Stopped on the first after 5 years of daily usage. Pretty damn proud of myself if I can say so. The first 10 days were definitely the hardest with the first 3-4 pretty excruciating. Took awhile for my body to adjust but I feel great now. Still not used to having dreams every night but it’s getting better.

I don’t plan on never smoking again. It was never my goal to be fully sober but it was most certainly my goal to get a better handle on my usage. Was using to cope with everything in life and realized it was only making my anxiety worse. I want to be able to smoke for fun and pleasure and not as a vice to live.

Congrats to everyone else who made it through the month of January and good luck with your journeys moving forward!

But only max 1-2 puffs would stay in my system.

I used edibles pretty heavily most of 2024. My tolerance kept going up so I took a break in October and had horrible insomnia. Developed a hypnic jerk and everything. I was off it for about 45 days and my sleep improved some. This is when I learned how much weed affects REM sleep.

I did start again around late December, vaping flower. Not much - one or two ‘bowls’ in my little dry herb vape. And I make sure to not vape after 5/6pm, so I’m no longer high when going to sleep.

I’ve been having some trouble sleeping again though. So.. could the weed still be negatively affecting my sleep, even if I’m limiting it to daytime use?

Today is the day I have been planning to stop vape carts for my lung health and to save LOTS of money. I am allowing myself to use edibles freely in the next couple of weeks. After that I would like to start tapering down even more. I never thought I would be a daily THC user until around 5 or 6 years ago when the vape carts made things waayyyy too easy. Wish me luck!!!

I am really wanting to quit for good, I've come to realise I really have no control with weed whatsoever and I can't moderate.

I tried to quit several times in January and have been beating myself up for never making it past 5-6 days but I'm trying to look at the bigger picture... After 20 years of heavy daily smoking, I have stayed sober for 20 days in January.

That's progress. Here's hoping I can keep it going.

hey all! I’m (28F) trying to stick to smoking weed only on the weekends, but now I’m starting to feel like I’m cheating… I’ve smoked weed nearly everyday for the past 5 years, and for the past year, my relationship with it got toxic. I would smoke like 1-2 joints everyday, and at some point it just became something that I couldn’t skip, almost like a ritual. I decided to open up to my therapist about it, and it helped me take action on trying to changing my consumption. This is where the “only weekend” thing came to mind. I just think that if I could keep myself accountable, I won’t have to eliminate it forever. I started attempting this at the beginning of the year, and been successful ever since. I really enjoy smoking weed and believe that with moderation, it could be enjoyable and harmless. But suddenly, I was thinking like what’s the point of that? Am I just lying to myself and not pushing myself enough to stop for good?

How long does it take of not smoking to be able to smoke and not wanna smoke all the time. Like ive seen post about its stored in your fat for 30 days then after that is it like you haven’t smoked before and your body is brand new to it ? Thus theoretically if you were to smoke again you wont have the same dependency you did before when you were smoking everyday? is that how it works? Btw love this thread and all the post super helpful. Personal experiences and fact supported evidence welcome :)
Edit:originally made this post in r/leaves

Hi all! I am on day 25 of a self-imposed minimum 90 day break from smoking. Overall it's going fine, the cravings and irritability went down after the first few days, and after a couple weeks I got past the night time insomnia and into the very vivid dreams stage, which I find to be very unpleasant but it is what it is. On the plus side, my lungs are grateful that I've stopped assaulting them multiple times per day, I waste less time getting lost in my own head, and my short term memory is leagues better.

The worst thing right now is, no matter how much sleep I get at night, I find myself bone tired by like 2 or 3 in the afternoon to the point where it is impossible not to nap. (luckily I WFH) I've been reading posts on this sub and r/ leaves during this journey and noticing that this doesn't seem to be a common symptom.

Is this something other people have experienced as well? If so, when does it start to get better??

thanks for reading

I used to have a very high tolerance but I follow this schedule.

I'll have one 100 mg gummy and get really high.

Then I'll wait 24 hours and have another one the next night.

Then on the 3rd day I don't have any thc then I repeat.

My question is,

If I space out my usage by 24 hours, would not skipping on the 3rd day matter?

