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Treatment

Five Stages of Overcoming Weed Addiction

By October 4, 2021October 21st, 2021No Comments

Once you’ve committed to battling your marijuana addiction, you’re already on your way to recovery, so congratulations! It is also helpful, though, to have a sense of what lies on the road ahead. Treatment for marijuana addiction can generally be broken into at least five stages.

1. Committing to Quit

If you’re reading this, chances are you are either already dedicated to overcoming your dependence on weed, or that you’re considering it. While it might seem trivial, making that mental decision is a critical stage of recovery.

2. Setting Your Personal Goals

After you’ve made that big first step, it’s helpful to contemplate what you want to get out of abstinence.

Marijuana dependence can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it is bringing down your grades or impairing job performance or relationships—regaining control over those aspects of life might be the major reason someone wants to quit a long-term weed habit.

Identifying what is the most important change you hope you see from your recovery can give you something to work towards.

3. Making Your Action Plan

Even if you know what you want to change in your life, it’s not enough to just stop using marijuana—you need to have a plan in place for what happens next. Making your plan might involve creating a personalized treatment approach, finding a therapist, or seeking out a support group.

4. Initiating Your Plan

The Action phase of addiction recovery can be the hardest of all the stages of treatment. When times are difficult, whether it’s because you’re having cravings or experiencing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, it’s crucial to go back to your master plan and remind yourself of what you will gain from abstinence.

You should never be afraid to ask for support during this tough transition. Having an extra ear can give you that push to keep going.

5. Maintenance and Recovery

The last stage of overcoming addiction is Maintenance. What maintenance means is that you have successfully stopped using marijuana, and that you are now adjusting to this as your ‘new normal’. It is also called the Recovery stage, because it is when you will really start to reap the rewards of overcoming your addiction.

About Weedless.org

Weedless.org is a free, web-based resource and community created by a team of healthcare professionals and researchers. We distill the facts about marijuana use and its effects into practical guidance for interested persons or for those who are thinking about or struggling to quit weed. Finding reliable, easy to understand information about marijuana should never be a struggle—that is why our core mission is to provide the most up to date information about marijuana use, abuse, addiction, and withdrawal. While we seek to empower individuals to have control over their use, we are not “anti-weed” and we support efforts to legalize adult marijuana use and study.

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