Gemma Speck

It is a relief oriented pattern of use.

Another distinct warning sign is when weed starts affecting how clearly you think and function on a daily or regular basis.

If your memory feels worse, if your concentration is wavering or it's getting harder to stay motivated and follow through on not just ordinary responsibilities, but things you really want to do.

That is worth noticing A, acting on B. These effects can creep in gradually, of course, which is partly why people miss them.

But over time, there will come a point where you will tip into this new mental state where you're like, I just am not the same person as I used to be.

And I don't really like that.

That is a clear sign that something needs to change.

And that you can change as well, since you've noticed.

And finally, a different kind of red flag, one that may not be as common, is when your body starts showing signs of dependency.

If you feel irritable, anxious, restless, unable to sleep, your appetite is messed around or revolves around weed.

That suggests that your system has adapted to regular use and you've developed a new kind of baseline.

And that is indicative of this kind of chemical dependency alongside of psychological dependency we've kind of been speaking about.

It's really important.

At this stage that you cut down because physical dependency, I know people talk about weed as a gateway drug, especially when you experience a physical dependency where you feel like you need to smoke so much.

That is when you can start looking for other ways to get the same feeling.

That is when you can start escalating usage to the point where it is really, really psychologically disruptive alongside physically disruptive.

And look, again, I'm not trying to villainize it at all.

I would be a hypocrite if I did, but we also can't pretend it's harmless either.

I think this is why the conversation around weed is so difficult, is because there's either people who want to say it only harms people, or there's people who want to say there are absolutely no issues with it and people just need to chill out.

No, it's somewhere in the middle, which is that