Is Cannabis Safer Than Alcohol?
A True Story of How Cannabis Can Change Lives for Good!
A fifth of Jim Beam and an 18-pack of Miller Light use to be my daily routine. The first time I got really good and drunk was when I was 15 at a park down the street from my house. It was almost dusk when I walked down the street to the park after a bad argument with my mother. I don’t remember at all what it was about – I just remember wanting to escape. Escape I did! I found a group of older kids – probably 17-18 years old – and they had a ton of booze! Whiskey, beer, wine – they had a bit of everything.
I had never really drunk before then but when that Jack Daniels hit my mouth – it went down all too easily. I ended up drinking with these other kids until I blacked out. I woke up around 4am – alone and in a field by the park. I never saw any of them ever again, but the way the alcohol allowed me to temporarily escape stuck with me for a very long time.
Of course, my mother smelled the alcohol on me when I stumbled in. At that time, my parents were going through a rough patch that ultimately ended in their divorce. I quickly became a very young alcoholic – using it to escape everything I didn’t like in my life. It turned out to be a rough road that almost cost me my life on more than one occasion.
For years and years, I was a total drunk. I would get ‘blackout’ drunk and not remember anything I did or said. I got into fights, arguments, and even car accidents that I had to be ‘reminded’ about in the morning. It was horrible – not to mention the damage that was being done to my insides.
When I met my wife in 2009, she immediately saw that I had a problem (I wrecked my car while driving [drunk] to pick her up for our 3rd date). She somehow saw a better side of me shining through the booze. Over the years there were a lot of ups and downs – trials and struggles – all caused by my drinking.
In 2016, I got my 3rd and final DUI. I was found passed out in my car (while it was running) at a convenience store that was less than half a mile from my house. It was Thanksgiving night and I was arrested for drinking and driving. Because of the laws in my state, I’ll be lucky if I can ever get my driver’s license back.
This caused a chain of events to occur that almost cost me my family. My wife wanted to take herself and our 2-year-old daughter and move back to her family – so I swore (once again) that I’d never touch the bottle again. This was probably the, I dunno…30th time I had said those words.
Since I didn’t have my license, I lost my job installing water treatment equipment and we ended up losing our house. We ended up moving into a basement apartment of a house owned by my father – It was 500 square feet, but we made it work.
For almost a year, I didn’t drink. I started seeing things more clearly. I started really reconnecting with my wife, our daughter, and myself. Then I relapsed.
In early 2018, I had to get a full shoulder reconstruction due to 22 dislocations over 8 years. I got placed in pain management and in no time was taking an absurd amount of opiates every day. I started to develop a serious problem with them. It was at that point that I went back to drinking.
It started out as me wanting to just drink a couple beers instead of taking opiate pain medications. Then it quickly turned into me drinking mixed drinks, and beer and taking opiates – all at the same time.
My body started to fail me in ways I never imagined possible. I started having trouble going to the bathroom, I was having memory issues, I was uncontrollably trembling, I was having pain in all of my joints and my liver and kidneys would ache and throb all the time – I felt like death.
Ever since I was in high school, I had always smoked cannabis, but it was always just recreationally and for fun. I had been an advocate and a voice for cannabis legalization for many years, and I even spoke at the hearings in Annapolis MD in 2013-2014. I had never listened to my own advice though – I had never tried to quit everything and replace it all with cannabis.
I finally listened to my inner voice (and my wife) and I became a Medical Cannabis Patient since dispensaries were finally opening. I made the choice to make cannabis my daily medication to help me get off everything else – and it changed my life!
I haven’t had a drink or taken an opiate at all since then! I even quit smoking cigarettes after 22 years! Using cannabis daily has helped me heal my mind and body. This beautiful plant has helped open more doors in my life and in my mind than I ever thought possible.
I always knew cannabis was safer than alcohol, but I found out the hard way that alcohol is way more dangerous than cannabis. In fact, alcohol strips your body of Vitamin D – even after a year had passed without me drinking, I was still not quite right – even with cannabis.
It turns out that my Vitamin D levels were almost non-existent (possibly due to years of alcohol abuse). My doctor prescribed some ultra-powerful Vitamin D capsules and after 3 weeks, I was like a whole new person!
It’s been over 4 years since I’ve had a drink – a record for me that will continue getting longer for the rest of my life. I have absolutely no desire to drink alcohol anymore. Being around people that are drinking doesn’t bother me unless they are ‘fall-down’ drunk – that’s hard for anyone to deal with.
Because of cannabis, I was finally able to free myself from the chains of alcohol and opiates. I live a very happy life now – all because I was able to say goodbye to drunken nights and nodding out with the help of a highly beneficial plant! If I can change – anyone can – you just have to want to!
Let's Enjoy Cannabis 
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