I'm not sure if my tolerance will go up if I get high everyday but only once a day and space it out by 24 hour increments?

Or if abstaining every few days is what is keeping my tolerance low?

I'm not sure?

Starting tonight, I will be taking a break from weed (preferably a month).

The longest I’ve went is 11 days but I still feel like that was not enough.

I’ve been smoking every month since December and I really wanna take a full month away from it. Then switch to edibles and pre rolls once I come back.

I still have more than half of my cart full, it was $40 and I don’t wanna waste money, what should I do?

So l smoke (usually eat edibles) on the weekends. This weekend I wanna do a tolerance break but I'm sooooo wanting to smoke. I tell myself no because I wanna prove to myself that I don’t need it, but I know very well I don’t need it I just feel like doing it.

Background: My mom is an alcoholic and the main thing that makes her that to me is how she acts angry and abrasive about it, lies about it and hides it. It’s always made me scared of addiction.

This is why I limit my consumption to weekends even though I don’t hide it, I don’t act differently although sometimes I do get paranoid, and I am very honest about it (although I don’t bring it up much to my family members who are anti weed) But I also feel like what if the desire to smoke is bad ? Like what if it’s doing too much and I’m having a hard time drawing a line in the sand.

So basically I’ve been smoking weed since I was 12 years old and yes I know that smoking at that time is extremely bad for your brain but it wasn’t chronic use, it’d be very infrequent and frequent if that makes sense haha, like it’d be on the weekend with my mates and maybe the odd time during the week after school but then i wouldn’t really touch it for a couple weeks and it’d just be like that so im 99% sure that type of use didn’t permanently damage my brain. Also there was a time in my life where I basically didn’t touch it for 6 months and then when i did start smoking after that i went back to that type of smoking use as when I was younger ( maybe even less). However when i was 15 (like summer 2021) it turner to chronic use every day . It started small like a 0.1 bong rip a day but eventually started smoking more and more as tolerance became an issue ( I’m sure you all know this slope ). Over the past 3 and a half years , I’ve had a handful of 1 week t breaks, a ten day t break and like 6 months ago I had like a month and a half almost 2 months where I barely touched it like a not even a joints worth of puffs all in all but I started smoking again back to chronic use after that however after new years I decided to sort out my smoking once and for all as I started noticing how my brain was affected ( started feeling foggy, quite out of it , not great memory and felt like I was seeing things out of the corner of my eye that where actually there but my brain perceived as something else for a split second). Since new years, I’ve only had a couple puffs on a joint on one day and my brain does feel much better, I’m making a lot less mistakes at work , i feel sharper and just better all in all ( my brain does still perceive things in my peripheral as something else for a split second but even that’s getting better). So what I’m trying to say is if I smoke a bit once or twice a month, will my brain still fully recover or should I just not touch it at all? (Also i started microdosing psilocybin recently which obviously promotes neurogenisis in your brain and I feel like that’s helped as well)

I have CPTSD and ADHD. I also just started my graduating semester and I’m fucking stressed and depressed. I have to work at least 20hrs a week and have two 12hr internships a week. I miss having my vice I miss feeling numb and it feels like this feeling will never end I feel so horrible every fucking day I’m so fucking irritable and miserable I wanna fucking relapse I just wanna escape feeling this way I hate it so much. When is it gonna be over fuck.

Went 4 days then smoked 4 a week. 3 days now and I’m bedridden due to my brain not producing dopamine I think cus of weed . Even though I know if I smoke ( even just a 0.5) I’ll be going through withdrawals for days. But my brain feels that 30 m high is worth the days of withdrawals . Any help ? Haven’t passed 4 days ever .

For the past two weeks, I’ve only smoked a small amount once a week after smoking all day every day for years. I’m so depressed.

The weekend is supposed to be my “free” time to smoke a joint if I want, but will it just worsen my mood over the next week if i do?

Will I start to feel better soon?

