Introducing Clearhead

“When I was smoking Cannabis it was the most important relationship in my life: more important than my family, my friends, my partner my job or my mental health. I smoked weed to help me wake up and to help me get to sleep. When I was without it I was irritable, anxious and could concentrate on little else until I was high again. However, if you had asked me at any time whether I was addicted, I would have laughed in your face and denied it. When I finally found the strength to change something that had been such an important part of my life since my early teens the physical and emotional realignment was phenomenal and although it's been many years since I last used Cannabis I still remember the lessons learnt from quitting like it was yesterday"

Hi my name is Clearhead. When I tell people that I work with a programme that helps people who want to stop using Cannabis the reaction I get is usually along the lines of "Why do you want to make people stop"? Or "What's wrong with smoking a bit of weed"? Or simply "I didn't think it was addictive".

And It's true there are many people who started blazing away in their early teens or a bit later perhaps using weed quite heavily for a number of years and when they feel ready, can quit or cut down relatively easily. Also many users believe that compared to nicotine, alcohol or many other legal and illegal drugs the health risks from Cannabis are trivial to non-existent.

I'm not a hypocrite I smoked weed heavily myself for many years, sometimes quite happily and others less so. I had many good times when high especially in the early days but there came a point about five years before I finally quit when I decided I wanted to stop and I found that I just couldn't. I had tried...

Cutting down
Only smoking on weekends
Not buying any weed only mooching off my friends
Leaving my stash with distant family members
Impulsive, desperate cold turkey

"Only Psychologically Addictive"

Many times I would throw my bag away before going to bed, only to be rooting through my trashcan the following morning. And yet I still didn’t admit to myself that I was addicted. How could I be dependent on something that was only psychologically addictive? A drug that, compared to all I knew about opiate addiction, or people who had problems with cocaine or alcohol, was not supposed to have any withdrawal symptoms.

Yet thankfully, in the last few years there have been remarkable changes in the scientific study of addiction. Today there are support groups for addiction to food, gambling, emotional spending, gaming, social media and compulsive sex to name any number of behaviours.

Our understanding of addiction is no longer exclusively linked to the chemical structure of a substance although it's recognised that the pleasure we receive from the release of the Dopamine chemical in our brains is a common factor, I will truly never dismiss the power of psychological addiction.

There is no hierarchy when it comes to psychological addiction. Although there may be differences in the physical difficulties of withdrawal, there is no difference in terms of psychological dependence to cannabis or any other drug or behaviour.

In fact, the emotional bond may be stronger with weed because smoking a joint for many of us is a very early mood altering chemical experience (about 12 years old in my case). I see now that when I was using I never allowed myself to go anywhere near withdrawal, psychological or otherwise.

So Why Quit?

For myself, I found the focus of my life had narrowed to the point where my obsession with weed meant that I was moving further and further away from the many things I still wanted to achieve in my future life.

My existence had become a vicious circle of inaction. In fact I smoked to forget how small my world had become, which in itself was due not only to how much I was consuming every day but also the importance I placed on needing to have my supply secure in order to feel safe. That's a very narrow way to think and live, and most days it made me sad even though I wasn't exactly sure why.

Am I The Only One With A Problem?

"Of course different people decide to address their relationship with Cannabis for a variety of reasons".

Numerous people contact Clearhead because their Cannabis habit is damaging their relationships, or they find it’s affecting their memory and concentration.

Some find they have become isolated from friends and family, or maybe the side-effects leave them paranoid, depressed, anxious and wasted. Scared to go out of the front door unless absolutely necessary.

Others have the self-knowledge to recognise that they are smoking to cover up uncomfortable feelings and emotions. Many have stepped out of denial and simply accept that they are psychologically addicted and want to regain a sense of freedom. Often there are practical problems of debt, study or employment slippage.

Physically, If you’re inhaling smoke in to your lungs especially alongside tobacco you are possibly going to be concerned about the risks of cancers and the damage you are inflicting on your heart and respiratory system.

The fact is that globally Cannabis is the second most widely used mood altering drug or substance after alcohol.

In most places around the world its presence is almost totally mainstream regardless of prohibition or legality to the point where in certain countries, where it is legal to do so Doctors prescribe Cannabis even to those who they know have had previous problems of dependency. In a growing number of other jurisdictions Cannabis for recreational use is legal.

