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Synthetic Weed


Posts: 474
Joined: February 24, 2013


Posted: February 25, 2013, 1:44 PM
The more I read the more I want to write. I thought I would share this. In the last year I have been nonstop high for about 9 of those months. I either do nothing at all - or binge. I have tried moderation and it just doesnt work for me.

Anyway, last year I pulled into a McD drivethrough at 12 am and was told to wait a minute in which I proceeded to fall asleep,at the drivethru menu, with the car running. I woke to an officer demanding I exit the car and began giving me the drunk test. It had been an hour or more since I smoked so I was not high when I talked to the officer. So I did the dance, followed the pen, walked the line and in general passed with flying colors. One of the officers noticed my bag of spice and one hitter and immediately accussed me of being messed up. When the officer took my license he started asking me questions like "whats your address' ,"date of birth", and then there was a pause and for some reason I believed it was going to be funny to say the alphabet backwards in about 3 sec. He looked at me dumbfounded and asked what the hell was that? I told him it was the alphabet backwards but if he wanted I would sing it to him forwards! He didnt like that and so I was ordered to take the impairment test that is to discover pot or things like pot. I denied I had used it - blew through the hose - and again passed the test leaving them with nothing to charge me with.

The cop was a d*** - after all this he still made me call someone at 130 am to come pick me up or I was going to jail. Going to jail for what ? I did nothing illegal. This was the second time in a year I was caught by a cop with it in my vehicle but it had not been formally outlawed at that point and could still be bought over the counter at the gas stations.
Because Spice was legal I made less effort to conceal my 'kit' and have dealt with the cops twice due to that. No charges for spice. But both times they confiscated what I had?? Be careful about that now - the laws have changed..... or just quit altogether like I finally decided to do.



ps take 2 tylenol pm to sleep for first 4 days of quitting - it helps. I got 4 uninterrupted hours of sleep last night - most in months
Tannwe






Posted: February 27, 2013, 4:39 AM
i was addicted for 2 years. only being sober for 84 hours in ALL that time. the "fake" changed me completely. the way i thought, the way i acted. i was spending $60 a day. smoking atleast every 3 hours. at first i smoked it because it had more effect than weed, after starting i NEVER stopped. it really is hard to quit, you get mad so easy. you "flip" out. the "fake" weed is something that can kill you, i know 4 people that had died from smoking it. but did it stop me, nope. after, (MY SOULMATE/BESTFRIEND/SISTER/LIZARD) Lizzie got sent to rehab and relized how much life was better. i stopped! it was the hardest thing i seriously have ever done. i am now 3 days SOBER and have NO intention on heading back down that road. i try to get the messege out that fake is dangerous. it somethings that honestly doesnt nothing but harm. this story is 100% true. dont smoke the "fake", if your going to smoke atleast smoke real! i love you Lizard, im living everyday sober for YOU!(:
Allison






Posted: February 27, 2013, 7:53 AM
Just an quick word for anyone just quitting... I've made it through my fifth full day without it, vast difference in the way I feel since the first couple of days... Appetite is back, however still have issues chewing/swallowing... Putting food in my mouth still makes me gag but sweats are all but gone, cough is much better, sleeping again... Even almost sociable. It gets easier. It's worth the fight. Hang in there.
Allison






Posted: February 27, 2013, 8:04 AM
And Jesus, is everyone's experience universal?? I was also spending 60 dollars a day and could have spent more, smoking ALL day. My pipe was the first thing I reached for in the morning, before I even sat out of bed. I would load it the night before and bring it into the bathroom with me every morning while I did my morning ritual. I don't think I went one waking hour without smoking for months.
And did everyone else have the tuberculosis cough? Is everyone else gagging on what they cough up? Has everyone else fainted and thrown up because of this s***?
I feel embarrassed as I'm sure a lot of you do about what we got hooked on... It's not so much THAT I was addicted to anything, I'm no stranger to addiction... But is anyone else feeling added shame just because it was a "synthetic" drug that you were foolish enough to think was safe?