I don't know if moving out of my house (it wasn't really a toxic environment but I kinda just felt like a disappointment to my mom and we had hella issues that's still ma dukes though) made things easier but I can eat sleep and have minimal stomach pain despite not smoking. The hardest part now is genuinely just being bored, the time flies by slowly and im not as into the media I consume but it is what it is. I'm not gonna go out of my way to cop bud but if someone has it I'll probably smoke with them. No cliche shit but things will be better if you have enter the break or cold turkey with optimism. Tapering off is definitely possible if you keep yourself busy.

I'm taking a tolerance break from vaping carts. I was vaping carts for a year every single day. As the months went on I noticed my tolerance go up slightly so I increased the voltage. A few weeks ago I stopped when I didnt feel anything from the cart at all even with the voltage turned all the way up. How long should my tolerance break be?

Which it does for me (I know for some it enhances but it's never done that for me, always instantly sobers me up)

What I do where I'm considering mindlessly getting high, is pop a CBD only gummy or take some oil. That effectively "blocks" me from getting high later, so I won't smoke or eat a weed gummy later. Because it won't work.

Helps if I get a random craving to get high out of boredom/habit rather than wanting to genuinely be in that state of mind. Plus the popping of the gummy helps to replace the ritual a little bit.

Thought I'd share, since it helps me regulate

Been using edibles for over a year most days of the week. My tolerance got pretty high so I’m trying to reset. Last Friday was the last edible I took, and it was 20mg d9 and 4mg of THC-P. Got me decently high but nothing crazy. I’ll be partaking tonight and just wondering where my tolerance might be. Should I start with that dose again, or a quarter? I wanna get lit but nothing crazy and I don’t want to over saturate my receptors again.

Hello All,

I come to you ashamed. For the last 6 years, I've smoked pretty much every bowl and joint with tobacco. It only started occasionally but now I can't do it without it and the self justifying I use is that it makes the hits burn better and the headrush is amazing. I want to rediscover my love for weed and get away from nasty tobacco shit.

I've started using the nicotine patches and am only smoking green bowls again but it is a different high without the tobacco. I always somehow convince my dumbass self after a few days, that just throwing in a little bit won't be bad and then I'm back full speed a week later.

My post is really just looking for people that have managed to reclaim their weed glory and just stopped putting tobacco with their bud. Looking for how people coped and their journeys. A lot of the posts I find are about quitting both at the same time and I have no intention on quitting weed.

I am 2 days cannabis free after being a daily heavy user. I have experienced anger, irritability, nausea, stomach pains, sweats, no appetite. But more importantly, I feel in control and massively proud of myself.

I only managed to start this detox because of this subreddit and the inspiring words I've read, so I feel I owe it to say thank you 🥹 I never thought I'd be able to go a single night.

I’ve been a daily smoker for the last ~7 years (19-26 years old) with a handful of breaks that lasted 1-3 weeks.

I’ve done a completely sober January to see who I am without cannabis (I also don’t drink). I started this without a clear plan/end date in mind, but the goal of feeling like I am no longer controlled by a substance and the ability to employ healthier coping mechanisms since I often smoked as a coping mechanism. I also wanted to see if my cognitive function improved at all. The first few weeks were incredibly difficult and filled with withdrawals, but as the month draws to a close I’m no longer in withdrawals and wondering where to go from here.

I don’t feel like my cognitive function improved drastically since weed never made me that cloudy the next day. In fact my sleep is significantly worse even a month later. And recently my spouse started smoking again and it’s made me really miss smoking together.

So, do I smoke or not? I didn’t start this with the intention of quitting forever, but I also know that once I start again, it’s a slippery slope from weekly (which would be my goal) to daily. On the leaves sub I know they would deem me an addict, and I certainly have some dependency, but cannabis doesn’t negatively affect my life. I’m still highly productive, motivated, and usually pretty happy. It doesn’t isolate me (although my friends probably don’t know how much I smoke).

I don’t need to decide right now, I just needed to write these thoughts down.

I know a lot of you also quit on new years, so you’re probably in a similar spot. What’s your plan? Where do we go from here?

Thanks for listening and stay safe out there 💜

Long time lurker here but posting with throwaway acct. Was a heavy user since 2014 so more than 10 years of consumption.

