I've been smoking marijuana for 14 years. As a crutch, perhaps for the boredom, or the fear, of life itself. I started at age 14, there not being much to do where I live for teens of that age (or anywhere really). Marijuana is quite seductive, it makes me content to do nothing. And as I was doing nothing much for many years, this seemed to work out perfectly.
Myself and my friends always defended our marijuana use to critics. These critics being parents, teachers, other friends, people you'd meet in the pub, or wherever. We researched the benefits of marijuana extensively and believed that our use was justified due to the help it brings to those who are ill with serious diseases like cancer, MS, cataracts, etc. Surely this marijuana use would prevent us from getting these diseases!
But I realized, only last week, after a few years of resenting how tired it would make me, that this is a medicine for a disease I don't have. And by using medicine I don't need, I'm creating a new disease in me. A mental disease, where I am tired, drained, and I don't participate in life to the full extent that I could and should. I don't take aspirin when I don't have a headache. I don't take antibiotics when I'm not sick. So why do I smoke marijuana when I don't have a disease for which it can treat? Marijuana is an anesthesia - and I don't need it. It has anesthetized my mind and body, and the attachment is so deep, that I am now numb to life itself. To smoke when I don't need this medicine, is a symptom of a fear to look inside myself, a symptom of a fear of life itself. So, dear steemit users of marijuana, I ask you this: if you smoke marijuana but have no disease, please ask yourself why you do it. Think long and hard, and consider taking a break.
This may be controversial to many users of marijuana, but I don't care. I just wished to share this, I quit smoking 5 days ago, and already I feel better, more free in my mind, happier and lighter. I may use it again, but only if I need it as a medicine.