Tag Archives: Sobriety

I Can Stay Sober Amidst a Mountain of Marijuana

By Sherry     After smoking marijuana for 13 years I was able to quit, by the grace of God, on July 15, 1987 and have remained 100% sober since that day. When I got sober it wasn’t popular, because it seemed like everyone I knew, including my relatives, were getting high daily. They were nasty about it and asked me when I was going to stop going to “those stupid meetings.”

However, society, in general, was encouraging to people trying to get and stay sober. At least — back then — it was considered self-destructive to use drugs, smoke marijuana, drink alcohol and take pills. (Sherry wrote of the events leading up to the choice of sobriety in a testimony two years ago.)  Today we live in a different country that has fallen prey to the lobbying of Big Marijuana.

Aerial view shows how illegal pot growers clear areas and cut down trees in mountains of northern California. This view is in Lake County

Now I am surrounded, living in Northern California, by marijuana smokers. I can smell it on the streets, on the customers that walk in to my store, and even driving on the freeway! Who would have dreamed that we were going to end up living in a society in which marijuana would be king? Our business, a highly successful retail store, really took a hit during the Recession. We haven’t returned to the kind of sales we once enjoyed, but the marijuana growers are doing great. Regular farmers are now beginning to plant marijuana, rather than their traditional crops, and the marijuana advocates are jumping for joy. I can’t help but wonder what people would think (sober people, that is) to see workers drive in to my store from state, county, city, and utility jobs reeking of marijuana at 7 in the morning?

It was Tempting to Get into the Pot Business

My brother-in-law offered us $5,000 a year if we would get medical marijuana cards and allow him to grow pot on our property up in the mountains. This was back during the worst years of the Recession. His offer was tempting, since we couldn’t make money selling normal, productive products. But we turned him down. I told my husband, “Your mother would roll over in her grave if she knew you participated in this.” Although it was legal to get a medical marijuana card, legal to grow 6 plants a year, and legal to smoke it, it isn’t legal to batch it together and sell marijuana on the black market. We have relatives who are buying cars, motorcycles, property, having their homes remodeled – all from the proceeds of selling marijuana – while we struggle to make a legitimate living.

I have to keep my focus on what matters to me today: helping other women in their recovery from marijuana addiction and alcoholism. It is daunting, because so many women who are trying to get sober today end up going back out on marijuana, unable to stay 100% sober. They have been sold a bill of goods about how marijuana is harmless and, in fact, medicinal and good for us! Marijuana has become so ingrained in our society that people don’t even view it as a mind- altering drug.  So if they have some clean time from methamphetamine, heroin, alcohol, or pills, they will accept a marijuana joint if someone offers it to them. The next thing they know they are off to the races with their drug of choice, fueled by marijuana. It is terribly sad.

Here’s to Staying Sober and the Sober Life

Life is still difficult in sobriety, but there’s hope. Every day leading a sober life expands that hope.

The women’s recovery meeting I started in January is now thriving and the women in that group are feeling stronger, more capable of maintaining a continuous sobriety. It’s tenuous, since they are so surrounded by the big pot cloud hanging over California. But there is an answer. You CAN stop smoking it. There is a life out there to live outside of a haze. God helped me get and stay sober. It wasn’t me – it was Him. I did the footwork and God did the rest. He took my impossible situation and He guided me into recovery and through the last 30 years – all the credit goes to Him. Life is so much more beautiful when it is viewed through a lens of sobriety. I don’t miss getting loaded one bit.

It is nice to drive around in my car and never have to worry that I might get pulled over with marijuana roaches in my ashtray. It is nice to be able to have a full, rich relationship with my husband and not have our marriage ruled by the getting, growing, smoking, and the repetitive pattern of marijuana addiction.

It is REALLY, REALLY wonderful beyond description to have an adult daughter that I raised without marijuana and other mind-altering substances in her life. She turned out to be what we in the program call a “normie.” My infant granddaughter is being raised in a household with no substances and I don’t have to worry about her parents, because they are lucid, responsible and in love. I have the ups and downs of any life, but I am better able to handle it. Yes, a life lived in reality is a miracle and a beautiful thing – and I thank God for it. I raise my glass of spring water in a toast! “Here’s to another 30 years of sober life!”

Editor’s Note: You can read Sherry’s first testimony which describes the events leading up to her desire to get sober, and Part 2 which describes the sober life.

 

I Am a Marijuana Addict

My name is Jen and I am a Marijuana addict. I have been sober for three years and one month.

Marijuana addiction is a very controversial topic and I often avoid discussing it with others. I know I’m an addict but it can be extremely discouraging when I hear people say things like “It’s physically impossible to be addicted to such and such.” I know they are wrong but it still hurts my feelings and makes me question myself at times. Getting sober is the most amazing thing I have ever done and I need to surround myself with people who appreciate this achievement for what it is, rather than piss all over it and make me feel like a joke.

There needs to be more support and better support that is just geared to marijuana addiction. In the beginning of my sobriety, I tried going to Marijuana Anonymous meetings in Phoenix but they are not very good here. There are usually just a few people — half of them are court ordered and the other half are teenagers that were dragged in by their parents. Needless to say, I did not find these meetings very helpful and eventually stopped going.

I’ve also tried Narcotics Anonymous and often felt ostracized because I have never been addicted to “harder” drugs, thus could not relate to others in the program. I got the most help from Alcoholics Anonymous because the stories were so similar to my own. However, people often shunned me away because “The only requirement for AA is to have desire to stop ***drinking***.” Many people in AA welcomed me with open arms. Others rejected me ruthlessly and went out of their way to make me feel not welcomed. Some would even interrupt others speaking, announcing “You’re only supposed to talk about alcohol!! Do not talk about other drugs!” Finding support for my addiction hasn’t been easy.

My 28-Year Journey to Sobriety – A Personal Testimony, Part 2

Life After Quitting the Weed Addiction

The sky's the limit after getting sober
The sky’s the limit after getting sober

Part 2, by Anonymous   There was way, waaaay too much abuse for me to chronicle it in an article – it would have been 20 pages — so much abuse that it is a miracle I am alive.

I am now 59 years old and in relatively good health. I met a wonderful man when I was 2 years sober and he was 7 years sober and we fell in love and got married. Later he adopted my little girl, whose biological father continued on as an addict. We own a business that has been thriving for over 25 years and has supported our family. I have wonderful friends with whom I have real and lasting friendships. I’ve never Continue reading My 28-Year Journey to Sobriety – A Personal Testimony, Part 2