I’m not an addict myself, but I’ve known several addicts and drug and alcohol abuse counselors. I’ve seen the program work, and I’ve seen it fail. Nevertheless, while the success rate is as good as any other, or better, it’s still not …… Alcohol , sex, gambling , marijuana are a few common examples.

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How to stop smoking marijuana is not just about the drug itself. In fact once you quit smoking weed you will find it all becomes about YOU and your own psychology. If you do not understand this and continue to blame cannabis itself then you are behind the 8 ball in ending your addiction.

What you need to do before you even embark on your journey to quit marijuana is a good understanding of yourself and your own mind which requires a deal of introspection which is self-observation and reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires and sensations.

One thing that should be encouraged is to sit down with a pen and paper and write down a few things to get yourself into this sort of head-space then ask yourself a few questions… your answers should be BRUTALLY honest.

• Why did I start smoking marijuana?
• Why did I continue smoking cannabis?
• What do I get out of smoking weed?
• What am I missing out on from Smoking Pot?
• What causes me to be afraid of quitting?
• What causes me to fall back into smoking?
• And so on.

We all ask ourselves these questions to a degree but the human mind is an odd thing where our thoughts and convictions can change depending on our moods and outside influences. Writing down your thoughts is a good way to solidify them making it easier to untangle and understand.

Using the answers you get from a good bit of navel gazing along with writing can be invaluable for creating a plan of action to follow because by now you have worked out what could be a possible pitfall in your journey meaning you can plan for it to avoid or overcome it.

For more information on How to Stop Smoking Marijuana click below for a review of a guide by an ex-addict who knows what you are going through and exactly how to beat it.

Cannabis Coach Reviewed

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If you’d like to be told how to quit smoking marijuana, then read this article. Giving up marijuana forever can benefit you in a number of ways.

You’ll feel happier about yourself, have more freedom, gain more confidence, and have more time to do the things that you wish to do in life. Achieving total freedom is certainly one of the best things an individual can experience and it is possible to reach this goal.

However, quitting pot smoking is not simple but it is possible if you apply the techniques and teachings here. Again, it is very possible to stop marijuana once and for all for the remainder of your life.

The most significant thing you need to know to conquer pot addiction is to find out why you would like to quit. That’s right. You must know exactly why you want to give up. That is due to the fact that the more clear you are about why you want to stop, the more you will be moved to do whatever is needed to stop smoking once for all.

While a large amount of people talk about the best way to give up, the more critical question is to ask why you want to quit. I really like to call this why your’inner why’.

The explanation why it’s critical to understand why you need to quit smoking is because when you figure out your core reason to give up, you will have a more clear understanding and greater motivation to do whatever it takes to become sober.

So ask why you wish to quit smoking marijuana. Whatever that answer is, dig down deeper by asking why for the surface level answer. In the beginning, you will have a surface level answer like’I dismal to give up because I am getting lazy.’

Well, keep asking yourself why do you do not like about you being lazy? Perhaps your deeper reason might be’I hate being lazy as it makes me feel a bit like I am not living up to my full potential.’

Keep asking yourself why until you can’t go any deeper. When you figure out a reason where you can’t go any deeper, then that’s when you found what I like to call your’inner why’.

after you figure out this core reason, I highly recommend you to scribble it down on a bit of paper and put it up on a place where you can easily see it on a once a day basis. You want to continually remind yourself your core reason. This could greatly help you in experiencing the advantages of giving up smoking marijuana.

Fully knowing your own rivate reason of wanting to stop smoking blow will quicken your process to quit smoking marijuana faster than any other system or technique out there.

So don’t listen to folks who say you can’t quit smoking weed. That is absolutely wrong because many people throughout the world are quitting each single day and now it is your turn to gain your target of becoming free from pot addiction once and for all.

If you want to learn how to quit smoking marijuana, then click here to check out a free newsletter at http://www.HowToQuitMarijuana.com.

If you want to learn how to quit smoking marijuana, then check out a free newsletter here at http://www.HowToQuitMarijuana.com.

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In fact, stay away from refined sugars altogether, as these are simply a substitute for the sugar in alcohol – and aren’t good for your recovery . Establish and maintain a regular diet, eating three meals each day. Do not skip breakfast, as the body needs essential ….

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Is Addiction a Matter of Choice? In this photo taken Wednesday, July 29, 2009, from left, Tim Plescia. Members of a discussion group for drug and alcohol abusers at the Sacramento Recovery House, in Sacramento, Calif., ….. Addiction is the disease, not the substance. Cocaine , heroine, food , refined sugar , money, gambling …pick your vice, it’s the addiction not the vice.

