Celebrating 420 in Quarantine

Chantelle
April 20, 2020
Addiction / Healing / Healthy Living / Mental Health / Sobriety

Today is a day for celebration. 420 is commenced, but there's only one issue: We're all in quarantine. Since this is the first year in over 15 years that I haven't spent 420 with other people, I figured I share it with all of you. As we all know, and for those of you who don't know, I am 100% pro cannabis. This includes legalization for all medical and recreational use. Weed always gets a bad reputation of being a gateway drug. For me, weed has helped me stay OFF of drugs. I've been sober for over four years now and the only medication I use to stay sober is marijuana. There isn't a better day to celebrate my appreciation for cannabis than today, 420. For those of you who still think cannabis is dangerous, or the devil's lettuce, I wanted to list some of the other things found in the scientific study by Harvard University on the medical uses of Marijuana. Cannabis has so many medicinal properties that could…

Four Years Sober: Still An Addict

Chantelle
January 7, 2020
Addiction / Healing / Sobriety

January 8, 2020 marks four years sober for me; I haven't had a single alcoholic drink in four years. Sobriety is one of the hardest things I've had to go through and I'm very grateful to have been able to get myself to where I am now. I'm still an addict though, and I think I will most likely always be one. I just put up a video that went over the pros and cons of sobriety. I'll put the video here in case you want to check it out. https://youtu.be/9zhaQppcHok While I was making that video, I came to the conclusion of, "Even though I'm four years sober, I'm still an addict." I just replaced alcohol with various things. The main thing I've replaced alcohol with is food. I definitely have struggled with food addiction my entire life, but I didn't truly realize it until I was actually sober. The definition of food addiction according to Medical News Today is, "When the need to eat becomes compulsive or uncontrollable.…

Structural model of Fentanyl on the blackboard.

American Addiction – The Rise of Fentanyl and Synthetic Opiods

America has an epidemic on their hands when it comes to drug overdoses. The number of deaths has nearly doubled since 2007. According to the NIH, in 2007 the number of deaths as a result from a drug overdose was at 36,010. In 2017, we saw 70,237 people die from drug overdose and it has only gone up since then. The biggest killer on our hands has skyrocketed to the most lethal only in the last four years. Prescription opioids were the number one killer since 2001, following the crack epidemic that topped the drug charts before then. That was until 2016 when a synthetic opioid by the name of Fentanyl surpassed the prescription opioids on the charts. In 2017, out of the 70,237 people who died, 28,466 of them died from fentanyl overdose. Prescription opioids come in second with 17,029 and Heroin in third with 15,482. (4. Cocaine- 13,942 | 5. Benzos- 11,537 | 6. Psycho-stimulants (Meth)- 10,333 | 7. Other (Mostly Antidepressants)- 5,269) Opioids are obviously this eras…

Avoiding Conformity

Chantelle
May 20, 2019
Addiction / Mental Health / Personal Development / Sobriety / Unconventional Living

Many of us go through life following the path that many generations before us have been following. Society criticizes anyone who tries to walk on their own path and break away from the life of conformity. Stepping out of the traditional path is challenging in many ways, but what is more rewarding than living the life you want to live? It has taken me a very long time to get to a point where I feel comfortable stepping out of conformity. Maybe some of you can relate to this. When I was a kid, my parents were pretty strict. I had a lot of rules and lived a pretty sheltered life. I lived with my parents as an only child in suburbia. Both of my parents worked a lot growing up and I was alone often. I watched them work their way from a studio apartment with a pull out bed to a 2400 sq ft home. I am actually extremely grateful for my upbringing, and that I had such…

Three Years Dry: What My Sobriety Feels Like

Chantelle
January 9, 2019
Addiction / Personal Development / Sobriety

As of yesterday (1/8/19), I am officially three years sober. Now, anyone in the 12-step program might argue with me about the term “sober” since I still actively use cannabis. I live in a legal state and consider the use to be medicinal, but everyone will have their own opinion. Whatever your stance is on smoking weed, by sober I mean free from alcohol. I haven’t had a drink in three years. This is something that I would consider an accomplishment. People who know me and care about me tell me they’re proud of me so it must be an accomplishment of some sort. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything, though. That’s probably because I still struggle with it on a regular, if not daily, basis. I don’t know why I think that drinking is going to make me feel better when I can easily remember how much it controlled my life. I didn’t go more than two days without drinking, and I couldn’t just have “one or…