Chapter 4 - Nature

Marijuana works by hijacking the brain's natural reward system. THC overstimulates dopamine release, flooding the reward circuit. With repeated use, tolerance builds as the brain reduces dopamine receptors.

Dopamine provides motivation and helps us feel pleasure. With fewer receptors, normal rewards become less satisfying. This leaves you restless and craving marijuana for the dopamine boost.

Marijuana withdrawal is mostly psychological - just a nagging empty feeling and urge to smoke. This is mistaken as enjoying marijuana, when it's just relieving the withdrawal.

This "green monster" of dependence has you slowly needing marijuana to feel normal. Use seems voluntary at first, but soon feels mandatory to avoid that empty feeling.

The addiction is subtle. Withdrawal is mild mental unease, so most lifelong users don't realize they're hooked. Marijuana seems harmless, so we believe we enjoy it.

In reality, nothing about marijuana is physically addictive or enjoyable. It is enjoyable at first, but quickly becomes a crutch. It provides no nutrition like food or genuine stress relief. Any enjoyment is an illusion - it briefly relieves the dependence it causes.

Non-users feel relaxed and can concentrate without marijuana. Users feel NORMAL only when high, feeling anxious as it wears off.

Marijuana doesn't actually enhance relaxation or concentration. It briefly reverses the tension that dependence creates. No drug can cause and cure the same effects - except marijuana.

Initially marijuana may provide real euphoria. But as tolerance builds, the high diminishes and you need it just to feel okay. Any enjoyment now comes solely from relieving withdrawal.

Marijuana addiction isn't a habit. Habits are easy to break - addiction keeps people smoking despite harm. Physical cravings maintain the illusion marijuana is needed.

The good news is marijuana has mild withdrawals, unlike other drugs. Realizing it only relieves the dependence it causes makes quitting easy.

You're never badly hooked since tolerance builds rapidly. Withdrawal is brief unease, not the trauma of quitting you fear.

So why do users struggle to quit? Why the lifelong cravings? The answer is brainwashing...

The dopamine dependence is easy to cope with. Smokers refrain from lighting up in many situations without issue, like a family vacation where it's unavailable. It's the illusions about marijuana that make quitting seem hard.

But marijuana does cause real damage. Neural pathways to addiction remain for some time after quitting, tempting you to jump back in. But the brain recovers remarkably fast.

It's never too late to quit. Many reboot their lives back to health and happiness. With the right mindset, even heavy users can stop easily and permanently.

In fact, lifelong users find quitting most relieving. The longer addicted, the greater the freedom. When you see through the brainwashing, quitting marijuana is actually enjoyable!