Giving up drinking, replacing with weed at night

I've had some success modifying undesirable behavior with the devil's lettuce (legal state), but for me it isn't a sustainable long-term solution.

Benefits:

* increased relaxation

* less motivation to act on impulses

* the Eric Andre show can be appreciated in its true form

Drawbacks:

* increased introspection

* people can and do judge me for the behavior

* insomnia (major driver of the choice) is worse if I stop consuming

It's a tradeoff, like anything else. Your post reads like someone who has realized he has a problem with drinking. The most important information is that your are using it to "take the edge off." The next-most important information is that you are binging when you drink. If you live in a legal state and aren't drug-tested in your place of employment, you probably don't have much to lose by trying to substitute weed for alcohol. But...you might be at risk for substituting one problem with another. Are you open to therapy? "Taking the edge off" of anything with a substance that isn't prescribed to you is almost always a dicey proposition. It's better to deal with the edges.

The LR contrarians/puritans will s*** on you for replacing alcohol with weed but overall I think that if you're gonna have a vice like this, weed is the better choice. I've actually done something similar recently, going Sunday-Thursday with no alcohol but a moderate amount of weed in the evenings. How experienced are you with weed previously? You'll probably need to discipline yourself to keep from using more/more frequently. It feels good and leaves no hangover, and if you can be somewhat functional on it it can be easy to fall into a mindset of "let's get high and then do the dishes" type of thinking.

Why do you feel you need to 'take the edge off'?

What is so wrong with your life that you must escape? The kids driving you nuts? The ol lady? I'm glad my ol lady is truly my True Love.

I take massive bong rips (sometimes of crystal meth, sometimes of weed) cos the vape doesn't do it for me. It helps me have a dreamless sleep and forget about my problems. I get stressed when my viewership is declining but I find it works better than drinking a handle of Hennessy every night cos that gets expensive.

Good luck to you. Remember to seek more beauty in life. Try to work hard so you feel proud of yourself. And love each other.

Ever thought of trying to address your addiction issues? It's tough to reprogram your brain. Continuing to feed the problem may not work out the way you hope. Admitting you have a problem with drinking is a step in the right direction.

Very little experience... I dabbled a bit in college but I've never considered myself to be a smoking kind of guy.

My plan would be on say Fridays, instead of slugging down 3+ beers at happy hour, I would be an attentive husband/father and then after putting the kids to bed, take a puff from a vape to relax a bit but still be rested and ready to roll the next day.

Currently, even after only a few drinks, I just feel so anxious about what I consumed the night previous. I don't think I would ever become an all the time smoker but again, I'm not very experienced. I just need something to break out of this gross habit at this point.

I did it, and only wish I'd made the switch decades earlier.

Great idea if you want to ruin your REM sleep.

I also would add, I'm not like a drunk or anything. When I say replace drinking, I'm not currently drinking every night or blacking out on a regular basis. I feel like for the most part, I am a normal enough drinker. It's just I would like to do so less and maybe this is a good avenue... Either way, appreciate the responses whether genuine or sarcastic.

I was basically an alcoholic for the first half of my 20s and a stoner for the second half. Recently broke the daily weed habit and I’ve been sober for almost two months.

Weed addiction has its benefits, like no hangovers and no excess calories, but it’s more sinister than alcohol in some ways too. Daily smoking will become all day smoking. Just a hit before work. And the thing is, it’s a little easier to function on. I know people who are high all day at work. I used to smoke in the afternoons at my IT job with no decrease in performance. It actually made it more fun. At first it’s just in the evenings, but it slowly becomes a way to cope with stress all the time.

The only way out of this is complete sobriety. I know that’s probably frightening. It was for me, and maybe you don’t have to be completely sober forever, but there’s no way right now for you to control your substance intake in a healthy way and that’s just a fact. Your brain will tell you it can, but that’s because your brain really wants to continue consuming substances and will argue for solutions that include substances.

If you go this route, I highly recommend tinctures/drops. You can measure dosage more precisely and you don’t get the negative aspects of smoking (which I found made me noticeably more susceptible to sickness - even vape).

Not judging, just saying. A drug is a drug is a drug. IF you have addiction issues, then as noted above, sobriety is the only way out. Best of luck.

Just responding to point out the absolute fallacy that is "a drug is a drug is a drug". Harm reduction is a very real thing and often more sustainable than complete abstinence.

I've cut back my drinking quite a bit through edibles. Just 5mg's, maybe 7-8mg's if it's a weekend and I have no plans.

My only words of advice (and take these with a grain of salt):

1. Weed before workouts feels weird. I'd rather run hard off nothing or even a hangover than the grogginess I get from weed. So, just go 0 the night before workouts and also big work days. Weed is better for you but can take the sharpness off the next day.

2. Plan long periods of nothing. Weed (at least to me) drops in efficacy pretty quick. Take days off frequently and in a row.

3. Don't mix alcohol and weed socially. It's just a recipe for awkwardness.

Very helpful. I was curious how this would affect workouts. Good to know.

Why do you need to self-medicate at all?

IF you are going to do the weed thing, my advice is to do edibles. Why breathe something into your lungs?

Ultimately, you would be better off if you could find a way to relax without drugs.

Fair point. Not ruling that out. I feel like I've heard nothing but positives about moderate marijuana use as a substitute prior to posting. Everyone here is definitely giving me some things to think about especially considering I'm pretty new to this area.

I feel like this topic gets beaten to death on these boards but I'll chime in:

I quit booze ~3 years ago. Never looking back.

I used cannabis prior to quitting booze, but I definitely used more after. It turned into a nightly thing, 8 PM, some kind of cannabis product, edible, vaping, smoking. It helped me sleep and never gave me any problems other than the occasional overeating and general silliness.

What isn't talked about but what is very, very real, is cannabis withdrawal. Night sweats, insomnia, loss of appetite, mood changes, racing heart rate, etc. It is not pleasant. Your tolerance will increase over time and the only way to keep your tolerance in check is to take prolonged breaks of several days/weeks at a time. The withdrawals are real, even for people who just use at nighttime.

You're a disgusting low life drug addict if you use marijuana. Alcohol is far safer (not to mention legal).

Reporting this thread.

I drank fairly heavily in college, and started vaping most nights after graduation. While weed has its drawbacks and isn't a miracle drug the way some people will try to tell you, it's definitely less harmful than alcohol if you feel like you need to be on something. If you live in a legal state, I would recommend edibles instead of vaping, especially if you're still trying to run competitively. You can buy low-to-medium dose gummies at most smoke stores nowadays.

Running doesn't take the edge off for you, OP?