So tens of millions of people use Cannabis every day, and it would be unrealistic to think that all users are happy users and that nobody has problems when they try and quit or even when they just want to take a break for a while

"So many people I meet who use Cannabis obsessively would love to be in a position where they could control their use again like they did during their early years of getting that pure high.

Although they recognize the negative effects of overuse, they can’t imagine quitting completely because there are still elements of enjoyment".

Problems occur if, as with all potentially addictive substances and behaviours you have the sort of character or genetic makeup that means you find it difficult stopping yourself over-consuming the things you enjoy. It’s as if the brain lacks the critical on/off valve that warns us that our lack of control is becoming extreme and is interfering with other areas of our lives.

Denial and addiction go hand in hand. Your mind can always find excuses, assuring you that your relationship with Cannabis is absolutely normal, a reward, an essential aid to sleep, or something you just can’t relax without. Possibly you believe it to be a tool that you need to function creatively. Or you might be in denial as to how much of your monthly income is spent on weed.

For most Cannabis users the idea of stopping forever is quite literally terrifying. Some see clearly how their fixation keeps them stuck, but their emotional ties are so powerful that the fear of letting go is stronger than the motivation for positive change. Perhaps you would like to take a break from Cannabis or be in more control of your use and yet maybe the idea of stopping even for a short while seems impossible.

• Because getting stoned is what you do.

• Because sometimes it feels as if it’s what you’ve always done.

• Because you can barely remember a time when you didn’t use Cannabis.

• Because you’ve smoked weed since you were a kid, without thought, without question.

Negative Consequences??

Bearing all that in mind perhaps you have begun to consider, like I eventually did, that the longer I’d been smoking weed, the more the return, the enjoyment, just wasn't there any more.

"It was literally just something I did, something I had to do. Something that was part of me.

But because it was something I did all of the time the pleasure had been sucked out of it".

This platform is designed to let you consider your relationship with weed openly and honestly, and then help you to begin to make some profound choices as to whether Cannabis really adds anything to the quality of your life anymore.

Many Cannabis users, perhaps the majority, are happy to smoke weed every day, but one definition of dependence is...

"The compulsive use of a substance, or behaviour, to the point where there is no effective choice but continued use despite negative consequences".

‘Negative consequences’, that’s the big one, and most Cannabis users find that most of the time their lives function reasonably well. But everyday cannabis use has a way of keeping us stuck, of subtly stopping us getting more out of life. It’s just so much easier to smoke a joint than to do … well, so many other things, especially those things that requires a little effort and to be uncomfortable for a while. Is that a negative consequence?

And then again sometimes there are more pressing negative consequences. Our judgement is off, we forget important commitments, say or do the wrong thing. Stuff that we regret afterwards because our head was in the clouds at the time.

If any of this is resonating please feel free to explore this website. Further sections are designed to help you prepare to quit or take a break from using Cannabis and then, when ready, to support you through the adjustment period and any physical/psychological withdrawal symptoms you may experience.

The who and the why

I started running Clearhead workshops together with my friend Adrienne maybe two or three years after we both quit.

The original idea was to strengthen our own recovery by creating an online support network, then came the in-person workshops.

Sadly Adrienne passed away a few years later but her memory lives on. She was wise and funny and is greatly missed by all who knew her.

The writings on this site are based on my book No Need for Weed which came directly from listening to the stories of those who attended the workshops and is now available for the first time in an electronic format.

Back then I wasn't so shy about using my birth name but ended up with a bit too much unkind abuse from people who thought that I was a prohibitionist. I never have been, quite the opposite in fact.

I decided to revisit offering support to those wishing to change their relationship with Cannabis because

No Need For Weed had been out of print for a long time and still every month people get in touch asking where they could buy the book or the hypnotherapy recording I produced, or whether I still run the Clearhead workshops.

I've reached a point in my life where I no longer feel the pain of the problems and difficulties that kept me smoking weed long after I wish I'd been able to quit. I smell weed on the street every day and feel good that I made the break and am happy to pass on some of what I learnt in doing so.

Clearhead 2023/2024