If your loved one cannot seem to do any activities without marijuana they may be addicted.
Is My Loved One Addicted to Marijuana?
The life of a marijuana addict is controlled by the thought processes and cravings that come as a result of the drug use. He or she may not mean to act a certain way or to allow their entire life to revolve around smoking pot—but it happens, and it happens even to those who mean well. Unfortunately, recognizing that your loved one is addicted to marijuana may be a harsh reality that you all but want to accept.
According to Marijuana Anonymous, a 12 step program for those in recovery from marijuana addiction, “If a loved one helps divert a crisis for the addict, they take away the addict’s opportunity to work it out, or fail. This will make it harder for the addict to perceive the problem and begin to seek the solution.” As such, if your loved one is addicted to marijuana, the first step that you need to take is within yourself to make the commitment to refrain from picking up the pieces when the addiction causes problems in the individual’s life. This can be challenging but it’s a necessary first step toward recovery for you as a facilitator and for the addict too.
Signs of Addiction
If your loved one is showing any of the following signs of marijuana addiction, consider confronting him or her. There’s a good chance that marijuana addiction is to blame if:
- he has been in trouble for possession of marijuana and continues to use the drug
- he has made commitments to others, such as friends or family, and broken the promises
- he has said he will not smoke pot but always seems to fall back into the use of drugs
- he denies having a problem
- he is irritable, irrational, or otherwise moody when marijuana is not available
- he spends excessive amounts of time smoking pot
- he postpones activities or will not spend time with people if there’s not pot
- he is seemingly obsessed with marijuana and acts as if he cannot live without it
- he denies that the drug use is problematic
All of these signs of marijuana addiction can be easily downplayed or overlooked if you’re not careful.
The Nature of an Addict
It is widely known that the nature of an addict is to deny that there is a problem. If your loved one is addicted to marijuana, the chance of him or her accepting and admitting to you that there is a problem is very unlikely. Most addicts believe that they are “ok” or that their drug use isn’t “All bad.” Many even believe that because they just smoke pot and aren’t using harder drugs like cocaine or prescription drugs then it’s ok. Others believe that they are using pot as a means of medicating a problem and they think it’s acceptable to do so.
The nature of an addict is to downplay the problem and to make it as if there really isn’t a problem. This denial is just one of the ways that an individual who is addicted will try to get those who love and care about them to accept that what they do is alright. As a loved one, it is up to you to make sure that you don’t accept that someone you love smokes pot and that you don’t let them downplay the situation making it less of a problem than it really is.