10 Signs You're Addicted to Weed

Marijuana Addiction: 10 Signs You're Addicted to Weed

Do you suspect you could be addicted to weed? We're diving into marijuana addiction with the 10 signs you're addicted to weed. Help yourself by reading today.

Recreational cannabis use has been legalized in four states, and five more are set to vote in November. 25 states and Washington DC now have medical marijuana laws.
With these trends, it looks as if nationwide legalization is on its way sooner or later. That's a frightening prospect for some and an exciting one for others.
Whether you've been smoking marijuana for years or you've just considered trying it after legalization, it's important to understand the potential risks involved with any new substance that you're introducing into your body, including marijuana addiction.

Marijuana Addiction
One thing that you'll hear over and over again from longtime smokers is that weed is not habit-forming.
While it's true that marijuana does not cause the severe physical withdrawal of hard drugs or alcohol, marijuana can become mentally addictive.
You might laugh at someone who tells you they're addicted to video games or television, but if they're daily users, try taking it away from them for a day or a week and you'll start noticing anxiety, irritability, restlessness, depression and more. These are all symptoms of emotional withdrawaland you don't need addictive chemicals to experience them.

Humans are creatures of habit and we can get mentally addicted to anything that brings us joy. Whether it's the feeling of relaxation that marijuana can cause or the feeling of accomplishment one gets from beating the final boss on a new video game.

But how do you know if you're actually addicted?

Here are ten signs that suggest you might be addicted to weed:

1. Missing Appointments
Have you missed class or canceled appointments with your doctor or academic advisor because you wanted to smoke instead?

Are you avoiding responsibilities like walking your dog, cleaning your house, or preparing your taxes?
Heavy marijuana users often feel apathetic toward the mundane but necessary daily tasks of life, which can cause obligations to pile up and stress the user out. This is typically followed by more marijuana use. The cycle continues that way, with the user just barely skating by, but more often,shirking responsibilities entirely.

2. Smoking Early in the Day

One of the biggest red flags for addiction is indulging early in the day. If your first thought in the morning is to smoke weed, then you've likely not experienced complete sobriety in a while, which can make the transition to quitting that much harder.

While the stronger effects of marijuana only last for a few hours, THC is stored in fat cells and slowly releases into your brain as you burn fat. This often leaves users feeling like "something is missing" for days or weeks after completely stopping.

3. Needing to Smoke Before or After Stressful Situations
If you find yourself "dependent" on weed for getting through stressful situations or unwinding after a high anxiety day, you could be addicted.

Long-term marijuana use makes it more difficult to cope naturally with anxiety and stress so that even minor stressors can trigger a need to smoke.

4. Memory Problems
Are you finding it hard to remember details of a conversation you had just a few days or weeks ago?
You might find that you frequently walk into a room to look for something only to forget what you were looking for.

Long-term heavy marijuana use affects both long-term and short-term memory, and one of the first effects people who quit marijuana report is an increase in overall memory and better mental focus.

5. Procrastinating on Goals
One effect of marijuana is that it eases feelings of anxiety. That can seem like a positive effect in the short-term, but normal levels of anxiety are what drives a person to better themselves. If you're finding excuses to put off your career or educational goals

If you're finding excuses to put off your career or educational goals because they don't seem as important or urgent as they used to be, it could be due to marijuana addiction.

6. Mental Fogginess
Heavy continuous use of marijuana can create a sort of "mental fog" for the user. This can manifest as a lack of focus on normal activities, a short attention span, and slow thinking.

This is strongest immediately after smoking, but heavy users can be in a mental fog days after they last smoked.

7. Are Relationships with Family and Friends Slipping?
Have you made plans with friends, family, or coworkers only to make an excuse to avoid it because you were high or wanting to smoke instead?

A common side effect of marijuana addiction is putting less effort into relationships that were previously very important to you.

8. Do You Prefer to Spend Time with Other Users?
If you tend to choose your activities and whom to spend time with based on whether or not you can get high around them, this is a serious red flag for addiction.

Having friends who also smoke marijuana not only allows you to use it freely, but it makes it harder to quit when your friends always want to smoke too.

9. When You're Running Low, How Important is it That Money Goes to Buying More?
Most people live with some kind of a budget. At the very least, people tend to know where most of their money is going week to week.

When your supply of weed starts to run low, how quickly do you make plans to stock up again?
Do you hold off on paying for other things or saving for future goals to buy more immediately? Is there a period of time between purchases when you don't have weed in the house or is it replenished the same day, or before it's gone?

10. Have You Tried to "Take a Break" Before, Only to Go Back Sooner Than You Intended?
It's not uncommon for heavy marijuana users to have what alcoholics call a "moment of clarity," where they realize their drug use is having negative effects and decide to step away for a short period of time.
Most users attempt to go "cold turkey" and find that they quickly encounter a temptation trigger, which draws them back into smoking once, and then they're quickly back in the habit of smoking every day.

How to Break the Cycle of Addiction

"Cold Turkey" has never been a very effective method for overcoming marijuana addiction because it relies on willpower alone. For a heavy user, one stressful day or mention of smoking could be enough to cause a relapse.

The sad truth is there is no short-term quitting an addiction. If marijuana is affecting your life negatively, you need to be ready to take steps to quit for good.

Eliminate the temptation, set benchmark goals, start exercising, and check out this helpful guide that has helped over 10,000 people overcome their marijuana addiction.

If you're here reading this guide, then you likely already know you're showing symptoms of addiction, you're just looking for confirmation.

If any of these signs seem familiar to you, then don't wait. Make the choice to kick the habit for good starting now.