Drug related anxiety

[Violarose]

I'm having a really bad coping issue. A lot of people in my neighborhood use marijuana which I didn't know until the government started talking about legalizing it. That's when they started smoking it out on the streets and I found out I'm VERY allergic. I've been hospitalized 8 times now just from breathing air. I'm scared to go outside. My neighbors think it's funny to hurt me and smoke it outside my house. One of them actually messaged me saying my "shit genetics" aren't his problem. Instead of helping me to calm down, my friends and family make it worse by saying it doesn't matter what I do or where I move because it's everywhere. I've worked really hard and I only have two triggers: narcotic medication, and claustrophobia. They're BOTH involved in this PLUS the actual physical effects of exposure. I get a burning sensation at the back of my neck and feel dizzy and like someone put earmuffs over my ears. Then my palms and feet start burning. This goes on for 30 minutes to 2 hours depending how fast I get away from the drug being in the air. Then I have to wait six hours because it takes that long before my stomach is affected and my tongue swells. It's worst if it happens at night. If I'm exposed at 9am then I just have to be in a bathroom at 3pm. But I was just exposed at 9:30 pm and that means I have to stay up until 3:30 am to make sure I don't wake up with diarrhea or vomiting or choking on my tongue. I'm really really scared. Like freaking out so bad. If someone can talk to me it would really help

[Darryl Partner]

You certainly are in a tough situation. Obvious question: have you spoken to doctor about this?

[Violarose in reply to Darryl]

Yes but they can't do anything. There's no antidote for marijuana. If my throat closes they give me epinephrine. Other than that they just wait it out. I joined a group of people lobbying against legalization.... pretty much all I can do is keep calling the police and hoping it drives them out of my neighborhood. I thought about moving out to the country but everyone keeps telling me it's everywhere and I'll never be safe ....

[Agora1 in reply to Violarose]

Violarose, oh that sounds horrible that you are getting so sick from it being in the air. I'm sure I would be the same way. I can't tolerate the smell of smoke from a chimney or a cigarette. I remember the days when smoking was permitted on planes and restaurants. A divider was used to separate the smokers from non smokers. What a laugh. My escape at that time was to go outside so I can't imagine outside no longer being a breath of fresh air. (literally)

It sounds like some changes will have to be made. We all have right to be able to breathe fresh air. xx

[Violarose in reply to Agora1]

I remember when I was a kid it was legal only in 19 plus places and ventilated smoking rooms. That was great because I could just avoid bars. But then they made it illegal to smoke inside (smoke free workplace laws) and now people smoke right outside the entrances. You see doctors smoking under the overhang of the Cancer ward. People value addiction in this country way too much. I've been fired because I had to take anxiety breaks but my co-workers have never been fired for taking excessive "smoke breaks"

[Agora1 in reply to Violarose]

I am so very sorry x

[Violarose in reply to Darryl]

I even considered moving to China or Japan until I read that you can even get it there! I heard that they put people in really bad prisons in some countries for possessing it....maybe theres work in those countries lol

[DesiretobeReal]

Have you tried calling the police??.. I bet the police would be concerned if they knew they were trying to get the "kids" in the neighborhood to try it...

If you live in a bad place...move..

..there are places in the USA that still arrest people for marijuana possession..

[Violarose in reply to DesiretobeReal]

I've called. In Canada it's legal for "medical" use. They're supposed to use this diffuser thing. If they use it you can't smell anything. The government wants to legalize it fir recreational use and they're claiming it's part of the war on drugs (insert eye roll here). It's decriminalized so the police won't do anything unless a lot of people call. Around here they get 20 calls every time someone lights up. I live in a good neighbourhood but we have a terrible federal government

[DesiretobeReal in reply to Violarose]

Hey Kate... sorry... I live in the southern USA... clear blue skies, CLEAN AIR, rivers, mountains, almost NO one smokes pot in public (only at outside concerts, etc)..

... move here... it rarely snows either...

[camillen]

I hate to say this, but you may have to go through some type of desensitization program, with a doctor who is familiar with marijuana issues. I am sorry to hear of your troubles. I hate cigarette smoke. Pot smells do not bother me too much. People usually limit how much they smoke when it's pot, because cigarette smokers just keep on smoking to get their nicotine fix. Marijuana is here to stay. It should not have been banned for so many years. It is a natural plant and does not need any processing to be smoked. The DuPont company got it banned sometime during World War II because they did not want hemp used for rope. They wanted the government to buy their nylon rope, and they were successful in getting marijuana and hemp banned. It has caused havoc over the past 50 to 70 years. Decriminalization is good because fewer people will end up in prison for smoking it. Some countries have decriminalized ALL illegal drugs, and guess what, they got rid of their drug problems! Portugal had a terrible heroin problem and decriminalized all drugs. Now they don't have a drug problem, and people aren't all drug addicts. I believe that you might work with a doctor and try a bit of cannabis butter or a little bit of CBD oil. You must find a way to desensitize yourself. People can desensitize themselves to spider bite poison and some snake-bite poisons and foods that make them have bad reactions. Try to realize that the people aren't trying to irritate you on purpose. They probably smoke pot instead of using alcohol. It is a lot healthier. People usually smoke a little pot, then go eat, watch tv or listen to music, make love to their partner and go to sleep. People who drink hurt their livers, often abuse their children and spouse, and will often take their cars down to the liquor store for more alcohol, and might kill or maim someone in the process. Pot is better than alcohol. Of course, people can become addicts to other things if they mix them. We are all over-regulated, as it is, so try to calm down and maybe find some others who are suffering the same effects as you are, and maybe you can find ways to alleviate your breathing problems and other issues. Good luck!

