THC Use In Recovery

to be real clear about what this podcast is intended for it is intended for entertainment and informational purposes but not considered help if you actually need real help and you're in need of help please seek that out If you're in dire need of help, you can go to your nearest emergency room or you can check into a rehab center or call a counselor like me and talk about your problems and work through them. But don't rely on a podcast to be that form of help. It's not. It's just a podcast.

It's for entertainment and information only. So let's keep it in that light. All right. Have a good time. Learn something and then get the real help that you need from a professional. Right now. The question of marijuana keeps coming up over and over and over again because they're legalizing it in different places.

And so that leads people to ask the question about usage or actually more accurately to marginalize or minimize whether or not marijuana is something to consider when talking about recovery. Because, hey, it's only marijuana and here's the issue. The issue is whether or not it's actually something that is harmful. And here's the scenario that keeps coming up over and over again. for me as a clinician. So somebody comes to me, they have a problem with alcohol or drugs and mainly drugs.

That's where this usually comes from. And they have a history of drug usage and now they're in recovery. And then I ask them about their usage and they mention that they are using marijuana products, THC products, marijuana, smoking it, or they're doing edibles or something else. And the person who is the addict says to me, they're in recovery, they're working on recovery, and then they mention that they're smoking pot or they're using edibles.

And it's fascinating to me that they don't see that as drug usage. It's like the society has turned drug usage into something that doesn't include marijuana products, THC products. And the reality is, much like if you're drinking and you're in recovery, you're not really in recovery, are you? Or if you're using THC products, you're not really in recovery, are you? And they don't see it that way. The fascinating part about this is that usage is the issue, or is it?

And they don't see that usage is the issue. They don't see that as usage. But the problem is that it actually is. So let's define what's going on here. And what's happening is they've turned away from the idea that sobriety or being clean is about certain drug usage but not other drugs. But what's happening in reality is that they are using. So it's not really a question of the drug of choice.

and I've moved away from that and marijuana is really not a problem in that realm for them because their usage is around cocaine or crack or crystal meth or opiate drugs. And so marijuana is seen as, in their mind, as something that's not really a problem.

The problem is about the need to cope and the fact that they're using a chemical to cope and so they've marginalized and minimized their usage around the idea that they're not using their drug of choice everything's fine or more specifically but marijuana is legal and so I should be able to use it however if I said to them hey but you're drinking is a problem they would say oh well I don't drink so they don't equate marijuana usage as part of the issue they just see that their drug of choice is

the issue And so they've stopped their drug of choice, and so that means that they're no longer really using. Am I? Yes, you are. And it's that you're using a chemical to cope, and so it's not okay. If you use alcohol to cope, and you used to be a heroin addict, and by the way, that's what we call recovered heroin addicts, alcoholics, because typically that's what they do, is start moving towards using alcohol because it gives the same loopy feeling as alcohol.

opiate drugs and it's legal so it must be okay and then they slips pretty quickly into alcoholism well the same could be said about marijuana and so any drug that you're using where you're trying to use something instead of the drug of choice is the same thing and that's the part they miss is that if i'm an addict and i'm using the addiction is the problem And so that's where it gets all twisted up, is addiction's not the problem. And so in their mind, they've turned marijuana usage into okay.

But it is the problem. Well, addiction's the problem. The problem is the problem. And that's the issue. So when you switch from one drug of choice to a different drug, it's not making a better choice. That's still using a drug. So the definition of addiction is the need, the compulsive need for a chemical to get you through your problems instead of just getting through your problems. I need a drink or I need to Get high. It's just relaxing. I'm just kind of kicking back and I'm relaxing.

No, you're not. You're getting high. And you're not getting high on your drug of choice. You're getting high on something else. That doesn't make it okay. That means you still have addiction problems. And that is the compulsivity of the use of a chemical that causes harm to you. And that's the issue. It's not... Hey, I'm using my drug of choice and that's the issue. Now I'm not using it, so I'm fine because I'm using these other drugs of choice. No, it's not okay. It's interesting.

When you go to rehab, they allow you to smoke cigarettes and drink caffeine and that's it. They don't let you use anything else. Well, why is that? Well, because you're using your drug of choice and that's a problem. Okay, so now you don't use your drug of choice. They don't allow you to use marijuana products in rehab because that's a problem. Because the problem is you're getting high to escape and to deal with. And you don't have the coping mechanisms to deal with.

And so you've got to find a different way to deal with your problems. And that would be recovery. So if you want to smoke pot, smoke pot. But don't lie about it and say that you're not using a drug of choice so thus you're okay. Because you're not okay. That's not okay. It's not okay to use a drug instead of another drug. Because what you have done is you've learned how to not cope. You've learned, you know, my institute of unlearning. You have to unlearn the chemical dependency issue.