I was always stocked with flower and vapes and couldn’t go more than a few days without feeling the urge to consume. I eventually stopped buying flower and opted for vapes instead due to its ease of use and discreetness. That didn’t help at all because now I’m hitting the pen whenever I can.

About 1.5 to 2 years ago I cut down on the vaping after I found a brand that sells edibles in tablet format. One tablet would satisfy me for the whole day. Eventually I started doing this daily and my tolerance shot up so quickly that even 2 in a day would not hit like it used to.

Around summer last year, I started a tolerance break. I stopped all cannabis consumption cold turkey and lasted 1 month. The first 2 weeks were bad with all the withdrawals but I pushed through. The other 2 weeks were better. I felt more motivated to get things done, I started exercising more, and also felt less anxiety and irritability overall. For most of my life i had lots of social anxiety. I did not like going out or spending time outside with friends. I tended to avoid doing a lot of activities and preferred to be a homebody. For a while I thought that was just something with me, that I was always in a non sociable mood because that’s how I was wired. But those 2 weeks, I had no problem doing things I normally would’ve felt irritated and anxious to even do.

After that break I went back to consuming and the high was great. I continued on until 90 days ago, I inadvertently stopped consuming. A lot of important events were coming up and I felt that I should at least have a clear head coming into them. I did not want the brain fog and antisocial tendencies that I previously mentioned.

But even after all those events passed, I did not feel the urge to consume right away. I thought to myself, let’s just see how long I can go without getting high.

And now, I’m nearing 100 days and have been feeling amazing overall. I find myself less anxious and irritable. I’ve been saying yes to a lot of invitations, even offering to invite others to things that I want to do. After the 100 days, I might even continue on and see how much longer I can go. I just want to say that lurking and reading everyone’s stories in this sub has helped a lot to motivate me to continue this abstinence and to help myself build a healthier relationship with this plant. Thank you to those who read this really long essay!

Nearly every summer since 2020 id stop for between 2-4 months. Im having enough joy and life going on in the summers its just always been easier to let it go, id be so tired from my days i could sleep. The food was always a difficulty and usually a reason why id go back to smoking. (I have had an eating disorder more than half of my life). I smoke about a gram a week at this point in life, its unusually in the low 20%. Typing this is all feels like an excuse gah. But when i really sit and think about why i want to smoke its: to eat, to get to sleep, and to deal with my back pain (scoliosis), which secondarily helps my sleep, and finally to just remove myself from the stress if life and my day. When i think about why i want to stop; i want to dream again. And hopefully they wont be nightmares all the time anymore. I want to be reliable if theres an emergency (ive had a couple times where i couldnt be there as best as i wanted to for friends). I hate being more stoned than anyone else, my partner went sober not too long ago and i get embarrassed being high around them. I can save like $40 a month with out it. I can maybe regulate my dopamine a bit more.

When i think back to the the summer months when im sober i really did feel great, but life was busy. The winter months im hardly outside, and its just the hibernation period of life. Im worried im putting puritan values on something that really is just a matter of if i want to or not, rather than if i should pr shouldnt. Ive had horrible sleep since my childhood, ive had an eatding disorder much longer than i started smoking, and my back pain is only getting worse with age. These are all reasons people are perscribed weed. So why am i so hung up on feeling like i shouldnt smoke? I think my reasons to not smoke are valid. I think my reasons to smoke are fine too

When im sober i feel like i am clear headed and free from most of my mental health issues but whenever i smoke i will start out fine but after 3-5 months of consistent smoking i start to have severe mental health effects from it i start getting all the symptoms of bpd and depression why does it do this to me

Feeling good that I was able to go all month sober. But I won’t lie, I’m excited to get high tomorrow 😂. I really want to keep to once a week. The first 2 weeks are the hardest for sure.

🌿 TLDR: Ask yourself, what do you actually want out of your high, and what dose will help you get it?🌿

One impactful habit that I've found helps me be more mindful of cannabis consumption is always considering the purpose of getting high: what am I hoping to get out of it? 🤔

It's all too easy for me to just consume cannabis mindlessly, without questioning what I actually want and what dosage is most likely to bring it about.

Unfortunately, this mindlessness can easily lead to consuming too much, too often.