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Drug addiction has been a problem for centuries. Opium, heroin and cocaine were predominantly used for medicinal purposes until the high addiction rates and resulting problems led to these substances becoming banned. These days, modern drug treatment facilities are far more successful than the previous ‘asylum’ treatments because so much more is known about addiction.

Through the obsessive and compulsive nature of the condition, addiction is widely classed as a disease which is progressive, incurable and will lead to death or institutionalisation if not arrested. The afflicted individual finds themselves powerless to stop seeking and consuming drugs habitually and their lives begin to suffer dramatically, affecting all those who are close to them.

Symptoms of the disease of addiction
Drug addicts have the best intentions and will try to stop when they can see that their substance abuse is out of control. However, they cannot stop, or try to ‘moderate’ their use. When attempting to stop or ‘just have one’, addicts find that that they cannot control their drug use and consume just as much as they did previously, no matter what the consequences. This is because they have a disease – addicts are not ‘weak willed’ or bad people, they have an illness.

Many people frown on drug addicts and exclaim: “he just has no willpower, which is why he cannot stop using drugs!” However, an addict’s strong self will is usually the cause of many of their problems. Underlying issues which have never been dealt with accompanied by complex psychological problems and the obsessive and compulsive nature of the disease are the areas which need to be focused on. Drug use is only a symptom of the disease of addiction.

Signs of drug use
Whilst drug use is only a symptom of a much deeper problem, there are signs which indicate that a person is using drugs habitually.

• Declining job performance and loss of interest in their career
• Unreliable behaviour such as tardiness or being out of contact (for example cell phone switched off)
• Weight loss or gain
• Large or pin-prick sized pupils
• Pale, gaunt appearance
• Needle marks on arms, blisters on lips, blisters on thumbs and fingers
• Lack of finances, never having money, borrowing money
• Money or possessions going missing in their presence
• Disappearance of their personal possessions
• Glass pipes, burnt/broken light bulbs, rolling papers, tinfoil, hypodermic needles, melted lighters, plastic ‘bankies’ in their possession
• Isolation and avoidance of family and friends
• Degeneration of relationships
• Secretive behaviour
• Violent outbursts and rage
• Dramatic changes in moods and personality
• Lack of interest in things which used to please them

When a treatment centre is needed
The list above illustrates the fundamental consequences of an addict’s drug use. Their lives become unmanageable and deteriorate into a miserable, lonely and fear-based existence. Family and friends tire of the lies, deceit and pain of seeing a loved one dying a slow death. Jobs are lost, health and personal hygiene are neglected and self destructive behaviour is rife. Despite all of these negative aspects of their lives, addicts cannot stop using drugs and drifting further into misery. It is at this point that admission into a drug addiction treatment centre may be needed to help arrest their condition and save their lives.

Types of treatment
There are many different types of addiction centres in South Africa. Some are religious, some only counsel patients and some use the 12 Steps of recovery accompanied by counselling. The latter has been found to have a very high success rate as it provides therapy as well as a strong support system with tools for dealing with everyday life once the addict has finished treatment. This is vital for continued abstinence.

12 Step treatment centres generally have different stages catering for those at different levels of recovery. Primary Care treatment is the most intense, followed by Secondary and Tertiary. Extended Primary offers a much longer in-patient stay than Primary Care centres and at a more affordable price. This gives addicts the chance of undergoing intensive therapy for a longer period of time, therefore increasing their chances of remaining abstinent.

The therapy programm
Addiction treatment requires the client to make fundamental changes to their lifestyle and psyche. A typical treatment programme will involve a client meeting with a designated counsellor for drug addiction counselling sessions on a regular basis, group therapy sessions and written work and assignments. 12 Step meetings are an important part of a 12 Step Programme and clients will be transported to meetings which they will attend regularly. It has also become evident of late that addicts in drug addiction treatment benefit immensely from living a healthy lifestyle featuring exercise and healthy eating patterns.

Drug addiction is a terrible disease which ruins lives, marriages and families. If arrested, the condition can be managed and many addicts go on to live a happy and content life, free from the obsession and compulsion to use narcotics. Drug addiction counselling accompanied by the application of a 12 Step Programme and a healthy lifestyle are incredibly beneficial for helping addicts to maintain continued sobriety.

Oasis Counselling Centre is a treatment centre in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa which deals with treating drug addiction through intensive therapy and drug addiction counselling as well as endorsing a 12 Step Programme and healthy living choices.

