T-Break: Beyond

If your break is now done

Please keep a few things in mind before you partake. T-breaks work and your tolerance is now lower. Make sure that you…

•      start low and go slow: cut back by half or more
  •    don’t go too hard, for too many days
  •    return to a pace that matches your goals for balance
  •    know that you have the skills to take a successful tolerance break
  •    plan to take breaks periodically

If you are keeping it going

Here are a few ideas and resources…

• If you’ve liked the routine of daily practice you might either start this over or open to random pages. For a community of people taking a break, check out r/Petioles on reddit
• If you are considering stopping cannabis completely check out Marijuana Anonymous’ (MA) 12 questions. For a community of people who abstain, check out an MA meeting or r/leaves
• If you like seeing your numbers check out the Grounded app.  It counts your t-break time and shows the money you saved.

What happens if you set this goal and can’t do it? I’m gonna sound like a cliché here, but you never know till you try. So give it a try.
 
If you end up partaking before the 21 days, then yeah, I guess technically you failed. But you only fully failed if that was your only goal. There is a value to setting a hard goal, and I would encourage you do so. But you should have other goals. Like reducing your use as much as possible over these 21 days. Partaking once would not be “perfect”, but it will be a lot less than your prior 21 days. And it will still help reduce your tolerance.

Let’s borrow some language from our friends in recovery. There is a difference between a lapse, and a relapse. A lapse is a slip. It is partaking in something you said you weren’t going to… but returning right back to the momentum of not using. A relapse is a slip and then giving up, sometimes resulting in a binge or bender. You not only partake, but you abandon your momentum and belief in trying.

We are not in that serious of a realm here. But the wisdom is sound: set yourself a hard goal, and do your best to achieve it. And if you mess up? Just get right back to it. This is how you achieve the overall goal of partaking less, reducing tolerance, and finding balance.

So try not to lapse. If you lapse, try not to relapse. Treat this all as an experience to better know yourself. Use everything as knowledge, and return more prepared next time. Don’t give up on yourself. (Sorry, I said it. But let me say this too….) Always be kind to yourself, and keep going.  

On a practical note, if you are struggling to succeed, try getting a Chia Pet. Start it the day you start your break. They take 21 days too.  And just when you’re not sure either is working, it starts to bloom. 
 

People have asked me about using CBD during their break. I would say two things:

1. it is your break. I support you doing what’s best for you
2. if possible, try to limit or abstain from CBD during your break

Here’s why:
Tolerance is not just chemical- it’s behavioral and emotional.  Although a person could likely use CBD during a break and still reduce their chemical tolerance to THC, that person might miss out on other aspects of tolerance. 
Behavioral and emotional tolerance includes the habits, routines, rituals, and expectations that we build into cannabis use. These, in turn, come to impact our thoughts and cravings… and even the very experience of being high. As chemical tolerance goes up, we increasingly come to rely on these other aspects for enjoyment. To gain perspective, it can be helpful when taking a break, to examine routines and expectations around weed.

Here’s my advice:
If possible, don’t use CBD during a break. However, if you really struggle with withdrawal and that would keep you from taking a break… use it. If you are going to use CBD, try these two practices. First, if possible, only use CBD during the early days when physical withdrawal is strong, then try tapering off. Second, when you use CBD, use it in the most boring way possible. Take drops, an oil, or a simple edible. (Don’t use CBD flower as a replacement in your bong or joints.) Taking these steps might help reduce your behavioral tolerance too.
 

Some people like to mix tobacco in with cannabis. In many places, tobacco costs less than cannabis, so it saves a little money. And, since tobacco is not great for our health… people like that they are not using as much tobacco. Those two things are positive. But the combination of tobacco and cannabis also creates some not so good things.

Cannabis is a bronchodilator: it opens up the lungs. When inhaled together, the nicotine goes deeper into your lungs. (This is why people often cough when used together, even if they don’t when used separately.) The headrush that people experience may be asphyxiation: a temporary lack of oxygen. Some people like this feeling so much that they want to experience it over and over.

If you just combine the two occasionally, you will probably be fine during this break. But if you combine the two often, you might also experience nicotine withdrawal. If this is holding you back from a successful tolerance break, then you might want to consider nicotine replacement supports (like a patch or gum.)

Regarding phones and screens… damn, that’s a whole different Guide. But for now, consider how your weed use impacts your phone use (scrolling, social media, watching, gaming, etc).  

I was talking with someone who declared, “I gotta stop smoking weed, it is ruining everything”. He would smoke weed, stay up late rotting on his phone. He would then wake up late the next day having missed key obligations; feel terrible, but repeat it all again by smoking. Weed was not the source of all those problems, but it was making them worse.  

Weed might not be like that for you. But consider what you do when you get high that works for you. And want you might want to adjust.

This guide would not be possible without the insight, editing, and support of so many people. Most especially, the students who have shared their stories and experiences:

     BC, KP, BD, SL, MB, MK, AT, MW, SK, JS, CH, CS, AW, BP, EP, BL, AC, GI, GO, RJ, JF, IC, CH

Special editing thanks to student and star Kaisy Wheeler- you have a gift. (And you hate when I start a sentence with “and”).

Thank you to colleagues in the field, who have been generous in spirit and mind: Amelia Arria, Randi Schuster, Brian Bowden, Diane Fedorchak, Nancy Reynolds, Peter Rives, Jonah Neville, Ben Montemayor, Ben Cocchiaro, Amy Boyd Austin, and Michael Hill Jr.

In conducting and producing research, thank you to Jay Schulz, Andra Villanti, Alan Budney. And a talented team at the University of Washington, including Jason Kilmer, Christine Lee, and Katherine Walukevich-Dienst.

Thank you to the Vermont Division of Substance Use Programs (DSU) for a grant supporting translation and research.

The idea for this format came from the Student Well-Being Center at Notre Dame. Thanks ND.

Thank you to the University of Vermont.