Chapter 3 - Why is it difficult to stop?

Quitting is a conundrum because it's easy to quit when life is going well - but life always serves us more problems! Such is life. You've quit, everything is going great, but the next time you feel a negative emotion, the brain remembers it has an easy way out: Getting high! Come on. Just one bowl. We don't have any plans tonight anyway. What's the harm? So, you light up, and you're back in the trap.

Ask any long-time marijuana user: "Would you encourage your kids to use it?" The answer would be "NO WAY!"

Marijuana is a puzzle. The problem isn't explaining why quitting is easy. It's explaining why it's hard when users don't actually get lasting pleasure or relief from smoking. Or, when users experience strong negative effects like anxiety and brain fog.

Part of why we start is because it's common, yet most long-term users wish they hadn't started. We then spend our lives telling others not to do it while trying to quit ourselves.

Users believe it's difficult to quit. But why? Some say powerful withdrawal, but the symptoms are actually mild, as evidenced by thousands who have gone without during a family vacation where it wasn't available.

Enjoyment has nothing to do with it. I enjoy chocolate but I don't panic without it daily. We enjoy things without feeling deprived when we abstain.

Some common justifications:

"It relieves boredom." Think about how harmful this really is. We get bored when we are not pursuing something worthwhile. Marijuana relieves boredom by making us feel satisfied doing nothing worthwhile.

"My friends all do it." Ask yourself if your friends are examples of successful people you'd like to model, or become.

"It's just a habit." This isn't really an explanation. We form and break habits daily, so why is this habit so hard to break when marijuana only provides a temporary high and we'd love to quit anyway?

The truth is marijuana is not a habit, it's an addiction. That's why quitting seems so hard. Users believe they get genuine pleasure or relief from it and would be making a sacrifice by quitting.

The reality is that once you understand marijuana addiction and why you smoke, you'll be able to stop easily. In just weeks you'll see the mystery was why you felt you needed it so long.

Marijuana is a subtle trap. Warnings exist but we don't believe them fully. Curiosity and culture draw us in. Once trapped, we spend life trying to understand why we smoke, warning others not to start, and making failed attempts to quit, over and over.

Our resolve often fails after a few days of withdrawal when we convince ourselves now isn't the right time. We think life's stresses make it impossible to quit. But this is an illusion; life's most stressful times are actually childhood and adolescence. Marijuana doesn't actually relieve stress, it just causes more stress in the long run by becoming a crutch that hampers your ability to cope without being high.

Many succeed in quitting temporarily but get hooked again later. The marijuana trap is complex, but once you see the simple solution you'll be free.

The key is understanding the real reasons you smoke marijuana, which boil down to:

• Nature and the addictive substance

• Societal brainwashing

Users know the risks but rationalize their habit. Most remember their first time was blissful and novel, and spend a lifetime chasing that first high. Years later, it becomes a coping mechanism that, funny enough, before trying marijuana, they never needed! Non-smokers aren't actually missing anything and find the situation funny.

By exposing the realities over the next chapters, you'll understand the trap and how to break free!