Allison






Posted: February 27, 2013, 8:05 AM
I'm such a moron.
tog






Posted: February 27, 2013, 1:15 PM
no you aren't a moron .... this stuff has become much more addictive since they changed the formula last. . . this addiction never happened when it was JWH chemicals, now the chem gives you a short intense high and a craving ..... JWH would get you stoned for an hour or two, with no 'craving' for another immediate hit.

this isn't fake weed, it's fake crack.

my lungs are ruined, i've drained my bank account, for what? an addictive chemical.

people are making shed loads of money from it as well, make no mistake - spice millionaires.

well looks like i'm an addict, and it stops RIGHT NOW.


Posts: 474
Joined: February 24, 2013


Posted: February 27, 2013, 1:33 PM
Day 3 of no spice. I have said before that I have 'quit' smoking pot or spice some 30 times over the last 30 years. This is probably the 5th or 6th time in 2 years that I will quit spice. I usually go for 2 - 4 mos completely clean and once all ill effects are gone and there is zero thinking about the drug I seem to rationalize that I have proved I could put it away again at will so whats the harm in starting up again ? I run two businesses have 5 kids , 3dogs, and my mother and law lives with us - I deal with a lot of stress and I always looked at this drug as stress relief - which it is , but at way too high a price. High blood pressure, scarring of lungs, memory loss, and the introduction of who knows what in the form of impurities and heavy metals. I've walked around coughing like I had bronchitis or something for most of the time I smoked - to the point my wife was asking me to not go to bed till late because my coughing was waking her up.

So its day 3 and if you know what to expect the withdrawal isnt that bad. It's being surprised that you feel so bad and depressed without the drug that makes you want to run back to it - DONT! I have ate one bowl of soup in 72 hours. I tend to get my calories and energy from mt dew - i drink about 6 - 7 cans a day - the caffiene helps with the headaches. I stayed in bed from 1 - 8 last night and managed about 2 1/2 hours of sleep total. I woke up at least 4 times drenched in sweat. Body temperature seems to vary wildly through the day also. Freezing a little while ago and now I am sweating so much my forehead is wet. But I am not worried because the worst is already over. On day one I couldnt go 10 minutes without thinking about going out and buying 'one last bag' but knew that was to be expected so I just toughed it out the first day. On day two I thought about it in the morning but by mid day - the urge to rush and buy more stopped. What I have found is that once I make it 24hrs (after 4 mos constantly high) It gets much easier. The first 24 hours is hell though and thats what being addicted is all about. I'm trying to stay positive - I dropped 20 pounds in a month (from 170 to 150) the last time I quit and didnt eat, so I just rationalize thats what I am 'accomplishing" by quitting this time.

Another problem with quitting is you will have a lot of time on your hands now that you are not wasting all that time high. It is very important that after the worst withdrawal is behind you that you stay busy! If you dont have enough to do then the likelihood of relapse increases dramatically. Find small things to do and do them every day - dog walks, 5 minute prayer/meditation sessions through the day, or just driving around for 15 min with the music as loud as it will go - whatever you like to do - do it every day habitually the way you did the drug. Creatures of habit are what addicts are - so replace every bad habit with good ones and believe me , this does meet some of the needs that the drug filled before.

Stay positive - day 3 and I can already tell that the worst withdrawal is over. I dont think about it hardly at all now and if I do the temptation to go buy 'one more bag' isnt very strong at all. In fact, I had a very intense fever dream last night where I did go out and buy a bag and I didnt want to smoke it . I ended up smoking in the dream and HATED that I did it and woke up full of regret. However, after I fully woke up I was proud that I felt the way I did because vivid dreams seem very , very, real until you completely wake up and get your senses together. I feel already that the next 2 - 4 months will be no problem to stay away from spice. This time though, I intend to make it permanent so hopefully I never have to experience this roller-coaster of highs and lows. My stress relief will now come from exercise .
I recently read that the psychotropic/depression med drugs that are supposed to help depressed people often can make things worse. I know people who are constantly taking the hard core stuff in an attempt to feel normal - but a lot of those benefits can be replaced simply from exercise and eating right. I havent excercised in 30 years ( i live a very active life though w/ physical labor ) but I will this time - hopefully it makes the difference.

