Out of Control

A reader tells Andrew Sullivan about his addiction to marijuana. You can read it for yourself, but a few phrases sort of stood out for me. The first was about when he decided to check himself into rehab because his life was outwardly normal but his use was out of control,

…it wasn't as someone whose life had completely spun out of control. There was no intervention by friends and family or some court-ordered mandate. (…) The issue was that you only get to live once and that pot, when used every day, can inhibit one's ability to live life to its fullest. The problem was that I had grown so accustomed to being constantly stoned since my teenage years, that I'd failed to learn how to relate to my emotions and to develop many of the skills suited to successful adulthood.

He finishes with,

I think my story exemplifies, not so much how dangerous pot is, but that it is addictive and habit-forming and can be harmful when it is used irresponsibly as a means of escaping life. I know many, many pot smokers and none of them formed the same sort of dependency on the drug that I did. I don't believe marijuana ruins the life of everyone with whom it comes into contact--far from it. But, like any other drug or behavior, it can.

Funny thing. The whole item was familiar in an eerie way, although I’ve never smoked pot even one time in my life. In the parts I’ve excerpted, if you substitute the word “alcohol” for “pot” and “marijuana,” I could have written that story, word for word.

The recovery journey began twenty-seven years ago last month.