DOSE:

2.5 g

smoked

Products - Spice-Like Smoking Blends

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

Here is my story about synthetic cannabis use and the withdrawal experience.

I have been a Marijuana smoker on and off for about 30 years but I always managed my use by regularly stopping for periods of weeks or even month. Usually I pick it up in holidays or times I knew I could be enjoying the drug without anyone noticing. Marijuana helped me to cope with loneliness and I would become creative and industrious. It suited my schizoid character strategy. I found projects around the house and get lost for days or weeks doing these creative projects. Or even painting my whole house for example because without being high, painting a house can be quite boring. Anyway, I managed Marijuana for many years but since I changed my job, I no longer can smoke pot because of ethical reasons.

Eventually last year I heard about the synthetic cannabis drug called K2 and it was selling down the road at my local dairy. So one afternoon on yet another holiday I thought to check it out and I got myself a 2g pack. Well, it was legal so I thought I finally found something to get around the problem of drug testing. Oh my god, the high I got from that was just fantastic. The first 2g lasted me nearly a week. Just now and then, a toke from my pipe and I was away. Obviously over the following weeks my usage increased. I continued to smoke this stuff over about a period of 3 month without any major problems. However I did get some rashes on my underarms and legs. I didn’t think much of it and I continued puffing away for another few weeks. The rash continued and I continued to manage these rashes with creams and other natural remedies.

By now I have been smoking this stuff for about 4 month and my health started to decline as well as my personality. I started to withdraw away from people and finding constant times to get away from my partner to get stoned, say every hour or two. I simply could not last any longer without a hit. This obviously affected our relationship eventually. My libido went out of the window and I had no longer interest in sex. She was clearly suffering now and she started to get slightly pissed off with me. She realised that she had an addict on her hand. I continued to deny this of course. My job also started to get affected and eventually I was fired. I became a very angry person, withdrawn and I started to project negative traits onto everyone I had contact with. I became a big Bear and everyone around me became a Salmon so to say.

By now I had lost my job, my relationship was on the rocks and I started to get quite unwell physically. It got to a stage were I could not sleep anymore at night and I had to get up early in the mornings to get stoned and watch a movie. Then I would go back to sleep and get up in the morning at 8am just to get stoned first thing. After 5 month of use I was getting stoned all day and night long, at least 18 hours a day. I consumed on average 2.5g every day and my usage was still rising. By then I spend about $200 every week. Eventually my immune system started to collapse and these rashes started to get extreme. From all the scratching I infected my skin further and I started to get a yeast infection that took over my whole body. This was the first sign that my body could no longer cope with the chemicals I was putting into myself every day.

Eventually I noticed that my right leg lost coordination. It felt, as it was not keeping up with the walking anymore. Also I noticed that I was feeling like standing taller and almost kind of floating rather then walking. Clearly I had some difficulties with my basic functions there so I panicked and I realised that I might have done some damage to my brain or something. Anyway, that evening I was invited to a party and I went along reluctantly (I rather would have stayed home to get stoned) how long would I last without it I wondered? I fell asleep on the table and I slurred my words avoiding engaging with anyone. Eventually I was asked if I wanted to have a lie down which I did. I slept for about two hours and the party was over. This was quite embarrassing for me and after that day I realised that I had a problem. I became aware that I could no longer function without K2. I actually had to use this stuff just to manage the side effects or to get any sleep. I started to loose weight and I didn’t feel hungry. I looked old, I was angry all the time unless I had a smoke. So there was only one way, I had to stop cold turkey.

I was lucky that I had the time to do this because I wasn’t working and I had funds (my credit card) to finance that. The first few weeks were horrendous. I could not sleep, woke up in sweats if I managed to get an hour sleep or two and I basically was walking around the house like a zombie. I eat very little, mostly soup. That was the only thing that I could keep down. I looked quite skinny and my tummy was almost gone. I used to fast a lot a few years ago and only 30 days of fasting would get me down to the weight I had now. I guess that was the only positive thing. I felt lethargic, I had no energy and I became very negative. During the first two weeks of my withdrawing period I had a confrontation with someone and I completely unhinged and I can truly say I nearly had a psychotic episode. I had to have therapy during this time to settle the symptoms down again. During this light psychotic episode I had a huge transferential reaction to another person that completely caused for me to nearly loose the plot. I can only say that my therapist was working hard for her money during this time and in hindsight I can clearly link this to my use and withdrawing of this synthetic cannabis. After about four weeks of stopping I started to feel better. My appetite came back, I had less headaches and I slept right through the night again, however now and then I still woke up at 4am in the morning. I also used Kawa during that period. It reduced my anxiety and paranoia. This was the only thing I used during my withdraw time. Six weeks after getting off K2 I felt much better. The rashes disappeared thanks to the use of Oil of Oregano the only thing that helped me to get these rashes under control. I still had slight headaches and low energy but I can say six weeks after I started to withdraw the negative side effects had gone.

This experience was extremely unpleasant for me. It was my first real addiction and this K2 managed to hook within weeks, something what Marijuana could not do in 30 years. I guess I had a crash course in addiction and I finally was able to also look at my Cannabis use as well. The experience enabled to do some more work in my own therapy, my addiction issues and so on. There was some great learning also I guess but I did end up with loosing a job, heaps of weight, a few friends, about 6 month of my time, and a $7000 credit card debt but also some personal growth. Thank god my partner stuck with me through this bad episode of my life. I think it got us closer together if anything.

I don’t think I ever would touch cannabis again now, certainly not synthetic cannabis. I am angry because in my view the only reason this synthetic shit is out there because of our government’s stubborn view not to decriminalise the use of Marijuana. Its time to wake up, the laws in its current forms are not working and the synthetic shit is much more addictive and dangerous than Marijuana ever was or is, yet I or anyone else can buy this shit just down the road in the local dairy. This is the irony of it all. The local dairies have become the tinny houses I used to go to when I wanted to get high years ago. Marijuana is a picnic in a park and much safer compared to this synthetic crap, end of story.

Exp Year: 2012	ExpID: 100595
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 52
Published: Sep 4, 2018	Views: 2,815
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