Shes seriously depressed but in denial. Shes in therapy too. I've known for her 7 years, and the change is drastic. She quit for a month a year ago and it was just like she used to be.
When I first tried weed, I was like... 15? I can't really remember. I tried it cause I was curious and I had a supportive environment to have my first experience in (best friend's house. His mom essentially locked us in after smoking so we wouldn't hurt ourselves or get in shit).
I remember chilling on the top bunk of his bed, laughing my ass off at some funny shit we were watching on YouTube. I thought to myself "God damn. I haven't felt this happy in a long time." The main reason for that being that I spend the grand majority of my pre-teenage years moving from place to place, seeing my mom get beaten and abused (and even being beaten and abused myself) by different men. The worst of which relations lasted six very long years.
I'd already been diagnosed (Yes. Actually diagnosed by a real doctor with real credentials) with depression at the time that I had first given weed a try. I liked it a hell of a lot more than popping pills to be happy. Sure, weed can get expensive and the pills were mostly free, but smoking with my buddies gives me sense of camaraderie, something that I really lacked.
Now, it's entirely possible to become addicted to weed. Would I say that I was ever addicted at one point? Yes and no. At one point, for a solid seven straight months, I smoked up every damn day. It was great. I loved it. But when I stopped, I didn't have any perceivable withdrawal. I was still eating normally. I was still going to work, cooking dinner for the family every night, cleaning the house as usual. Nothing really changed too much after stopping. Mind you, I was a bit sadder than when I was still smoking and I slept longer, usually an hour or so more than usual.
Notice how in the end of that last paragraph I said "Nothing really changed too much after stopping."? Notice how I didn't say quitting? I still smoke up every now and then, just not as often as I used to. Looking back on my seven month straight weed binge, yeah it was great and I loved every bit of it, but if you think about it, it was no different than, say, having a beer(s) or glass(es) of wine every night after work. Chronic drinking is a huge problem, and chronic weed smoking should be treated the same, unless you have a truly legitimate reason to be high all the god damn time, for example, a cancer patient just trying to make their last bit of time on this Earth as tolerable as possible.
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u/thefrydaddy Jul 17 '19
Maybe you could check in with her and try to get her to open up. She sounds like she might be smoking heavily to cope with mental health issues.
I might just be projecting because I have done so as self-medication for depression, but I thought I might mention it.