“I know people that have gotten clean and sober off of their drug of choice... and have tried this 'medical marijuana' aspect of it... and... I don't know of anybody that was able to stay that way and maintain sobriety after going down that road.” -Tom Conrad
Today, Ben and I are chatting about California Sober, brought to light recently by Demi Lovato on Joe Rogan's podcast, offering our opinions on it. While we aren't here to criticize how other people recover from addiction, as we are not witch burners, we just want to offer our opinions based on our own experiences being former addicts ourselves.
How We Ultimately Feel About California Sober
In her interview with Joe Rogan, Demi Lovato defines what she means by being California Sober, saying, “It's a term that a lot of people use to identify this path of moderation with the help of some green plants.” Our perspective on this is that that isn't going to work for everyone. We both agree that while marijuana isn't usually a gateway drug and wouldn't likely cause us to revert back to harder substances, it wouldn't likely have any benefit in our lives and would, in fact, likely hinder productivity. Give it a go if it works for you, but our experiences suggest that, again, it does not work for everyone.
How People Like Joe Rogan Have Misunderstood the Twelve Steps
The first step of the twelve steps is admitting that you are powerless in your addiction, and some people seem to confuse powerlessness with helplessness. If you were helpless, then there wouldn't be recovery programs. Being helpless refers to an inability to take action, but these programs offer things that you can do, ways to fix the problem. It isn't helplessness. In fact, if anything, it can actually be empowering.
Our Experiences and How They Shape Our Opinion on Marijuana Maintenance
We, for starters, have known people who have relapsed and even died of overdose after years of sobriety because they started smoking marijuana. Living in the Palm Beach County Area in Florida, we have also seen four local treatment centers adopt the marijuana maintenance treatment method. Two of them were actually shut down by the FBI and owners got arrested because of how addicts were being taken advantage of, one voluntarily shut down because of its clientele not being serious about actually wanting to recover, and, finally, someone that we know personally throwing in the towel on the program because of his perspective that it had absolutely no benefit to him.
What the Best Approach Is in Our Opinion
While, again, we are not witch burners and are not even against marijuana, there is absolutely nothing to support the idea that marijuana maintenance is a more effective treatment than abstinence based treatment. While marijuana maintenance (or California Sober) works for some, that doesn't seem to be the norm, so it is our belief that it is always better to completely abstain from illicit substances, that that's always the best approach.
Listen in and hear us discuss our experiences and how they shape our opinions on this topic. Be sure to check out our new website where you can download any episode along with other useful information for those in recovery.
Show Notes:
Episode Links and Resources
168 - How to NOT RELAPSE with Ben and Tom
167 - Ask yourself these 3 things before speaking to your son or daughter about getting clean and sober!
166 - Is Methadone an Effective Treatment Option?
165 - How Self Esteem Directly Affects Our Recovery
164 - The Unfortunate Truths of Addiction
163 - Charlie celebrates 2 years of sobriety!
162 - Ben celebrates 10 years of sobriety!!
161 - Why 12-Step Programs Don't Work - And Why They Do
160 - Pastor Tullian Tchividjian shares the disconnect between Church and recovery principles - What the Church can learn from recovering addicts
159 - Alex Uslar - Hybrid Performance Method - From Druggie Punk Rocker to Strength Icon
158 - How to approach my loved one to get help
157 - Sean B. breaks down the Full Circle of Recovery
156 - Jeremy talks about his experience in the military and his addiction - NOW HIS RECOVERY!
155 - Kat gives HOPE to those still struggling through her own testimony
154 - Vince has been to 10+ treatment centers - What will be different this time?
153 - Nick's first time in treatment - What happened and what he hopes for in the future
152 - What we have to look forward to when getting SOBER!
151 - We have to be able to make decisions for ourselves!
150 - Measuring Progress While In Addiction Treatment
149 - What we have seen with Covid-19 up to this point
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