New to all this, or worried about your own use? These are the questions that come up most, with short, honest answers. Each one links to the page that covers it in full.
It gets you high: relaxed, giggly, hungry, sometimes anxious or a bit paranoid. How strong it feels and how long it lasts comes down to the dose and how you take it. Smoked, it hits in minutes and fades in a couple of hours. Eaten, it comes on slow and hits harder.
What it doesYes, for some people. Around one in eleven who use it become dependent, and that climbs the younger and more often you use. It isn't heroin, but “you can't get hooked on weed” isn't true either.
Is it addictive?In some ways, yes. No fatal overdose, less violence. In others it carries its own risks, to mental health and dependence. Safer doesn't mean safe. We put the two side by side so you can judge for yourself.
Myths, straightThe idea that weed leads to harder drugs doesn't hold up the way it's usually told. Most people who use it never touch anything else. We walk through what the evidence actually shows.
Gateway drugFor most adults using now and then, the risks are modest. They climb with heavy use, a young brain, or a family history of psychosis. No scare stories, just an honest look at who has the most reason to be careful.
The risksNo. Cannabis is Class B: illegal to have, share or grow. A lot of possession cases end in a warning or a fine, but it's still a criminal offence, and supply is treated far more seriously.
Is it legal?No. CBD is the part of the plant that doesn't get you high. It's legal, sold everywhere, and nowhere near as proven as the marketing makes out. A different thing entirely.
CBD, honestlyIt depends what you want, and how hard even a short break feels. A tolerance break resets things so less gets you high again. Cutting down means you keep using, but with firm rules. Quitting is a full stop. If you're not sure, start by getting honest about your use.
Where to startNot with willpower. With a bit of honest groundwork. Knowing why you're doing it and what to expect makes the first days much easier to ride out. There's no scored quiz, just a few questions worth sitting with before day one.
Before you startIt's information, not failure. Struggling to stop even briefly is one of the clearer signs use has drifted from a choice toward a dependence. That's the thing worth taking seriously, without any shame attached.
Is it a problem?Pick a length and set a fixed end date. Get the weed and the kit out of easy reach. Expect the first few days to be the roughest, and put something deliberate in the evening slot it used to fill. Then come back on far less than before. That's how you cash in the reset instead of wasting it.
How to take a T-breakEven a few days takes the edge off. A couple of weeks makes a real dent. Around a month lets the receptors THC acts on largely recover. For a length tuned to your own use rather than a rule of thumb, the estimator asks three honest questions.
T-Break EstimatorThat's tolerance, and the good news is it's reversible. A break lets the receptors recover, so afterwards far less gets you there again. You save money, and you get an honest read on the habit.
Why tolerance buildsThe first fortnight feels almost identical, the same mild withdrawal. What differs is where you're headed. A T-break is a planned pause you mean to come back from. Quitting is a full stop. Same road, different end.
The differenceMost of it is packed into the first week: irritability, cravings in waves, broken sleep, low appetite. It peaks around days two to six and eases over two to four weeks. None of it is dangerous, and it follows a fairly predictable arc.
The withdrawal timelineCannabis suppresses REM sleep, so stopping brings a rebound of vivid dreams and broken nights before it settles, usually within two to four weeks. The vivid dreams throw nearly everyone. They're a sign your sleep is repairing, not that something's wrong.
Sleep, and what helpsYes. It's the reverse of the munchies, and common for the first week or so. Eat lightly and regularly even if food doesn't appeal. It passes.
What to expectGive it about fifteen minutes. A craving rises, peaks and falls on its own, whether or not you act on it. You just have to get across the gap. Start a timer, leave the room or keep your hands busy, and let the wave pass.
Ride out a cravingYour use is doing a job. Pull out the weed but leave the need it was meeting, and the gap pulls you straight back. So the work is to find what it does for you and cover it another way, not to white-knuckle an empty space.
Using to copeFor a while, the colour gets turned down: food, music, company. That flatness is your reward system recalibrating after regular THC, and it's temporary. The things that feel muted now tend to come back richer as it lifts, usually over weeks to a couple of months.
The flatness that liftsReplace the ritual, don't just remove it. Put something deliberate in the same slot, a walk, a shower, cooking, a series, so you're not staring at an empty evening. That slot is where a break most often falls apart.
Cravings & triggersYes. Using less is a real goal in its own right, and often a stepping stone to stopping later. Concrete rules beat vague intentions: “only Friday and Saturday”, “nothing before 8pm”, “never alone”. For heavy daily users, though, moderating is sometimes harder than a clean break.
How to cut downRegular tolerance breaks are the most useful tool you have. They reset the receptors so less gets you high. Potency matters too: strong flower and concentrates push tolerance up the fastest.
Smarter useAround one in eleven people who use cannabis become dependent, higher for daily and younger users. A private, evidence-based self-check (the CUDIT-R) gives you an honest read in eight questions. Nothing is saved or sent.
Take the self-checkNo. One slip is a lapse, not a relapse, and it doesn't wipe out the progress your body and brain have already made. What matters is the next choice: reset, get curious about the trigger, and carry on. Most people who stop for good have tried more than once.
After a slipNothing on this site is saved or sent anywhere. Take what's useful, ignore the rest, and come back when you need it.