Cannabis addiction almost destroyed me

I tried quitting, just smoking on weekends, leaving my cannabis with someone else so I wouldn't be tempted, and not buying any. But for five years the longest I went without was a few days. I couldn't do it alone."

From the outside, it can be difficult to understand how a drug which prompted James to feel acutely lonely and confused could come to control his life.

He explains: "At the start it felt really pleasurable. During the first five years, even before the addiction really took hold, it's unlikely that any amount of nagging would have stopped me.

"Cannabis has a subtle way of raising your senses, offering you a slightly altered perspective on life and the everyday nine to five routine. Music sounds better and colours are more vivid. You can see beauty in an ugly city; things which other people are immune to.

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