I smoked once or more a day for two years or so. It started off being great--as a freshman in college it was a different experience than I'd ever had, and on top of already existing anxiety and depression it was great at helping me relax and focus. Around the middle of the second year though I started smoking 4 or 5 times a day; on winter break that year all I did was sit in my room, smoke, watch youtube videos, and smoke again whenever I started feeling sober. It was a big problem, but I didn't realize it at the time. I had a few very close calls with the law.

It was extremely addictive for me. Not physically so much as psychologically but for me that almost seemed worse. The last few times I smoked I got too high & had extreme paranoia and anxiety to the point where I couldn't do anything besides cry or sleep. I was extremely lucky to have supportive friends and a boyfriend who cheered me on the whole time--my greatest ally was my best friend/smoking buddy who invited me to do things with her without weed and was careful not to smoke around me. I'm currently 5 months clean and I still think about smoking every once in a while, like how nice it felt to listen to my favorite music and smoke and relax. My lungs were not holding up very well by the end of my smoking though, and especially with the horrible anxiety and paranoia my mental health was suffering greatly. Quitting was very hard. I gave all of my things to my friend (who uses them frequently and appreciates my "donations" ) but even then I still had cravings enough to make me miserable and depressed.

I know that it can be very useful for mental illnesses, physical illnesses, etc. but for me after a while, whether it was because of addiction, the frequency with which I smoked, addictive personality, etc., it was more harmful than beneficial. Additionally, I think that edible marijuana products are the way to go rather than smoked forms because that way people can get the benefits they need, the positive effects will last a lot longer and be cheaper overall than smoking, and there is no awful lung or heart damage from smoking. As a whole I'm in full agreement with medical legalization, but as I am against cigarettes being legal I'm not sure how I feel about recreational marijuana at the time--after seeing how it affected my life I don't want addiction to be a problem for others, especially younger people.