MARIJUANA § DEPRESSION: What comes first??

[FutureGrandmaster]

For the past year and half or so of my life I have been trying to answer this one very question. I have been going through crazy battles with depression for the past 2 to 3 years. I have been smoking marijuana for the past 4 years. For the past year or so, my marijuana use has turned into abuse, and I can finally say I am addicted and dependant on Cannabis.

On the other hand, every other week I suffer from a sinking depression that lasts roughly a week every single time... It never fails to come back and I don't know it returns. I saw a few doctors who tried a few anti-depressants on me but nothing really helped.

Could I be fooling myself this whole time?? Could it be the very own dope that I'm smoking that is making me depressed?? Can chronic marijuana use (5-10 joints a day) lead to depression?? on its own?!

I am begging for help from anyone who has a similar situation. Nobody seems to understand me, and I don't know what to do anymore. I am ready to quit all use of Cannabis.

Thanks for listening, and I hope someone out there who can reply to me who knows anything about marijuana + addiction = depression.

Thanks

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

chronic use of marijuanna can definitely lead to depression. there are several very real mechanisms. One is biochemical..there is a big. shift in the biological systems that control mood.  Secondly, you lose momentum in your life. Its important to be in touch with your passions and ambitions and if you continually dull them rather than process them into realistic achievements, you wake up depressed for the lost time, and where you are in life. I suggest you stop using (with professional or aa help if you need it) and start paying more attention to your personal development and journey in life. You can use the Mastering Stress Program above to get you started..a new and easier to use version will be up in about two weeks.

[makavelli]

i use to get high all the time. like smoke about a quarter a day.
when i quit i got depressed and stressed out alot. but about after a month it was all good. i dont use marijuana now. so im just saying give it up. and try to live a drug free life. its alot better. trust me.

[inter~BARK_]

for about ayear I was a major "pot-head" too...and I was also depressed, which was bad because during the points i wasn't high i was thinking about how much i hated it or how many minutes i'd be wasting smoking with friends...
quitting really will help you get back on your feet trust me, but may not help in full...it might help to pick up meditiation (which is harder to do when stoned, trust me) and get in touch with the side of you you can only see in your head, you know...
its also good to dooo more stuff....many a pot'head has spent every single day in his friends car smoking or in his basement smoking or-  a good  change of environment and entertainment really helps drag your mind away from depression...have fun.don't be glum

[Beob]

I smoked marijuana for many, many years.  I don't know if it caused my depression or not, but probably.  I am very afraid I will end up with lung cancer because of doing it for so long, but there's nothing I can do about that at this point.

I know I need help, but I get weak if someone I know has any.  It's impossible for me to say no.

[beanagator]

I have had relatively severe depression on and off for the past ten years.  I am now a 26 year old female on Aropax, which I think is called Paxil in the States.  I used to smoke a ton of pot before I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.  I now smoke occassionally, and if I find myself using more and more, it is usually a sign that I am getting depressed again.  I know that my pot usage increases when I feel stressed or anxious, but when I am feeling okay, I find that I don't "need" to get stoned.  I also find that if I am anxious and depressed, getting stoned can make it worse, and I have experienced panic attacks while being stoned and in a relaxed environment.  If I have been smoking constantly for a couple of weeks, when my supply runs out I feel antsy, but after a couple of days without it, feel better.  Coming off pot after using for a while can definitely provoke a feeling of depression, but it usually wears off after a week or so.  Hope sharing helps!
Gator

[soul glow]

Ill put it like this...Pot sucks-it kills any amount of motivation you have to do anything-im high right now im 23 and have been smoking since I was 14-if i would stop for periods of my life and during those periods i noticed that i was accomplishing alot more than i ever did while smoking pot-nothing ever exiting happens after puffing-i got so fed up tonight about smoking alot again that i dont ever want to see weed again-most of my friends are quiting or smoking a hell-and are all better off than they were- and im still puffing away-not giving a **** about anything-i get so sick of it and -ive had depression for years-sometimes horrible sometimes nt even there-but the times when i had it the worse was when i was high-you think to much when your high, and when something is on your mind that is bad, you will think about it ten times more when your stoned-its a fact....well though id share this...write back in a month ganja free....

                          soul glow

[another perspective]

I have been smoking pot on and off for 7 years; I began getting high because it stopped me from thinking too much, in the beginning that is.  Now I think constantly.  Now my brain jumps from topic to topic, never allowing me to digest information before I have moved onto the next subject.  Being a risk-taker and traveler, drugs were always part of the lifestyle.  A couple of years ago, I went through a major trauma and some intense life stresses and 'found' pot to be my saviour.  Since that Summer, 2 years ago, my depressions have been consistent and never too dangerous for it to knock me in the head and say'wake up to yourself!'  But I'm getting too old now for it to be a 'phase'; my professional life is stuck, I love the social aspects of being high so much. But now I just think I am most afraid of being permanently depressed and alone......there just seems so much more to life than being baked....I quit cigarettes 3 weeks ago, and went on Paxil for anxiety 5 days ago..feeling queasy and yucky; my instincts are telling me to stop taking them, but I am detoxing off pot(one day) so maybe it is from that?
Thanks for listening.

[ame2001]

Well I have been observing this alot latly! I am 19 right now, but when i first started smoking weed i was 12. I know that seems unbelivable but its true. My parents were always going though problems and i felt that it would make me feel closer to my friends! This went on for along time and i wasent depresed or thought i wasent. Then i started to grow up and drift away from my friends and felt very depresed so i would do anything to smoke pot. That means even quiting school so i could hang out all day long and smoke it will peole who were out of school. This depresion made me feel very unsure of who i was were i was going with my life and the big thing wasis i was starting to find love! i think that was the only thing that could have saved me. I was so depresed i would find a sexy looking guy with a nice car and have my fun with them! Then i found one that loved me back!!! This was the first. So i quit talking to my friends and spent every waking moment i could with him, but he smoked too! So i was still depressed. We dated for 3 years and i found out i was pregnant. So i quit smokeing pot and thats when i could finally understand why i was depressed and i will never smoke weed agian!!!

[ganjaman4now]

The depression definately comes after the pot...I smoke weed practically everyday (2-3 blunts daily), and I have noticed a significant change in my attitude, I dont think I would be on this site right now if i wasnt going through marijuana depression, i know i need to stop but i cant. Marijuana at first helped me through rough times in my life when i was feeling depressed, i started smoking pot the a few days after my uncle(who was more like my father)passed away.At first it was gradual use just when i was feeling a little down it helped out alot. Over a period of time the marjiuana stopped helping me cope with my problems and it has become my problem. The lack of marijuana leads to my depression b/c without it i realize how much of f*cK up person I am. Marijuana definately will lead to depression once you start using it on a daily basis because at first i just need it to cope with traumatic times in my life, now i need it just to cope with everyday life and when i dont have it I feel depressed.

[Mostest]

I have a question. A family member used marijuana chronically from age 14 to 40. He has been completely free for over one and a half years. Can this much chronic use cause not only depression but sexual dysfuntion and the inability to produce children? He also has said he sometimes still craves it but fights the cravings will this eventually go away? Will it also cause him to be less emotional as in showing loving/caring feelings for family members?

[weed be gone]

I am 42 years old,started smoking pot at 12
      I'v done all kinds of drugs from nose to vains so when
seeing conslers I always tell them, I'v been there have you?
      When smoking pot, I have noticed that after that first
buzz of the day your in that zone where you no longer know ****
about reality, you think you do, but maybe thats why I did it
to num lifes little pissy proubles away. But thay were never gone
I just cared less. Pot has changed my mind for me at times,
I would know what I was going to do and had a good plan, and
then I got high, and then I got all kinds of new ideas in my head
and never went through with the good plan, and failed.
       I'v said it myself"I JUST WAMT TO MELLOW OUT SO I'LL GET
                                HIGH"
       But this is not reality, the truth is, I'd get high and be so depressed I don't think of what was worng in the first place.    Pot is a depression waiting for you to smoke it.After
30 years of token I quit: I have grone more inside in just 30 days than in the last 5 years.  So yes I think you should give
it up. Trying pot was cool then, How about trying it with out?

[Rickdogg]

Hi,
   Im a 22 year old who has been smoking mary jane for about 4 years now since I began college.  I can tell you on 1st hand experience that Marijuana is a very deceiving and weird drug.  It will definately fool you.  Its very hard to explain but it works like this, atleast for me.  It has you believing that its not a bad drug and not bad for you.  You want to get high and then when you get high you feel so anxious and just cant keep your mind from bouncing off walls that you wonder why you even got high in the 1st place.  I can tell you that im a very motivated, ambitious person but since ive been smoking ive lost all the motivation I had and my personality has changed tramatically.  I know how much happier I was before I started smoking but its just so hard to quit.  Once you quit, you will feel like **** for a couple of weeks and then it only gets better and better until your mind is back to normal.  Dont let Mary Jane play with your mind because trust me, life without Mary is totally better.  You'll find better things to do besides sitting around smoking kind buds out of a bowl.  Your attitude and personality will just multiply by the day.  Keep a drug free life and its much better.

[jenn45]

where can I get this Mastering Stress Program if I live in Ontario?
I am trying to quit. Nothing will help. I have tried several times. It is physical dependance. I crave it. If I don't have it (1-5 joints a day) I feel wierd.... that 'wierd' is sober....normal...
I just need a lot of help to quit. I cannot do this on my own & have little/no support.
email:
august.***@****
thank you

[jenn45]

once again my email is
august.25th
AT
HOT MAIL
DOT
COM
stupid forums ...alwyas blockin **** :P

[bigteddy]

Stay clean for a day and get to an NA or AA meeting.  Do that a few days in a row, and you'll feel a lot lot better.

[PrinCensimilla]

im 18 years old.  i have been smoking pot for about 7 years (about how long my mom has been dead) i live with two teenage boys who also smoke. lately, when i smoke, i dont get as high as i used to... and that makes me depressed. and considering i am severly bipolar, this isnt a good thing. but, when i DO get high enough not to be depressed, its like nothing was wrong in the first place. unlike all the people on this blog, smoking weed, whether people think its all placebo or not, does releive me of my depression. when im not high, like when im at work or cleaning my apartment, im not down because im not high. its only when engaging in it and not getting anything out of it that i get depressed.

i talked to my psycologist and told her that i smoke large amounts of marijuana (about an ounce a day) . she began to explain to me how many different people with bipolar and depression "self medicate" with psycadelics and marijuana and how it usually doesnt work with most people, making their depression worse or even causing suicidal tendencies, but how a few of the people that do try it can actually make it work. its not the actual drug making you feel the way you do, its all in your head.

it is clinically proven that marijuana is NOT physically addictive, just mentally. ive done my fair share of drugs.. i have fought addictions to LSD, Pyslocybin, and Cocain, and the ganja has been my fall back drug.

for those of you who just cant handle everyday life, weed is not for you. for those who have bipolar, depression or ADD/ADHD, weed is probably not for you either, but dont let a fu*king plant "control" your moods.. weed is the most harmless drug out there and if anyone thinks that weed can actually change you as a person, youre right... but youre also weak...

thats all..


smoke weed every day^_^

ps. ive been on every anti-depression medicine you can shake a stick at, and the ONLY ONE that hasnt caused me to try to kill myself is MARYJANE

think about it... be stronger than yourself

[abyss the mc]

Hello all, im 26, actually gonna be 27 on a month and i have been smoking weed since i was 18 and i have to say its had its ups and downs.  I am always depressed, i push my friends away, look forward to fighting with people, got arrested (dui- with eighth of green) neglect my responsibilities.etc.  Basically what im saying is that weed definitely contributes to depression, i mean different strains different brains, im just speaking from my point of view.  i would suggest anyone to quit or at least slow down allot so you can enjoy it on occasions (vacations, camping, holidays etc), but if your using it everyday i can almost guarantee your not living up to your maximum potential.  Im here because this is my first day without weed, i haven't smoked since yesterday at 2:00 pm and then went to the Jimmy Buffet concert here in Boston and didn't smoke, haha....go figure, but then again i was buzzed off the coors light so i just wasent stressing about it, now i woke up and instead of calling my dealer i am trying to fight it looking online for certain info and people that are going through the same thing.......  if you need help or just wanna exchange stories my myspace is ..  www.myspace.com/abyssthamc      thanks allot for reading this and good luck to everyone trying to quit or slow down, u can do it, u only have one life, lets make it healthy

[kimiboo]

I'm 18 years old and I have been smoking since i was 14.
I live with my partner now & we smoke up to 6 BLUNTS a day!
It's ruining our life together, we never have any money.
we know were addicted but we can't stop.    =[
helpp.