Where are you at?

It's easier to make change when you know where you're starting from. So how much would you typically smoke in a day, a week or a month?

If you're not sure, try keeping a record for a few days or weeks to find out.

Use Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
How much:              
Cost:              
How often:              
OK or too much?              

 

You can use this daily diary to record more information on how much you're smoking, and your pattern of smoking. If you are concerned about someone else reading it, you can use abbreviations or symbols that only you will understand.

 

Where does smoking fit into your life?

To work out how cannabis is affecting you, it helps to look at both the good and bad things about smoking. If cannabis was a totally unpleasant experience, you probably wouldn't be smoking as much as you are, if at all. If there was nothing bad about it, you probably wouldn't be reading a booklet like this.

 

So what's good about smoking cannabis? What do you like about it? What do you look forward to when you are thinking about smoking?

 

It's relaxing
Helps me to unwind after work
Helps me sleep
Helps me get boring chores done
Improves sex
Problems don't bother me so much when I smoke
Helps ease painful feelings like depression, anxiety, grief or anger
Relieves pain
I like feeling different from "straight" people
Laugh and find things funny
Have interesting ideas or feel creative
Enjoy smoking with my partner
Like the feeling in my body
Enjoy the ritual of preparing the cannabis and smoking it
A lot of people I know smoke – it's just what we do

 

So what don't you like about it?

 

Expensive
It's illegal – problems with the law or risk of getting caught
Causes conflict with other people
Dealing with dealers
Paranoid thoughts
Hard to remember things or think clearly
It's not as enjoyable as it used to be
Debt
I worry about my health
Find it hard to get other stuff done
Worry about how it's affecting my kids
Feel bad about myself
Feel tired a lot of the time
Have to hide it from other people
Do stupid things when I'm stoned
Makes it hard to work or get a job or study
How much I eat when I get the munchies
It's getting too repetitive
My tolerance is too high – it takes heaps more now to get me stoned

 

What would be good about cutting down or stopping? What are you looking forward to?

 

More money
Feeling healthier
Get other things done
Be able to work better or find work
More energy
Think more clearly
Feel better about myself
Better relationships with other people – especially people who don't smoke
Look better or healthier
Be a better parent
Enjoy other things in life
Being able to sleep without smoking
Remember things better
Not have this secret from people who don't smoke
Save money for other things that are important to me

 

So what makes it hard to quit or cut down? What gets in the way?

 

It's a habit
It's hard to say no when it's offered
It's too easy to get hold of
Still enjoy it
Dealing with problems
Don't know what else to do with my life
Difficulty sleeping when I stop or cut down
Dealing with unpleasant feelings in other ways
Cravings – think about it a lot
Feeling irritable or moody when I stop or cut down
Boredom
Risk of stuffing up when I try new things
Relaxing or unwinding
Would have to avoid some or all of my friends for at least a while
My partner still wants to smoke
I get along best with my partner when stoned
Don't want to be like straight people – mortgage, 2.4 kids and picket fence

 

How do you want your cannabis use to change?

If you're going to make changes to your cannabis use, it helps to know what you want it to change to. Consider the following questions:

Do you want to stop completely or just cut down?

If you plan to stop, do you want to cut down gradually to nothing, or stop all at once?

If you want to keep on smoking, what is your ideal level of use? (Think about how often you want to smoke – eg per week or month, how often you won't smoke, how much you'll smoke, when will be "regular use" and when will be "heavier use" and how much you want to spend on smoking.)

 

Use Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
How much:              
Cost:              
What time of day: