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My smoking cessation journey

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Leif explores the dynamic and challenging relationship between cannabis and tobacco.

My name is Leif Harris. I’m a Youth Advisor for Exploring the Link. I used to smoke 30-40 cigarettes a day on average. I also smoked about a quarter pound of weed (114 grams) a month. I’ve struggled with tobacco and cannabis, and it’s been a tough internal battle. I’ve noticed that over the past few years of working towards being smoke free, that I was emotionally linked to using cannabis and tobacco.

At an upcoming conference, the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation, I have the opportunity to learn from the professionals. They also have the opportunity to learning from myself and other individuals with lived experience with reducing or quitting smoking cannabis and/or tobacco.

Based on my experience, I’ve noticed how cannabis and tobacco have had an impact on my mental health. Dependency on a substance, in this case cannabis and tobacco, led me to experience higher anxiety, withdrawal symptoms, and lack of meaning and purpose.

Tobacco is often described as hardest substance to quit, but I would argue that it’s what you feel most emotionally linked to. In my case, it was cannabis. The more I reduced my cannabis use, the more my tobacco use increased. And the more I reduced tobacco, I increased cannabis. It felt like an unhealthy marriage between these two substances. When I started to decrease both substances simultaneously with the help of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), it became possible. It took a harm reduction approach to help me get to my goal of reducing my use. Six years ago, I started smoking tobacco to die. Today I quit smoking tobacco to live.

I’ve noticed that quitting tobacco and cannabis has four major components: physical, mental, emotional, and a spiritual component as well. To quit both substances, I’ve had to replace the time I used for smoking with new things. I started running again. I began studying at university and now I’m confident and thankful to say that I do have purpose and I do have a meaning. This led me to have a belief. Spelt incorrectly for a reason. Be-Leif. Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Leif Robert Harris, Youth Advisor, Exploring the Link

cannabis2020-04-15T19:59:44+00:00

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We would like to thank the Substance Use and Addictions Program of Health Canada, for their generous support of this project. The opinions and interpretations contained in this website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.

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