Not learn some other drug will help you get through that drug. problem whatever it is the discomfort the thing that's making you feel uncomfortable right so if you use a drug of choice and then you stop using the drug of choice and you start using a new drug all you've done is transfer over to a different drug so we call that um That compensatory thing, right? So it's just using and transference addiction.

And that's all you've done is you've just transferred it to a new drug of choice, which you will then become more and more dependent upon. And the drug of choice causes problems, right? It causes issues around things like going to work and going to school and having relationships. And I'm just high all the time. And that's not okay. So, like, for example, I pulled up YouTube and I get a commercial thrown at me because I look at a lot of recovery videos. It's funny.

I get a video about using CBD products, which is fine. That's fine. You want to use CBD. But it's also the edibles. And, hey, you can get these edibles with THC, the non-CBD stuff, but the THC stuff. I just want to get high, but I don't like smoking pot. So here, use this edible. It's like unbelievable. So now in my industry, we're now focusing on combating dependence or abuse of yet another legal chemical that's causing problems.

For me, because I deal with addicts, addicts who then are struggling with how to feel comfortable when they're uncomfortable, they're learning to shift over to some edible product. That's really not where you've got to go. Where you've got to go is to be able to handle the discomfort in a way that gets you through the day. You've got to do the hard work. And the hard work is in recovery.

It's in learning how to face discomfort and be okay with dealing with discomfort when you're uncomfortable without it destroying you. And so the difficulty is in that work, right? Learning how to work through the discomfort, feel uncomfortable and be okay. And we got the problem of the layering and the stacking of the history of discomfort with, you know, my past and my traumas. And then this new thing comes and I feel horrible and I can't escape it.

And so we, you know, moving towards something that makes you feel a little bit better about reality and learning how to do that. So get into therapy, like work with a therapist. My clients, when they first come to me, many times will ask, hey, can I come in more than once a week? Yes, because that's your coping mechanism is you're finding help and trying to work through the issues. And that's great. So get into therapy. Work a therapeutic process.

Find a way for you to be able to feel better through working with a competent addiction trauma therapist. They will teach you the skills that you need to get through all the stuff that you're going through. They will teach you that and you will learn. And that's an awesome way to get through recovery. Get sane, right? I mean, as addicts, we're insane. We're crazy. We see the world and we interact with it in a crazy way and we can't figure out how to make it better.

So work with a therapist who can bring you back into sanity, right? that first step, right? My life's become unmanageable. And if your life is actually unmanageable and you're trying to figure out how to make it better, then what better way to do that than to learn the skill of sanity.

So working with a trauma specialist is working through the old stuff so you don't have that stacked layering issue of like I'm encountering something today that's really bothering me and I generally feel uncomfortable anyway. And it's really funny, that human interaction thing, because addiction's best friend is isolation, right? So that human interaction part of it is cutting the isolation.

And it's really interesting how when you say stuff, when you say something about the stuff that you're experiencing in the here and now, how much better your reality can be. And so finding a way to be able to work through your issues with a human interaction is so much better than trying to do it on your own. And so now we're moving into that unlearning about the shame. We've got to unlearn the shame.

And so if you can find somebody to talk to to help you get through stuff, somebody that you feel comfortable with, they're able to challenge you and work through that part of it. That's a blessing, right? So get into good comp, get, find a good competent therapist and get into therapy. That's one. The other one is trying to just connect with other people. And I don't care how you do it. I don't, you know, if you want to go to AA or NA or, or smart recovery or whatever, Hey, do that.

But you gotta get, you know, get around people, um, friends, friends that are in recovery are a great resource. Um, Of course, I'm a big advocate of the AANA world and working with a sponsor. If you can find somebody who's a good sponsor, and a good one will actually be working through the stuff that's bothering you, and they'll find a way to do it in a way that's helpful. A bad sponsor is one that makes it all about them and tries to be a therapist while they're not a therapist.

But a good competent sponsor is somebody who has a good perspective on what recovery is about. And so find a sponsor if you can. But if nothing else, just find friends that are in recovery. And I don't know about where you are in the world, wherever, whatever country you're in, whatever state you're in, whatever city you're in. It's difficult locally. I've found that it's difficult for people to find sponsors. therapists and sponsors and meetings. It can be difficult.

So here's my advice on that is let's make sure that you're working on it and you're doing it in a way that is healthy, but also trying to find a way to be able to do it with somebody who is helpful. And listen, I'm a therapist and I'm not every, you know, everybody's not going to find me the best therapist for them, but I'm sure I'm competent. I've always had a full book of business, so I know there's some competency there. But competency and connectivity are two different things.

So finding a therapist that's competent is the first thing, but then you've got to find a therapist that you connect with, and that's the second part. So competency is part of it, but is somebody... Are you connecting with your therapist? Connectivity is different. And so find somebody that you can connect with. And the third part of that is just getting into the realm of being able to, when I'm uncomfortable, use something other than a chemical to deal with that discomfort.

