Marijuana Anonymous is one of many 12-step recovery programs modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous.
Marijuana Anonymous is an independent organization that uses Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the Alcoholics Anonymous text. The 12 steps help empower participants to break the cycle of addiction and start a healthy recovery journey.
What are Signs of Marijuana Addiction?
Marijuana addiction is a serious problem, and consumption of marijuana products often leads to serious medical problems. Marijuana, also known as cannabis, goes by many street names, including:
Mary Jane
Reefer
Weed
Pot
“Marijuana addiction is a serious problem, and consumption of marijuana products often leads to serious medical problems.”Marijuana is most commonly consumed by smoking, and smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.
Additionally, many young people use marijuana as a party drug.
Because marijuana lowers your inhibitions and slows your reaction time, driving under the influence of this drug is often considered as dangerous as driving drunk.
Marijuana use is commonly associated with the following potential side effects:-
- Respiratory issues
- Drowsiness
- Brain damage
- Premature aging
- Paranoia
- Anxiety
Because marijuana smoke is carcinogenic, many people choose to quit once they realize the health risks or begin to show signs of respiratory problems.
If you believe you have a marijuana addiction, joining Marijuana Anonymous‘ 12 step program is an option. However, there are also other options out there.
Editor’s note:- We recommend Quit weed program as the best comprehensive plan for quitting weed for good.
The Marijuana Anonymous 12-Step Program
The 12 steps of Marijuana Anonymous are very similar to the 12 steps recovery program used in Alcoholics Anonymous. In the first step of the Marijuana Anonymous program, marijuana addicts must acknowledge that they are powerless to quit using marijuana, and that marijuana consumption is problematic for them.
This is a very difficult step for many marijuana addicts due to the common misbelief that you can’t really be addicted to marijuana.
Addiction is generally defined by Marijuana Anonymous as a compulsion to engage in a behavior, such as smoking, that interferes with the function of daily life.
The second step is for an individual to ask God for help in overcoming addiction, and the third step is to turn the individual’s will over to God.
In the fourth step, participants think about the decisions they have made in their lives and take inventories of their mistakes.
The fifth step is to confess those mistakes to God, to others and to oneself.
In the sixth step, individuals must turn those mistakes and personal flaws over to God and be willing to let the higher power change them.
The seventh step requires participants to ask God to remove their shortcomings now that they have surrendered control. This is a particularly important step, because many addicts have control issues.
The eighth and ninth steps are commonly believed to be the most challenging steps in the program. The eighth step requires members to make lists of everyone who their addictive behaviors have harmed. The ninth step requires them to go to those people and attempt to make amends and apologize.
The 10th step is to continually take inventory of personal wrongs and shortcomings and keep an attitude of humility.
The 11th step is to actively and consciously seek God’s will in daily life, putting aside the selfishness that led to the addictive behavior.
The final step of the 12-step program is to help others with the knowledge and experience gained throughout the addiction recovery program.
Mentorship is one of the main features of the 12-step program format that former addicts cite as helpful in overcoming addiction.
Why You Should Participate in a Marijuana Recovery Program?
Although marijuana is addictive, many people do not believe that their usage of marijuana is problematic. Peer support group networks like Marijuana Anonymous focus on psychological addiction in cases where a person’s daily life is negatively affected by the desire to smoke or consume marijuana.
In many cases, members of Marijuana Anonymous have faced legal repercussions for using marijuana, ranging from misdemeanors to felony charges. New members receive the assistance of a group sponsor who has been sober for at least a year, and this accountability is one of the primary reasons why marijuana abusers choose the network.
However, some people do not jibe with 12 step programs.
You might be one of them. This is not to say 12 step programs are wrong, they’re just not right for me.
If you’ve spent any time on this site, you know that I promote the Quit Weed Program because it helped a lot of people to successfully conquer their weed habit. At the same time, I realize that not everyone is going to be able to relate to the same method that helped me, which is why I list other resources to quit weed.
As I come across new resources that I think may be helpful to different readers of this blog, I will let you know about it. This brings me to the newest thing I’ve come across. Who knows, this one just may be the thing you needed. It’s called…
A Brief Guide to Quitting a Bad Habit
It’s by a guy named Leo Babauta who runs a site called Zen Habits. His guide is composed of 10 steps, not 12. What I like about Babauta’s steps is that he really focuses on self awareness (not admission of powerlessness like 12 steps does).
Self awareness is really what it’s all about isn’t it? Knowing what works for us as individuals and having the determination to keep looking for the solution that fits us best until we finally find it.
Maybe a 12 step program is best for you, maybe Babauta’s 10 steps are best for you, maybe the steps in Quit weed program are best for you.
Whatever you do, you know that not taking a step will leave you standing in the same place.
Once you do take that first step, take each successive step one at a time. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
Editor’s note:- We recommend Quit weed program as the best comprehensive plan for quitting weed for good.