Hello, my name is Ron Reis…no need to be anonymous here. I’m not a parent, just a former pothead who would like to help others. I smoked pot almost every day for 27 years. Why? Because I could not stop.
Most of my friends quit before I did actually. There are a few holdouts. I was hooked for years. Pot pretty much ruined a good portion of my life. I will never get it back. I am a survivor.
Actually I was a late starter to pot…….started senior year of high school. It seemed so innocent at first. My attitude was that “it’s only pot.” In my experience, it rarely stops there. Not for me anyway. Acid, cocaine, XTC, stealing my mom’s narcotics were all on my list.
A lot of people are in denial that pot is a gateway drug. Most are in denial that pot is a drug at all. It excuses them. My excuse was, “Well, at least I don’t drink.”
So what? I still ended up an addict. I will admit that I did have a lot of positives in my life, but the negatives outweighed them. I also started smoking “spice,” aka fake weed. Yet another “brilliant” decision that pot led me to. It also led me to have a very serious stroke a year ago. I was fortunate to survive.
I actually was stupid enough to try pot again after getting out of the hospital, still thinking it was harmless!!!! DOH!!!! Forget it, I’m done. Now, at almost 48 years old with a year of sobriety I am feeling much better. Getting my act back together. I like a phrase someone on the Internet wrote, “I’d rather to be a dopeless hope fiend than a hopeless dope fiend.”
A lot of wasted time I will never get back. I would love to go back and tell my younger self to stay away, but that can’t happen. Maybe I can speak out to some younger people and help them stay away. Pot pretty much ruined a good portion of my life, and will never get it back. Thanks for listening….RR.
