Recognizing you have a substance use disorder and deciding to seek treatment is hard. It is also one of the most life-changing decisions you can make since it requires you to completely change thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes that were previously ingrained, if not automatic. There is a reason why treatment leads to recovery, and recovery is something you work on every day, one day at a time. When you are trying to biologically, psychologically, and socially reset your life, it’s important to address anything that might alter your thoughts or mood and derail your sobriety journey. It may be tempting to view marijuana as something that “does not count” as a relapse. Are you sober if you smoke weed after treatment?
Substance use and behavior often go hand-in-hand, and individuals are very good at rationalizing and justifying thoughts and behaviors. This is why relapse is such a slippery slope, and many in recovery experience relapse at least once in their journey of life-long sobriety. Any substance, like marijuana, that alters your mood can impact your thoughts and decision-making and lead to relapse.
Women’s Recovery offers women in Colorado the programs, services, and resources to reduce problem drinking and smoking. While marijuana may seem like “no big deal,” it can easily lead to relapse and derail all the hard work completed in treatment. Call Women’s Recovery today at 833.754.0554 to learn more.
Are You Sober If You Smoke Weed After Treatment?
This is where it is easy to rationalize away thoughts and behaviors. Can you be sober and smoke weed? Well, sobriety is the state where outside substances are not influencing your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It becomes very easy to start rationalizing “degrees” of sobriety. For example, caffeine alters your biochemistry, as does nicotine, but we generally do not think of coffee and cigarettes as relapse. However, if those habits are used to justify drinking alcohol or smoking weed, that is an issue since alcohol and marijuana do alter your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Science lets us know that we have a risk of cross-addiction. This means that some people substitute one substance for another as a replacement. Even if one seems “less harmful,” we still haven’t allowed the brain to reset. This will impede recovery efforts. You may also engage in the same habits and lifestyles by socializing with the same people, only with a different substance. However, all the old triggers are in place, which can jeopardize recovery efforts.
Cannabis has similar psychoactive effects to alcohol and should, therefore, be avoided as part of the treatment and recovery journey.
Ways Marijuana Impairs a Person Similar to Alcohol
Cannabis is psychoactive, which is another way of saying “mind-altering.” If your mind is being altered by a substance, then it is hard to argue you are sober. In addition, many prescription and over-the-counter drugs interact with THC and CBD, including sedatives, anti-anxiety medications, anti-seizure medications, blood thinners, and anti-depressants.
Some of the ways in which marijuana can impair a person include the following:
- Cognitive impairment – Marijuana can impair short-term memory, attention, and decision-making abilities, similar to the effects of alcohol.
- Motor skills – Both substances affect coordination, balance, and reaction times, increasing the risk of accidents and injuries.
- Mood alterations – Just as alcohol can lead to mood swings and emotional instability, marijuana may cause changes in mood, leading to feelings of depression or anxiety.
- Altered judgment – Both marijuana and alcohol can hinder a person’s ability to assess situations accurately, potentially leading to risky behaviors or poor decision-making.
- Dependence risk – Regular use of either substance can lead to physical and psychological dependence, complicating the recovery process.
- Social and environmental sensitivity – Both substances can heighten sensitivity to social pressures, which might encourage substance use in familiar environments or peer groups.
- Disrupted sleep patterns – Marijuana use, like alcohol, can disrupt sleep cycles, leading to insomnia or poor-quality sleep, further affecting overall well-being.
It makes it difficult to do the work of self-assessment, emotional attunement, and cognitive restructuring if you are still escaping and/or numb. It can significantly hinder progress when working toward healing from trauma, repairing interpersonal relationships, and maintaining recovery.
Contact Women’s Recovery in Colorado
Building healthy habits and resilience comes from persevering through challenges. Many times, we need to have abstinence to experience these trials. Women’s Recovery encourages abstinence from all substances for at least the course of treatment while helping you examine your relationship with substances, the interpersonal relationships around you, and your nervous system responses and patterns. Sobriety from all substances might not be forever. The more important aspect of programming is the client’s relation to the world around them.
Women in Colorado in need of addiction treatment should contact Women’s Recovery online or call 833.754.0554 today. We take a comprehensive, nonjudgmental approach that embraces all pathways to treatment and recovery.