I also will start taking a shot of tequila each night before I go to bed. I am not a big drinker so there is no risk with alcohol and I have read several times that one shot a day is actually 'healthy'. For the last 4 months I have had NO plan, NO direction, NO focus, and NO energy. I am off in the winter due to my seasonal business and have at least 3 months of down time to deal with each year. That is why I have picked up and quit so many times. I quit when I need to , and I use when I have this block of free time in the winter. But that was pot, with spice I started using in the summer too and have totally messed up my life financially because of not dealing with the work when I needed too. Spice is not pot, pot is natural and actually has medical benefits for some - there is nothing good in spice. I had a very controllable pot habit even if it looked like a full blown addiction. I knew when I could use and when I couldnt. With spice there were no lines - i wanted to use all the time.

REM - everybody hurts

when the day is long
and the night
the night is yours alone
when you're sure you've had enough
of this life,
well hang on....

Dont let yourself go
sometimes everybody cries
everybody hurts

so hold on!



Allison






Posted: February 27, 2013, 4:06 PM
Thank you tog and dac... both of your posts brought tears to my eyes.
And you are right about needing to keep busy, that whole idle hands breed mischief thing... I just need to find something to do that doesn't make me want to use as there is nothing I didn't do high... Even music isn't the same, and there is nothing in the world I love more than sitting on my a** smoking with headphones on. However, even though we've all heard this song a million times, Don't stop by fleetwood mac... has an entirely different meaning to me now...

Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you've done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.
Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.

Part of what keeps me coming back to the s*** is the guilt and shame... I have lost literally everything but my wonderful boyfriend. Stopped working because it was just cutting into my high time too much, car was reposessed (and my mother cosigned for me. And since I have no job, her wages are being garnished to the tune of 600 dollars a month... 300 a paycheck for the next 6 months. She works at wal*mart. If that isn't guilt I don't know what is.) My family won't speak to me, I have drained every penny I had and then some and ran my boyfriend who has to work 2 jobs because I work none into the ground financially. He doesn't have a car either. He walks to both jobs and back... etc etc etc. But I absolutely won't be able to kick this if I keep looking back and neither will anyone else. I shouldn't have said I'm a moron, none of us are, unless we go back.
We got this!!
tog






Posted: February 28, 2013, 10:17 AM
thank goodness for this message board.

i'm 44 and used pot/lsd/speed/mushrooms etc since i was 15 .... 2 years ago i stopped smoking weed cos it cost too much and just smoked synthetic weed all the time. a year ago i stopped drinking entirely also.

2 years later ---- wow. how did that happen?

i recognise ALL the stuff people are saying on here, and man is it a relief, i thought i was imagining it. i'm not.

i stopped smoking at 5:30 yesterday afternoon, so in 3 hours it will be a day.

i went for a long walk.

i too have convinced myself that nothing is worth doing unless high on synths ... films, music, food. that can't be true though. so i will watch a film straight, for the first time i can EVER remember.

the joke is that every time i went to watch a film on this stuff (i love films) i would just fall asleep! come round, smoke, pass out - film finished! what a stupid way to carry on.

i just want to feel normal and enjoy things for what they are again.

thank GOD my girlfriend of 22 years has stuck by me.

be strong.


Posts: 109
Joined: February 28, 2013


Posted: February 28, 2013, 11:31 AM
i have no desire to eat, no food for 2 days. but i'm drinkimhg lots of coffee - that can't be good can it?

should i force myself to eat?


