fitness classes where Ive met some of my closest friends, I read through 5-10 books a year, allowing me to hold more conversations about the most random things, and the list goes on and on. Smoking weed made me comfortable with being bored, but slowly that only made me into a boring person.

39. I’ve tried a few times didn’t like it. But everyone around me uses the magic flower to cure there emotions just to be miserable the next day then wonder where is there money and don’t make the connection that they spend it on weed 🤷🏾‍♂️

40. derealization

41. Used to big a big pot head. As I got older and had a family it made me think more about my existing problems. Already an over thinker and worry wart it made me more stressed. Made me super tired the next day after edibles. I think everyone is different and a lot of people can continue to use weed.