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Or, if you like, Obama purportedly smokes cigarettes: a meditation on that fact might be healthy–or not, depending on the state of one’s addiction to heroes and villains. Excuse the somewhat off-topic post, but to bring it back around: ….. The complete legalization of marijuana was favored only by 34 percent of respondents, but this figure is twice as large as it was in 1986. Marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco, and our drug laws should reflect this reality. …

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Incidences of drug addiction are increasing as social drug use becomes more prevalent each year. Although drug addiction has been a major problem for hundreds of years, more is understood about the nature of addiction today. Years ago, those caught in the vicious life of drug addiction had very few options and those options did nothing to help the nature of the problem, they simply treated the symptoms.

The truth about addiction
Addiction is a disease that is progressive and fatal if not arrested. Most drug treatment facilities and professionals now base their treatment on the fact that if an addict achieves sobriety, the first hit or shot will take them straight back to their previous existence of obsessively and compulsively seeking drugs.

This disease leaves the sufferer living a painful existence, ruled by their need for drugs. The narcotic dependency is only a symptom of a deeper problem. The drugs are not the issue but a result of the underlying problems and the need to escape from uncomfortable feelings. No matter what the consequences, an addict will still use drugs as the compulsion to consume them is so great. This is why families are broken, marriages fail, jobs are lost, houses are repossessed and health and hygiene decline rapidly as a result of drug addiction.

When a drug user’s life has become completely unmanageable, rehabilitation is incredibly beneficial at arresting the disease and beginning a process of recovery. Drug treatment facilities offer intensive in-patient programmes for addiction treatment.

Firstly, an addict needs to detox from drugs if they have formed a physical dependence on them as their bodies will enter a state of withdrawal.

Detoxification
Drug treatment centres always carry a policy regarding detoxification and admission to the centre. Some have a rule that the client must be detoxed before admission and must achieve a ‘clean’ result in a urine test. Others have a detoxification programme with the correct facilities to cope with this. Detoxification cannot be taken lightly: when the human body is physically addicted to a substance such as heroin or alcohol, the withdrawal can be fatal.

A detoxification usually requires the assistance of medicines to ease the discomfort and symptoms of withdrawal. Heroin addicts are often given Methadone and Subutex to relieve pain. These medicines must be given in metered doses by trained professionals who are experienced in coping with the detoxification process. Addicts struggling with withdrawal symptoms in confinement can be unpredictable and detox facilities and the staff should also be trained and experienced in easing client’s discomforts.

Types of treatment centres
12 Step treatment centres are structured in different stages aimed at clients in different stages of recovery. Primary Care rehabilitation is a four week, intense programme where patients receive therapy throughout the day for their addiction. Secondary care is the next stage of treatment which allows clients a little more freedom – some allow clients to go to work or attend university but the programme has strict requirements regarding curfews and daily therapy groups which must be attended. Tertiary care offers even more freedom than Secondary care as all clients are required to work, study, volunteer or be seeking employment. The therapy groups are less frequent and curfews are later.

Extended Primary care is another type of 12 Step treatment centre which offers the same intense programme as a Primary Care centre, only without luxuries such as housekeeping, catering and laundry services, therefore keeping costs down. This allows clients to remain in the treatment programme for much longer than the four weeks which Primary care offers. It has been found that addicts who complete at least three months as an in-patient in a rehabilitation centre have a much higher rate of maintaining sobriety.

Life in rehab
Drug treatment facilities will all have different programme schedules and services but a 12 Step treatment centre will generally offer individuals counselling as well as group therapy. Individuals counselling is important in addiction treatment as it provides a safe space where a client can speak freely with a counsellor with whom they work on a regular basis. Group therapy offers clients the chance to work on issues with the help and experience of other recovering addicts in the centre and the opportunity to confront issues arising in their present situation.

The 12 Steps are an integral tool in recovery. These steps provide a recovery programme which is used after the client has left the centre and provides a stable support system and tools for coping with everyday life. Treatment centres offering long term treatment facilities, therapy, a 12 Step programme and the endorsement of a healthy lifestyle have the highest success rates in addiction recovery. The combination of these factors for addiction treatment is incredibly beneficial in helping an addict to find their feet in the world and piece their lives back together.

Drug addiction can be arrested and managed if the addicted individual is able to abstain from using their drug of choice and undergo an internal change. The disease of addiction is an internal problem – people, places and things are not the problem – the addict is. Each sufferer will benefit from access to drug treatment facilities as rehab centres provide a safe place for detoxification and recovery.

Oasis Counselling Centre is a drug rehab in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, which offers drug treatment facilities and detox facilities for those struggling with addiction problems.

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