Chapter 6 - Brainwashing Aspects

The marijuana trap ensnares us through subtle forces - media, peers, culture and our own thoughts. Trying to quit through sheer willpower means constantly feeling deprived, inevitably leading to relapse. To succeed at quitting permanently, we must clearly see the areas where marijuana robs us of health, wealth, happiness and freedom.

Note the strong link between brainwashing and fear. The fear of facing withdrawal and life without marijuana creates the very urge to smoke. The anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia and restlessness you experience when quitting are the same feelings fear itself provokes. How can a drug continue having a hold over you long after the chemical addiction has passed? Through the illusions and associations created in your mind.

Let's closely examine the main brainwashing aspects that reinforce marijuana addiction:

Stress Relief

Marijuana creates the illusion of stress relief. But in reality, it generates far more stress than it relieves. Non-smokers handle daily stress, anxiety and aggravation without needing to light up. Marijuana systematically reduces your natural nerve and courage over time, despite smokers' conviction that it aids coping.

Imagine reaching the point of being unable to enjoy or sit through activities like movies, concerts, dinners, or dates without using marijuana first. This slavery ruins lives, health and relationships, yet the addicted mind rationalizes marijuana as enabling functioning or pleasure. Every pang of stress now drives you to smoke, when it's the smoking itself causing you to be less resilient.

Boredom Relief

Marijuana also doesn't relieve boredom over the long run - it breeds it. Addicts feel bored and restless without marijuana simply because they're addicted, not because being sober is inherently boring. Non-addicted people fill their time with engaging activities and hobbies without marijuana, remaining content. In contrast, frequent marijuana use makes you lethargic and apathetic, ensuring you have little motivation or energy for pursuits, thus remaining bored and sparking another smoke. Using marijuana makes people feel satisfied doing nothing. Whereas, boredom in non-users causes them to pursue something worthwhile.

Concentration and Creativity Aid

Needing to use marijuana in order to think clearly or focus is not marijuana aiding concentration, but a symptom of addiction. Marijuana steadily impedes concentration over time by impacting memory, motivation, planning and impulse control. Non-users are able to concentrate, achieve flow states, be creative, and absorb information just fine without using marijuana. Relying on marijuana to function reflects its control over you.

Relaxation and Sleep

Is spending time and money sourcing marijuana, constant anxiety over running out, and scheduling life around getting high truly relaxing? Even hardcore users feel tense, irritable and unable to rest when dry, unlike non-users' steady and predictable calm. Marijuana only briefly treats the very tension it originally caused in the first place. No truly relaxing substance also claims to cure the same effects it causes - except marijuana.

Marijuana can help the user fall asleep but actually negatively affects sleep by reducing time spent in REM sleep, leaving users groggy the next day.

Energy Enhancement

Gradual dopamine desensitization from using marijuana saps motivation and drive. Marijuana directly hampers dopamine receptors, robbing you of zest for life. Within just weeks of quitting, energy, alertness and mental clarity improve remarkably for most ex-smokers. Ongoing smoking only drains you further over time.

Social Lubricant

Using marijuana to ease social anxiety and loosen up is an illusion. It just leaves you withdrawn, paranoid, and unsociable as the high fades. Doping up on marijuana beforehand or drinking heavily is counterproductive. A degree of sharpness and anxiety keeps you engaged and quick-witted. Non-smokers socialize and meet new people freely without such crutches.

In each case, marijuana provides no actual benefits. It only temporarily relieves the withdrawal that previous marijuana use caused. Addiction tricks you into believing smoking relieves real problems and stresses. In fact, it actually generates and compounds them all!

The path to escaping the marijuana trap begins with seeing through this subtle but powerful brainwashing around using marijuana.