Smoke joint at the end of the day to relax? You have to read it

No, we are not going in here for and against marijuana, legalization or medical cannabis issues. No. We're talking about the simple fact that loads of (loads!) People smoke joints with themselves at the end of the day. And there is one major problem with that

Smoke joint at the end of the day to relax? You have to read it

In the video: Advertising against smoking marijuana

In a recent poll by the Anti-Violence, Drugs and Alcohol Authority, 27 percent of participants admitted to consuming marijuana at least once (for that matter, in 2009, only 8.8 percent admitted it). Of those, more than half said they consumed marijuana every day. These figures place Israel at the peak of world consumption, ahead of countries like the Netherlands and the US.

The discussion about marijuana and its use is complex and explosive, partly political, which is difficult to manage in a serious way. A discussion in which two main positions can be addressed - one considers marijuana as a dangerous drug that must be banned prohibitively, and the other considers it an antidote to us being cynically exploited by capitalist companies. Adhering to these end positions produces a flat, inaccurate and inaccurate discourse, and to some extent ignores the reality that if you are in a room that has about ten people, at least one of them will likely need marijuana every day, and these are perfectly normative people.

The mysterious disease that attacks cannabis smokers

And since this is the reality, the important question should be how and when is marijuana used, and not whether it should be allowed or banned. The answers to these questions require a certain courage and thoughtfulness, not only from policymakers and the law, but also (and perhaps mostly) from the consumers themselves. For that matter, I take out those who consume marijuana for medical reasons, and there is no recommendation here to pass the law.

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When there are so many people who regularly consume marijuana, the smoke also comes to the clinic. When a patient or patient is told that they smoke, I ask what and how often, and most often it stays at that level. In most cases, I do not consider it a subject that needs special attention unless it comes from the patient, and it certainly comes.

- "I smoke every night, no matter if I'm with friends or alone, and I'm not sure what that means about me."

- "My spouse smokes every day, he says it helps him relax and he needs it, but I feel like it keeps us away and he gets closed and not communicative."

- "I smoke at night when I'm alone, usually at bedtime, although sometimes it causes me anxiety."

When such phrases are said, there is probably no smoke without fire, and it is worth stopping and asking what the emotional and mental role the marijuana plays. Almost always, the questions, concerns, and thoughts in this regard pertain to individual marijuana consumption, that is, consumption that is regularly done alone, and not in society, which is not surprising. It has a screen effect, sometimes soothing, and given that there are quite a few people who experience difficulty being alone with themselves, this combination is magical to many and they find refuge in it.

True, marijuana consumption is not always done on its own, and sometimes it is done in person even when there are other people around. It is therefore important to make a distinction between loneliness and solitude. Alone is a technical situation, a state of affairs in the world - like being a single person in a room, with no other people. Loneliness is a feeling, an existential state - a sense of alienation and alienation from the world and sometimes ourselves, regardless of whether there are other people around or not. A person can be alone and not feel lonely, and can be surrounded by people and yet feel lonely. However, there is often a connection between the two, and the feeling of loneliness is often intensified when we are alone.

A screen of smoke from the loneliness. Joint (Photo: Giphy)

Woman rolling a joint (Photo: Giphy)

Often an internal conflict arises between our desire and need to be alone, get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of the world and just relax a little, and the (understandable) desire not to feel lonely and fearful of existential anxiety stemming from the feeling of loneliness. On this slim and elusive border most of the emotional role of marijuana resides - it allows us a kind of intermediate state in which we can be alone, but with such a masking that prevents the feeling of loneliness and without meeting ourselves and our thoughts.

But if that helps - why not?

Think for a moment about parents giving the baby a pacifier, which helps him relax (and gives them some peace of mind). The pacifier helps both the baby and the parents, so why should it be weaned? Babies undergo sucking detox so that they can learn and know how to calm themselves without it, because continued use of the sucking as a relaxing object can result in the development of compulsive use and dependence. So you are not babies, but you can definitely think of the small joint of the evening or of bedtime in a very similar way. Just as babies want their pacifier, we fantasize about the moment that will come where we can break away from the demands of reality and the need to be the responsible adult, and we can unite and focus on the little ritual that soothes us, without having to experience the existential anxiety that brings with it loneliness.

Thus, a situation may arise where in order to be able to relax and be alone, we depend on something and cannot do it without it. In attempting to rebel in the role that reality places upon us and its demands, we retreat to childish parts that have weaker mental powers that do not tolerate staying alone and having less coping powers. We retreat to a world of our own where the experience is more sparse and centered on the exclusively relaxing ritual rather than the environment, and so others feel we are farther away. One of the results of this experience is precisely the deepening and aggravation of the fragmentation that takes place between our most mature and powerful parts of daily contact with reality, and our children's parts of which we experience calm and pleasure - but only through the use of an external object. The deeper this split, the greater the dependency becomes and the more difficult it is to reduce it.

Waiting all day for the little ceremony that soothes you? Man rolling a joint (Photo: ShutterStock)

Marijuana (Photo: ShutterStock)

So yes, marijuana consumption may help us a bit and stay away from the thing that scares us provides relief, but it is precisely the encounter with the thing that scares us is the one that can help us narrow the gap between the parts and really strengthen us. Using external means over time and regularly, whether it's marijuana or anything else, erodes our coping ability, harms our mental strength, increases our dependency, and ultimately harms our enjoyment of the thing itself. It may feel like instantaneous and immediate relief, but can have a wide and devastating effect over time, so you should try to answer honestly the really relevant questions - when you smoke, how much you smoke, and why.