And that's the other part. And it doesn't... Listen, it takes a long time, right? If you're using a chemical... All you're doing is reinforcing the idea that you can't handle things on your own, in your own way. You've got to somehow use a chemical to make you a better version of yourself. And in fact, what you need to do is learn how to be the better version of yourself without the chemical. And that's the challenge.

So trying to figure out how to not use chemicals means that you have to have other things to lean on. And so the best things for you to be able to lean on, really, chemicals, that's the best you can do. That's it. There's nothing else. And I would argue that there is something else. And it is trying to work through discomfort.

And I'll tell you, the empowering thing and the amazing thing about switching from chemicals to other coping mechanisms is whether they be meditation or leaning on your faith or leaning on other people, whatever it is, it's a very empowering feeling. If you're using chemicals, it can be very demoralizing. Like, I can't do this without that. I can't do this without using that. It's not empowering by any stretch of the imagination.

But wow, is it really empowering to know that I got through this without using anything and taking the time to learn to do that, right? It just doesn't happen overnight. But taking the time to be able to understand that if you use something else besides a chemical, that you did it without anything. And I came out on the other end of discomfort healthy, whole, complete, right? And so I always look for other things to manage stability, manage comfort, rather than a chemical.

It's an amazing shift from going from chemical to non-chemical. And so when you're looking at marijuana in particular, just because they've legalized it does not mean that it's okay to use if you're an addict, just like alcohol. It's legal, but that doesn't make it okay to use if you're an addict. If you're an addict, it's not okay to use chemicals to change your shift away from that dependency issue from drug of choice to different drug.

Really, it's no different than if you switched from alcohol to heroin. That would not be okay. You would not look, you know, if somebody came to you and said, oh, yeah, yeah, no, no, I use heroin now. Or I use some opiate or I use fentanyl instead of drinking. It's awesome. You would listen to that and think, what, are you out of your mind? The same is with somebody who comes in and is a heroin addict and they're drunk all the time. It's like, what? That's crazy. What are you doing?

That's not okay. So I'm not sure exactly how the pop culture has now grasped the idea, grabbed onto the idea that shifting from some other drug of choice to marijuana products is okay. If you're an addict, it's not okay. It's really not. So do yourself a favor and... Stop lying. Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to everybody else. But more importantly, stop lying to yourself. It's not okay when you shift from some other drug to a THC product if you have addiction issues. It's not.

The lie is the lie is the lie. And that is a lie. But far be it from me to pass judgment. I'm not passing judgment. It's a clinical experience, right? So if you're listening to these words, understand I am a doctor of psychology. I am not a lay person who's being judgmental. It's not judgment based on criticism or shaming. It's judgment based on clinical experience. And my clinical experience tells me that it's not okay.

And so those are the words to you that I would like to pass along is that if you're using marijuana in the areas, at least this country, where it's legal for recreational use, it's not any different than if you're drinking. It's not. It's the same thing. If anybody came to me and they had an addiction history and they were combating addiction and they're trying to combat addiction and they said to me, I'm drinking. That would not be okay. They're a big hot mess.

The same is true with THC products. If you tell me you're using THC products and you have an extensive history of addiction and you come to me for help or even you're an entrance into the world of an addict, that's not okay. That's the first thing I'm going to say to you. It's like, wow, that's not okay. We really need to work on your recovery instead of working on continuing your addiction through a different drug of choice. Hey, let's try some other things.

Let's try some different coping mechanisms. All right, so those are my words of advice to you in recovery is rethink the idea of using some other drug of choice or some other chemical to become your new drug of choice.

if you're working on recovery as in all things wise men come up with different thoughts and I'll tell you Proverbs is a great way to learn some life lessons through understanding thousands of years ago the idea of wisdom and Proverbs I think it's Proverbs 27 you can pound on a fool all day long but you can't pound out his foolishness so if you're foolishly thinking that it's okay to be high or drunk while you're trying to work on recovery from some other drug of choice. It is not.

But I don't want to be pounding on a fool all day if you can't pound out his foolishness. But words of wisdom, don't do it. It's just transfer addiction, transference addiction, or cross addiction. And that's it for this episode of Doc Jock, Your Addiction Lifeguard. Glad you tuned in to listen to another episode. Sorry about being so delayed in the episodes here. I took a month off. Sorry. If you're in need of help, please go get that help.

You can contact me at my website, wellspringmindbody.com. Ask questions, I'll get answers for you. If you need professional help, go out and get a counselor. Check into rehab. Go to the emergency room. Whatever it is, do something to get clean and sober. You don't need to be dragged down and through the mud with your addiction. Get the help you need and live a better life. So, until next time, this is Doc Shock saying, see ya!