Addiction & Pacification
'A deed becomes a habit, a habit becomes a characteristic and your character determines your destiny.'
My view on addiction is that we all have a need for air, water, food and sleep but if this constant hungering for satisfaction is high jacked by drugs, coffee, sugar, tobacco or alcohol the short term stimulated senses send constant miscommunication.
Often people misinterpret the pain in ones stomach as hunger when in fact its thirst for water so salty foods only exacerbate the need. It does nothing to satisfy the long-term requirement for water.
From the early stages we all have the potential ‘death by mouth journey’ and what we chose to consume in a 24-hour period, compounded over a decade, then a lifetime will end up determining our quality of life and eventual cause of death.
What we consume is what we become or the classic 'you are what you eat' and more importantly this applies to drinking and smoking.
More than ever the majority of people are consuming more sugar in liquid form and considering alcohol is essentially sugar water my personal view is that a lot of alcoholics have a sugar addiction.
The ‘no go’s’ like meth and heroin are well documented, thanks to "Breaking Bad” and provoke a lot of fear in those with addictive habits.
I would say as a cigarette smoker there is a serious risk with marijuana due to the enhanced pleasure of smoking pot compared to plain tobacco.
The simple fact is that Prohibition has not worked and if one wants to get pot it is easy to access and essentially pretty affordable.
My personal experience is that it enhances ones circumstances if you’re in a good place but if times are tough and your going through a rough patch the added sensitivity or shift in perspective is very harmful.
Never add a drug problem to money problems, if you are seeking work or having trouble with work then avoid drinking or drugs.
Ironically it’s exactly when you’re having tough time or times are stressful when the vices start to appear more attractive. Marijuana particularly presents a potential cozy escape from the anxiety caused by modern life; it made it worse for me.
The need to see marijuana as beer or whiskey is important for drawing a line of recreation and dependence. The wake and bake lifestyle is preserve of college students on holiday but the subtle issue with Marijuana that is dangerous and grey but it has an unknown psychological impact, which blurs the lines and justifies the use.
Marijuana was tough to kick for me because I never believed I was addicted and it’s not physically addictive. Without the down side it’s easy to take a short break and then go back to it, which is minor addictive behavior.
If something is forbidden then it becomes more attractive and the pressures of modern life, financial anxiety and capitalism has created a competition for anything that provides some escape.
Its very hard for me to assess objectively whether it had a good impact on my personality, this is very subjective and whilst it triggered dopamine and produced a good feeling I'm yet to see someone genuinely benefit from a drug habit.