So, before a session, I like to pause for a moment and ask: why do I want to get high right now?

For a drug as versatile as cannabis, the use-cases are practically endless:

• Maybe I want some insights into a problem that's been on my mind.
• Or to take my mind of some work stress.
• I want a little an appetizer before a nice dinner.
• A creativity boost.
• A social lubricant before going out to a party.
• Or something else entirely.

(Sidenote: If the purpose is something like “To feel good," I find it’s wise to pause and examine how I'm actually feeling in the moment. Sometimes, we humans do irrational things, like attempting to change our state of mind even when everything is already fine. So, if I feel good already, I ask myself: does it even make sense for me to get high now?)

Once I’ve defined my purpose, I can determine the right dosage to achieve it. I use the three-step process below:

1. Setting hard limits ⛓️

I start by considering if I need to do anything later today, during which I don't want to be high anymore.

For me, this includes things like work meetings, driving, injury prone sports, etc. But it could be something different for you.

Also, I consider how many hours it is until I want to sleep and how high I still want to be then.

2. Defining the right dosage for the purpose 💡

Taking the above limitations as hard upper limits to my dosage consideration, I revisit my purpose.

What dose is most likely to attain it?

Ultimately, the answer to this question is a very situationally dependent one. But there are a few guidelines that help me get into the right ballpark.

• If I need a boost of energy and clarity, I want a microdose, meaning the minimum dose I've found that still has a noticeable effect, no matter how subtle.And here, less is more. Just like the quantum scale seems to operate under different physics than the cosmic scale, in the realm of micro- and mini-doses, a different set of rules seem to apply: the smaller the dose, the bigger the stimulation 💪🏻
• On the other hand, if I want a more powerful, relaxing, and psychedelic high, I want a small to medium dose.
• And if I want to get absolutely faded, then of course, I want to go for a large dose 😵‍💫 But this should always prompt me to ask myself why I actually want to get faded now?It can of course be fun every once in a while to explore the moon, but large doses come with a distinct weed-hangover for me, and my tolerance rockets so as to quickly rob the highs of any pleasure. So if I find that I want to get completely zoinked repeatedly, it usually means I should start a t-break ASAP.
• If I realize that a tolerance break is in order, I don't forego the high, but I mark the break in my calendar right away so the commitment is documented.

(It may look complicated when written out, but all of the above typically takes less less than 30 seconds.)

3. Preparing the dose 🌿

Once I've made a firm decision about the right dose for the purpose I chose, I measure the desired amount of cannabis onto a separate area, and I put the rest away. If I choose to re-up at some point, I repeat the process.

---

That's it. Pretty fast and simple, but it has really helped me catch myself if I've been about to consume cannabis mindlessly. And the resulting highs tend to be more enjoyable, because they better match what I wanted.

Do you have tips/routines that you would recommend? Would be curious to hear them!

P. S. I occasionally write about my cannabis use and share cannabis meditations over at www.smartcannabisuse.com. Feel free to check it out if that sounds like your cup of weed 🍵

Most breaks that I've taken were I notice strong effects are usually 7-21 days, with 14 being right around the sweet spot.

Any breaks that I've taken that were closer to two months the high was nothing like I was expecting it to be.

Two weeks is ideal for an increased high and I often get so stoned I gotta do something to keep me occupied.

I started smoking highest quality carts I could find since Covid, daily. I use live resin sativa carts for the day and live rosin indica carts for night time to fall asleep. I also use live resin sativa edibles often on weekends, 10mg in the morning and 10mg for in the afternoon and still take a pull or two of the vape along-side.

I generally take 1-2 pulls (avoid big clouds to save the stuff) a few times a day, and has never gotten through a full day without smoking for a few years now.

So I decided to take a t break and I am on my second day and I have absolutely no withdrawal symptoms. No cold sweats, fell asleep just fine. Only thing I notice is less motivation to work on my projects and instead I’ve been scrolling Reddit all day long.

Anyone else experienced something like this? While I am surprised, and a little relieved, I am also wondering if maybe 2 days is too little of the time and it’ll come later? Thoughts?