Weed over Cutting???

[Think with my heart]

I'm a cutter. have been since I was 12. It's slowly getting worse. My friend at school is also, or at least was. He said he beat cutting by smoking weed when he was upset instead. He's offered some to me before but I told him some other time I would try it.

what I want to know is SHOULD I try it? Should I do something that is still bad for me, yet still slightly better than hurting myself?

With hurting myself, I know it's wrong because at this point I could be one wrong cut from hitting a vein and bleeding to death. I know that Weed is bad,and harmful, But which is better?

All I've done at this point to stop cutting is try alternatives. But it's getting harder. Please help?

[Astrophile.]

Neither is better. They both can have effects on someone. Weed is also not legal in a lot of the United States, unless prescribed for a medical reason. To be honest, no one will endorse weed to help you stop cutting. You're just replacing the behavior.

Which alternatives have you tried? Are you in therapy? On medication(s)?

Things will change-- you don't want to start something else that will negatively impact you, because you said it yourself, it IS still bad. There are other ways to cope, and if you want, I will share how I stopped cutting. However, I do not know what specifically you have tried, if you're in therapy, and/or on meds. Those will all affect my answer, so if you want to know, let me know and I'll gladly help. But, no one is going to tell you to either a) do drugs or b) continue cutting yourself. We don't promote harmful behaviors here.

[Coffee.]

I wouldn't recommend it. While the previous user is right that we're not going to endorse marijuana, I would suggest to look into medical marijuana to a user who lived in a state with medical marijuana, was of the age to get a card, and had a condition that is positively impacted by marijuana. Cutting is not one of those things. While it may be good for your friend, substance abuse is not a positive coping mechanism. What alternatives have you tried? Maybe we can help walk you through additional options.

[JazzyJazz]

Smoking weed is a slippery slope because it's very easy to become psychologically dependent and the more you smoke, the more you need to smoke to get the same effect. Also, the come down is not fun. You might feel good when you're high, but this only makes sober reality even worse. So you want to get high again, and the same thing happens.

Meanwhile you begin to lose a grip on reality, can feel like your life is out of control, and other areas of your life may be negatively affected (such as school work, relationships, finances, etc).

I used it as a coping mechanism for a while and I can honestly say that it's not a good idea for people who are prone to feeling unstable.

I agree that self harm is not a safe way of dealing with things, but nor is smoking weed. There is a thread on self harm alternatives here and as the above posters have said, they will gladly give you more suggestions once they know what you've already tried.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

[Synæsthesia]

I personally don't think weed is very harmful, but it's still illegal in a lot of places, so we obviously can't recommend it.

I can tell you my own experiences with weed & self-harm.

I don't use smoking as a replacement behavior for cutting, but I do both behaviors daily at this point. Again, I don't see smoking as that harmful and I live in a state with legal medical AND recreational marijuana.

Smoking weed helps me with some of the symptoms of depression & anxiety, but I'm not going to recommend self-medicating. If you go into smoking weed with an addiction mindset, it's much more likely that you'll become psychologically dependent on it.

From personal experience, weed & cutting can be a very bad combo.
Before my recent relapse, I had about 2 1/2 years self-harm free. Meaning: the last time I cut was before I'd ever smoked weed.
Once I experienced the extreme high that comes from being stoned & cutting, I couldn't stop. I wish I'd never relapsed & never had that experience, but it's too late for me.

Even if you tell yourself that you're smoking INSTEAD of cutting, you may end up cutting while you're stoned. From one self-harmer to another, that is an experience you don't want to have. Ever. It'll make it a million times harder to stop cutting b/c the high from cutting while under the influence can be very extreme. VERY very addicting.

Please don't self-medicate when you're not in a good mental place. Smoking instead of cutting is not recovery: it's just replacing one behavior with another. Plus, if you're smoking weed for the same reasons that you were cutting, it'll be much more likely for you to develop a problem with marijuana.