[Violarose in reply to camillen]

I get that you like marijuana, and I hate to say THIS, but you may be ingesting a little too much of it if you truly believe suicide is the answer to my issue. My anxiety is related to a PHYSICAL reaction to the drug. Marijuana is illegal because it is a narcotic medication which even its users say is stronger than the pain meds used for cancer, and people blow the same smoke into the air that they are ingesting themselves. Users are unaware of their own level of impairment and have been found to think they are capable of tasks they can't do. They represent a high percentage of unemployed people and an even higher percentage of DWI's. My government is experiencing backlash from doctors, police officers, and basically everyone else who has had to put up with them in the community.

They have a number of excuses:

1. Marijuana is better than opiates. People who use marijuana are MORE likely than the general population to abuse opiates. Marijuana use has been linked to increased pain perception, which anyone who has observed them can confirm anecdotally...they are always cold, tired, in pain.

2. Hemp is an important resource. Actually, the rough fabric produced by hemp is pretty useless except for potato sacks which can easily be made out of canvas or jute. Both the male and female marijuana plants pose several growing issues that other crops do not have in cold climates. This lie is another attempt of drug addicts to push legalization so they can more easily access their drug of choice.

3. It isn't a drug. It's a medication. Four separate studies have confirmed that people do not use marijuana as a medication. They do not take it when symptomatic and then stop taking it when symptoms disappear. People take marijuana as a matter of lifestyle, socialization, and in order to get high or check out. Opiates are medications used for pain. If you don't stop using them after healing from surgery, they become illegal and a drug. Marijuana is used as a drug, not a medication.

4. Anything I say is just what "they" want you to believe. Extreme paranoia has also been associated with marijuana use...users believe that everyone is out to get them: the media, the government, the police, their own families. They will even turn on others who use the drug, unless that person is a supplier. Like any addict.

5. It's a plant. It grows naturally out of the ground. You eat strawberries and dandelion greens, don't you? Why yes. Yes I do. And in fact there are six THC containing plants that grow in the ground. There are also several mind-altering plants including, but not limited to: certain poisonous mushrooms (known as "magic mushrooms" to some, birch bark (which has pain minimizing properties and is found in aspirin), belladonna (which is used as a sleep aid and will kill you in large amounts). None of these are used as a drug by people who have built a culture of drug use around it. None of them are released into the air and forced upon others in the neighborhood. Nobody who uses any of these makes excuses for victimizing others, and for that reason I would consider them safe compared to marijuana which has built around it a culture and cult of belligerence and mistreatment of other people and communities. Specifically, this exact attitude: "calm down, man, I didn't do anything to you". Yeah. all you did was miss work six times this week and make everyone else work harder. They should all just calm down. All you did was get your house condemned because you were too stoned to get up and clean. The landlord should just calm down. All you did was forget to feed your kids three days in a row, and then leave them outside rolling in their own filth but those kids should just calm tf down, you'll feed them eventually.

Number 5 is the biggest reason why no person should ever be allowed to use marijuana without a responsible adult or medical professional to monitor them. It lowers your inhibitions and makes you incapable of decisionmaking.

Thanks for your "advice" (essentially to go kill myself) but I'll have to consider the source in this case. I'm anxious, not daft.

[kevoreally]

Come to new york i highly doubt it will be legalized here

[camillen]

I do not even use marijuana. I know a lot about it, though. I like mushrooms in my salad, and dandelion greens for my salad, and marijuana grows out of the ground too. Use anything too much and you'll get sick. I hope you can find a happy place where no one smokes. Good luck. Oh, and no one told you to commit suicide. That would be a horrible thing. Take care of yourself.

[Violarose in reply to camillen]

Do you also like to put belladonna in your pipe and smoke it? Blow it into the air because you know that your sleep aid is someone else's poison? Seriously every excuse except the pathetic one you just gave was given. And for someone who "doesn't even use drugs" you sure know ALL the stupid arguments they use backward and forward. Maybe you should stop telling people to commit suicide just so you can get high.

[camillen]

By mentioning people who have gotten desensitized to snakebites and spider venom, I meant people who HANDLE snakes and spiders in a biological lab, such as the Pasteur Institute in Asia. No one told you to hurt yourself. I would not have bothered to answer you if I did not care to try to help you. You need to lighten up. No one here wants to cause you harm or insult you. Good luck.

[Violarose in reply to camillen]

If I told you to just go eat a handful of belladonna because it grows naturally in the ground, or put belladonna in your teacup and told you to "just calm down" maybe you'd understand how what you said was "go kill yourself"

[Kyle1873]

You literally can't be allergic to cannabis. I'm assuming though that is why you are posting here hopefully, as you know its an anxiety induced dillusion. This is a mind over matter thing like most anxiety things, I admit. You get better quicker when you realise/admit that its all you, everyone else is just getting on with their life and its not easy for them either (even if its not as hard, which you don't know).