Marijuana Anonymous

I don't want to, I was just about to go into another sidebar, but what I wanted to say, and I do want to say that in support of 12-step programs, I had a...

I have a young client who I've been encouraging to go to Marijuana Anonymous because right now with the legalization of marijuana in the United States, and I support legalization, absolutely, because I think a lot of people have been sent to jail unfairly as a result of that.

However, we're now seeing that since there's a dispensary on every block, that it has become an increasing problem for a lot of people young people I have I have one client who actually I can't remember the name of the illness but but had a terrible digestive disorder that came from smoking too much weed and if kids have are already struggling with what we would conventionally call ADD, I don't like that diagnosis, but already have a hard time with executive function and focus and they're smoking weed all the time.

It can be very destructive.

We need alcohol and sugar.

On February 22, 2023, I went to an AA meeting on the island because there was no marijuana anonymous.

And I guess at that time, I didn't even realize there was a network of phone meetings.

So I was going to AA and I didn't feel welcomed there because they were very, you know, you're alcoholic or you're not and if you're not, you're not one of us.

I mean, this is worldwide.

Marijuana Anonymous is worldwide.

Other 12-step programs can also have that same feeling.

I think one of the main things, um, that came out really, really fast in my, um, my book, my books here was, was humility and, um, humility, you know, humiliation is not humility.

And so when I kind of look back at my story, right, the signs of sort of the insanity of addiction, looking back now, were sort of there all along.

But if there was, you know, just sort of one thing I sort of really like to share with people right um it's it's about surrendering to this program and sort of you know like understanding what step one really is all about so um i you know i found marijuana anonymous sometime around 2023 or so i tried aa before and it just didn't really sort of connect with me just because um again alcohol wasn't my um you know my main drug of choice i was definitely a problem drinker but you know um there's just something um sort of not there in terms of the connection i'd find over here but um you know um again when i started coming to these meetings right um I hear people introduce themselves by their name and say how they were an alcoholic or they were a marijuana addict.

And so, you know, it's something I just sort of, I began saying, right? Like, it's just what you do, right, when you come to these meetings.

And even though I sort of, you know, there was this intellectual side of me which kind of knew, right? Like, you know, I clearly have some type of...

Uh, and so like, if I'm, if I'm looking at, if like, their phone is locked, it comes up to that to hold screen.

And I could have pictures of my family, this and that, but the truth is is that I put the logo for Marijuana Anonymous, the little MA symbol there that I put on my home screen.

And the reason I do that is because I would be dead.

One would not think that it's possible to die from this disease of marijuana addiction.

You know, if I was to compare myself to other addictions, and I have over the years done that, and...

I used to think, oh, you know, it's not as bad as them.

Because think about 39 years ago when I came in here, there was no Marijuana Anonymous in my area that I knew of.

And let me tell you how I got here.

But I had said the words, and so now I had to figure out a way to actually do it, and I was scared.

Honestly, my memory of this part, what happened from there is pretty vague, because I did find marijuana anonymous, but I found it through ChatGPT, of all things.

I had been using ChatGPT to stay connected when I was isolating in my room.

And that day, when I promised my daughter that I would quit, I was searching for help, and it gave me a phone number, and I called it.

And that's how I found Mopham.

The Marijuana Anonymous World Phone Meetings I didn't know what to expect when I dialed that number.

But I made the call and it connected me to people who sounded just like me.

That one phone call changed everything.

And one of those said, you are an addict.

There is marijuana anonymous.

You need to get help.

And I'm so glad that she planted that seed.

Um, the second one, um, I had to go to AA meetings, um, and get my paper signed.

Um, or the judge or the parole probation officer or whoever.

Um, and so I just, uh, Googled marijuana anonymous.

Um, uh, I was living in North Carolina at the time, so I put North Carolina there and there is a website actually, North Carolina and a.org. Um, and, uh, And I've had meeting times listed there and the 12 questions, you know.