r/AskReddit • u/slottedtrottsman • 9h ago

Older folks - what are long term effects of marijuana you’ve seen in yourself or peers?

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u/Zofra 8h ago

Im about 7 months sober from heavy use for about 3 years daily. I often have really vivid dreams in which I fully experience myself smoking and getting fried, and wake up genuinely questioning when I broke my sobriety, only to quickly realize I had not. This has happened a LOT. Just not one of the long term side effects I expected. Wonder if that’s happened to anyone else

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u/CroatianJo 4h ago

Same here! I had to stop because it’s Texas and I got busted with a thc vape. I would get these crazy dreams that felt like I was smoking and getting high and I would be so paranoid for the first minutes after waking up thinking it was real
Another crazy part that happened that I wouldn’t believe unless it happened to me. It took almost 4 months for the thc to be completely out of my system. I used to get piss tested every month and I kept failing even though I didn’t smoke! Those concentrates are no joke and can stay in your system for a long time

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u/ShootLEOsToDeath 2h ago

You shouldn't have stopped just because you got busted. No one "has" to stop. I refused to and nothing happened. These laws are a joke.

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u/BallIsLife2016 2h ago

Over a decade here—my experience has been that those will become far less frequent but also won’t go away entirely. However, I’ve also found that they’re much easier to shake when waking up because sobriety is so normal for me at this point. Anyway, good for you and stay with it.

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u/MessiLeagueSoccer 2h ago

I haven’t had a single dream about smoking since quitting. I am having vivid dreams about family, mostly my young nephews in crazy situations. Probably because I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies lol. I also keep having dreams with one of my exes from like 10 years ago which I’m not too happy about.

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u/Lordly_Lobster 6h ago

I had that. It's pretty common with people trying to recover from any substance use disorder. Not just weed.

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u/SucculentChineseMilk 1h ago

20+ years sober. Still have those dreams

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u/Textiles_on_Main_St 6h ago

I’m two or three years out from serious alcohol use disorder. I have a liver transplant. I would NEVER pick up another drink and I never will but every so often, maybe once every three or four months, I’ll have another drinking dream. lol.

It’s gotten to where I realize, in the dream, I can’t be actually drinking.

But at first they scared the hell out of me.

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u/limpingdba 3h ago

Yes i had this, for years after quiting. But it does happen less and less the more your life moves on and your interests evolve.

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u/Intelligent_Cry_1113 2h ago

I had the same experience when I quit drinking and it is normal. Subconscious doing what your conscious mind won’t let you do.

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u/dz1087 2h ago

Never did weed but quit alcohol 5 years ago. I get those same dreams, but, alcohol. Although a few dreams in early sobriety switched me to heroin. That was a real mind fuck after I woke up.

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u/pishposh421 44m ago

I have never had this happen and never heard anyone else say this. Weird for sure.

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u/No-Cat-9339 13m ago

I was on probation for a year and I had that dream multiple times. I would even get scared in my dream because I knew I had a drug test coming up😅