Dr Alex DeLuca and others have written about others successfully using weed whenever the urge to drink arises, substituting a less toxic herb for an extremely toxic drug. Has anyone tried this Harm Reduction strategy?

Yes. I smoked weed years ago bigtime, like most everyone else - (I'm talking the 70s) and also usually drank along with it. And then had many times I would smoke pot and drink tea in order to not have the double whammie of AL and pot. The high was different and less satisfactory. Pot makes you want to munch and sip. I tried different variations of getting high w/o realizing I was doing that.

I finally realized I was a doofus on pot and especially so if AL was in the mix. Just a totally different kind of high and ability to relate normally. I have only occasionally smoked pot in the last 20 years - & whoa buddy!! :-/

Whoa buddy is right! It's not the 70's anymore, is it?

I seem to avoid weed unless I have a drink first; I don't know if it's an anxiety thing or what. So I don't know if the substitution thing will work for me or not; hence TSM. Looking forward to getting my meds and controlling my AL intake.

Thanks for your post.

Spinedoc

Yep tried this one prior to TSM...I am not a weed smoker by any stretch of the imgination...I bought a half O in november of 08 and still have the majority of...if I can find it..If I get high 3 times in a year thats a lot. I smoke maybe 2-3 times in a row with friends who don't get high all the time get dumb and stupid call it a day. The I get catholic guilt syndrome and hide my weed generally when high and it gets lost. I was doing some organizing around my house and found the weed from 08..and remebered oh **** so thats where I hid it. I ended up giving to a friend who smokes.

Anyways, yep tried this as a harm reduction method to replace alcohol. My fiance at the time was like if you need to get buzzed so bad smoke at least your not a complete A-Hole. I am the type of person who has to do one or the other..booze or weed...for me one ruins the other...so if I get high I don't drink. The problem was I wanted the whiskey buzz WAY more than the weed...to me weed just didn't cut it. eat and watch TV..NOT...I liked the rocket fuel effect of whiskey so much more. Like really isn't the word love is more like it. I tried every moderation game known to mankind...I will only drink beer..15 later all inhibition gone time for a shot. I will only have 3..when the second one hit flood gates open...I will mix it with coke...two later back to straight...I will add water..just drank more of them and romaticed it this how the old guys do it.

The cool part about TSM it let me address my problem and my love HEAD ON...take the naltrexone one hour prior and bottoms up as far as the Crown Royal went. It destroyed and ruined my love affair with the Candian blended holy water. But the best part about it I never felt like I was missing something with it like substituting weed or moderating. TSM is a miracle for me. If I wanted Crown I could have it and taking the pill never made me feel like I was missing something. It's all subconcious how it works..I am sure this is why myself and quite a few others are always constantly amazed because you don't even know it's happening.

Good Luck

Excellent posts; can't wait to do some guilt-free extinguishing! I only ordered 10 nal tabs; apparently this will not be nearly enough!

Yeah, you better order some more. If you run out and keep drinking, you'll relearn very quickly, has to do with your receptors being "upregulated". Don't do this.

I would love to be able to smoke weed, I've got some here that has been sitting around for months. It just makes me profoundly paranoid. I've even tried different varieties to find one that doesn't do that... no luck.

-Ned

I'll be right over . Just kidding . I may as well place my nal order now since it apparently takes a while. Thank you so much for the advice.

I'm bAck....Sorry no posts,...I was in a bad place,...but now Jim is 5 months in...The bad news is I'm not cured ...the good news I'm slightly better....Its 2 AM and i'm 3-4 drinks in...Pre TSM no way...I would be totaled......

Regarding POT. I had some and it helped temper my need for booze. I think its a viable option. I have not used it for a couple months...But it DEFINLTELY helped. I recommed it if you're not a pot head. I'd like to find some (which I can) to re start my tempering process.......

I will begin posting again...Sorry family,..I had a bad stretch....but I guess that s a part of the roller coaster...Jim Clark

nice to see you back Jim...was wondering about you

Sorry for being such an infrequent poster around here. I thought I could at least contribute to this thread.

I have been smoking pot as a direct alcohol substitute most nights since I became AF, which is 11 weeks now. I did a home (outpatient) alcohol detox using Valium/diazepam, since I had been drinking 20-21 standard drinks every night for months, and very heavily for many years. After detox I tried baclofen but only lasted a week or so on it, as I was unable to tolerate extreme insomnia caused by it. I don't just mean post-alcohol insomnia; the baclofen kept me awake and I was only able to get 2-3 hours sleep a night. It was driving me nuts. I decided to smoke pot as an emotional bandaid instead of taking baclofen, and it has "kind of" worked. Pot seems to largely block my depression and anxiety, although I don't enjoy the buzz the same way I did with alcohol. It's very different, especially if you're seeking the same feelings that drinking produces. All the same, I accepted pot as my best available choice at the time, since being AF with absolutely no treatment for emotional difficulties is just not an option for me.

Pot does have negatives, and I am at the point of wanting to give it up aswell. I hope that prescription drugs may help me for a while. Pot is causing a profound tiredness that often lingers the whole next day, even though I still only smoke at night. It also lacks alcohol's immediate calming effects, at least for me. The high is more of an anxious, stimulant type of effect until 30-60 minutes have passed. It also keeps my mind racing for an hour or more once I go to bed, but after that I do manage to get a fairly decent sleep. I have made a few attempts to stop smoking already, and each time there have been some very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, which are somewhat like untreated alcohol withdrawals (minus the seizure risk).

I did try TSM last year but only stuck with it for a month, mainly due to impatience and not fully realising how long it would take to start having a really noticeable effect. I chose detox and baclofen, then pot, this year rather than trying TSM again because of my very high drinking level. My liver was already crook and I didn't think I could keep on drinking as I normally did for long enough to allow TSM to work properly. Since it isn't recommended for someone who is already AF, I haven't tried it since.

For anyone seeking to try marijuana, all I can say is that it is probably best seen as a short-term fix only.