Posts: 474
Joined: February 24, 2013


Posted: February 28, 2013, 12:13 PM
Allison and Tog

Allison - you are not a moron. Had you known that strong physical addiction was possible you would not have fallen into the trap. Imagine if your favorite soft drink started adding addictive elements without your knowlege. Would you beat yourself up over becoming addicted and feel silly because it was a sugary beverage? NO, You got surprised like the rest of us. Good news is this addiction is not that hard to beat , at least in the short term. The harder problem is getting away from that need to take 'something' to try and ease the stress or pain you feel at times. My problem is that I seem to want to reward myself after going an extended time without it. I almost feel I deserve it, but why reward success with failure - thats being a MORON!

Its day 4. Ate 3 pieces of chicken last night. Hard going , tough to chew at first, but after a couple of bites were down my body seemed to remember that it hasnt ate for 3 days and I began to get a little of my appetite back. An hour later after the food hit my system I honestly started feeling almost normal. In bed at 2 up at 6 - only woke up once ( but still sweating a lot), and I have noticed that I have some of the most intense , vivid, and meaningful dreams immediately after I quit. Anyone else notice this? Also, the coughing fits now usually only happen in the morning and after I have ate something. I was 3g a day for 4 months this time and will be coughing up black lugies for the next 3 - 4 months. That has scared me! The longest I have gone without smoking in the last couple of years is about 4 months and I had dark black mucus coming up still on occasion. It scared me because I had chest pain and I discovered what ended up being a fat tumor under my ribs. I had a full cancer, heart , general screening and passed with flying colors. So there is hope . All the smoking i have done in years past hasnt hurt yet but I am done risking it. I plan to be done for good this time and that is why I feel compelled to write so much in the blog. I have a different kind of addiction in that I really can stop anytime I want - I just havent wanted to ! The key when I quit? Dont smoke every last bit of your stash. When I decide to quit I eliminate everything that has to do with or remind me of getting high and throw out at least some of that last package. If I relapse and need 'one last bag' then I buy the smallest I can , a new one hitter, new lighter and smoke for a couple of hours and then throw EVERTHING a way ( again dont finish the bag - this is a psychological trick that works) , sometimes this takes a couple of slips to make it stick - but the committment is there. Also, you let yourself down when you give into temptation and it makes you feel terrible - increasing use. Eliminating everything every time you relapse builds a pattern of disapointment and waste and at least for me I wont keep doing that - it makes me want to quit. No relapses this time though!

In all the times I have at stopped cold turkey - this time has been the easiest by far. I think it is my mindset that I am done for good that is helping me. Also, I have disappointed many people in this last year and most of them look at me as some kind of loser so I have the motivation to prove them wrong and restore my name. It took 25 years of running a business, raising 5 kids, and attending church to build a good name and I lost it in one year. Yeah! I am a Christian who actively works with the homeless and would like to even establish my own mission at some point. If it can sidetrack me the way it did then it can happen to anyone. Pot was manageable and I had no moral argument with it because it is a plant and doesnt need to be altered or synthesed to make it work - I used to call it my "God made drug". I rationalized that I would rather smoke pot than take any man made substance because I thought the man made drugs were the really evil compounds that would hurt you. In the case of Spice that is absolutely true. Now I'm done altogether with both. Pot has been ruined for me . The Spice I smoked was so strong and my tolerance so high that even the best ganga pales in comparison and is completely unsatisfying. Thats the one good thing about the synthetic - I cant get the high I want from pot so there is zero desire to chase that feeling. Also, 28 years of pot use - no trouble. 2 years Spice use - business lost, house in foreclosure , fighting with wife too much, and having people lose faith in me. Now I associate failure with Spice and is why I will never touch the stuff again.



The Who - Blue eyes

No one knows what its like
to be the bad man
to be the sad man
behind blue eyes

No one knows what its like
to be hated
to be feted
to telling only lies

But my dreams they arent as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours
only lonely
My love is vengeance
Thats never free


If I play that song on the guitar and sing... I cant get through it without crying

Stay Strong!

This post has been edited by DAC on February 28, 2013, 12:32 PM


Posts: 109
Joined: February 28, 2013


Posted: February 28, 2013, 12:44 PM
starting to feel a bit spacey, might run a bath.

as soon as i stop doing something like reading, my brain starts making me feel weird/upset/down/irritated/panicky.


been about 24 hours now.

will try to eat soft boiled eggs later on.


also, i'm taking OTC sleep aids, they're only sedating anti-histamines, that can't hurt? for anxiety. . they don't make me drowsy though. i wish i was drowsy.


Posts: 109
Joined: February 28, 2013


Posted: March 1, 2013, 4:46 AM
this is getting quite bad now -- 2nd full day clear, can't eat, difficult thinking straight.


Posts: 109
Joined: February 28, 2013


Posted: March 1, 2013, 8:50 AM
tried playing a game, just irritated me when i couldn't understand how it worked.

so i had a sleep aid. not much help.

F*** synthetic weed.


Posts: 474
Joined: February 24, 2013


Posted: March 1, 2013, 3:11 PM
Stick with it Tog - it gets better

Day 5 and almost no withdrawal symptoms left. I must say this has been almost easy to quit this time. No craving for 3 days! I have experienced everything that people have written in this blog as far as withdrawal syptoms in times past but I believe the difference this time is because I know exactly what to expect. Reading these other stories clarified what I was doing to myself and because I understand now what to expect from the withdrawal it has made it almost easy once I got past that first 2 days. When you feel worse each day in the beginning its hard to break free because the drug will take away that feeling short term. Dont go back!! You will hit a point where you will start to feel better each day and then you wont want to reverse that trend so quitting gets easier.

watch the triggers!

I had almost 7 years free from pot and truly , truly believed I would never get high again. My pattern of getting high before this, for some 20 years , would be to smoke all day every day for the 4 months I was off ( I own a seasonal business) and then quit cold turkey in the spring and go 8 months completely clean. But about 3 years ago I found a glass pot pipe packed with resin while mowing at the end of the season. Because it was at the time of the year I used to start smoking I thought - why not ? its been 7 years. I didnt even know a dealer and I only had a little so what was the problem? right? The problem was that was when K2 was first out and it was sold over the counter everywhere back then. No dealer, nothing illegal, and time on my hands. The first hit I had after all that time created the desire to have more so I tried the K2. I got into a worse habit than I had ever had with pot. Because it wasnt illegal I would smoke in public restrooms , restaurants, bars, or anywhere where cigarette smoke was to be expected. Something I could not do with pot because pot has way too strong an aroma. Also, I was not afraid of getting caught so the one thing that led me away from MJ (jail time) was not there with K2 and I began smoking in the summer too! That has cost me over half my business in the last 2 years!!

Now, if I get caught the penalties are in some cases worse than pot so I am back to my original thinking that it should be finished for good. Just know, had I know the stuff was addictive I never would have tried it. I knew I could handle pot and I thought that the fake stuff was less than pot. A mistake I know several others have made also. The key is educating yourself as much as you can about what you dont know, arm yourself with information and in the end you will succeed!

p.s. I only became aware of the physical addiction about a month ago. Once I knew that there was no excuse to keep doing it.

stay strong!

This post has been edited by DAC on March 1, 2013, 3:14 PM
Allison






Posted: March 1, 2013, 4:17 PM
Hang in there tog you're kicking a**... You're almost through the hardest part. Think of every craving and every discomfort the same way women in labor view labor pains... every hour you can't sleep is one less hour you won't have to live through again. Every time you feel a craving know it absolutely will pass and it's one less craving you have to endure. And the next one is going to be easier.. I'm sorry I didn't check this post sooner. I hope you're still hanging in there.
Allison






Posted: March 1, 2013, 4:20 PM
p.s. I wasn't able to eat much either, half a container of baby food in 3 days or so. I would imagine anything soft and gentle like that, pudding cups maybe? Also, coffee made me sick. I would drink a crap ton of pedialyte and gatorade to help replenish some of the keytones that are going to be pouring out of your sweat glands..
Allison






Posted: March 1, 2013, 4:57 PM
I absolutely can relate to the insomnia. I suffer even when I'm not withdrawing. I usually take 6 tylenol pms about an hour before I'd like to go to bed (which I am NOT advocating.) Sometimes it works. Usually I'll get tired, go outside to smoke my before bed cigarette and that's when the wheels won't stop spinning. I'll get my mind thinking or obsessing about anything, doesn't have to be drug related, and then lay in bed obsessing over it. Then I get up and repeat the process until I'm able to sleep. That's why I've always loved weed and synthetic so much, aside from the waking high, the resting peace is something no other drug has been able to give me and something I have trouble achieving on my own. These drugs shut down the "noise."

I read somewhere that our brains are like springs, and weed and synthetic push the spring down when we use it, that's why we fall asleep more easily and even though we think it makes us more fun and more interesting, we become boring lumps while on it. We're pacified. But take away the drug and the spring bounces back. Our brains inundate us with the adrenaline we've been suppressing and that's why we feel so manic and why we can't sleep, why we dream more when we do, etc. Even someone physically touching you will feel exaggerated. I love my boyfriend more than anything but wanted to rip his face off the entire time I was detoxing. All he had to do was speak or touch me.

I am glad someone mentioned something about smoking regular weed again... will it ever be the same? How long did you go without synthetic before you tried regular?

I guess I've always noticed that I do this, but never really took note... But god I binge. I financially was up to 6 grams of synthetic a day, but could have easily smoked 9-12. I went 6 days without it and finally got my hands on regular (albeit decent quality) weed. We spent 60 bucks on these 2 little bags of compacted natural weed. And not shake. I got it wednesday night. It's been long gone since last night. ONE day?!?!?! Wow.
And the sad part is we've been trying to get it since I quit synthetic to help with some of the withdrawal symptoms... so you'd think I'd savor it. Nope.

And here comes the guilt and crawling around on my hands and knees looking for shake and stirring and scraping and smoking... *sigh*

Not much better off.

And I wanted to reply to your question about dreaming... I think I went the last year and a half without having or remembering a single dream... I still haven't had dreams that I remember or that I can easily distinguish from the rambling of an insomniac brain. But I wanted to ask you... Do you have dreams about using synthetic yet?? Those have to be the worst... I hate user dreams. HAAAAAAAAATE.

Just remember anyone who's dreamt of getting high and woke up feeling sad, nostalgic, panicked, whatever.... It is ALWAYS WAAAAYYY better in your dream. Isn't it scary how much our own brains will lie to us??


Posts: 2
Joined: March 1, 2013


Posted: March 1, 2013, 9:02 PM
Hi Josh, Please tell me what your wife did to help you recover ? I really need tips as i am in over my head , my partner has been addicted for about 2 yrs for the same reason as most. always did pot occassionally , then drug tests at work came in and this bulls*** stuff can be sold legally at the tobacconist ! He knows the dangers and he's tried twice to quit but he has admitted his problem and is ready for help. I just need to know how I can help as i have not been in this situation before. He has a 7 yr old daughter . Would really appreciate it .
Thanks
shez
not josh






Posted: March 1, 2013, 10:51 PM
Hi Shez, I'm not Josh but I hope this helps a little. There really isn't a whole lot you can do. All I can tell you is what to anticipate. Anticipate watching the man you love being completely miserable for a few days. He will be grouchy, nauseated, sweating, he won't be able to sleep or eat. The best you can do is give him a little space (don't leave him alone, but you don't need to be in bed rubbing his back the whole time either.) Every sensation is exaggerated when you detox. He won't want to be touched. He probably won't want to talk much. But whatever you do, hold down the fort and do NOT let him go get more and do NOT go get him more. Be there to encourage him. Even popping your head in the room and telling him you're proud of him.
The best thing in the world you can do is show him this sight. I absolutely wouldn't have been able to make it through withdrawals if I hadn't stumbled upon it. It is helpful and comforting beyond words for us addicts to know we aren't alone.
And a little prayer never hurts. :)
Good luck and keep us posted!
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