I started smoking marijuana at around 13 years of age right through to 30. I’ve had a few other addictions too, but marijuana topped the list. The practice got the better of me when I planted my own gardens. I thought I’d never quit. I even said there’s nothing wrong with smoking marijuana because it’s only a plant. But I was totally wrong. Just because God made something, it doesn’t mean it is for us to ingest. Should we eat poisonous plants? Thank God, I finally stopped. I know you can quit too.

Looking back, I’ve realised that the practice was killing me inside out. There were a whole lot of other things happening within and around me. Firstly, I was abusing the plant. Maybe God created this plant for another use which I hold we haven’t found out yet. Secondly, my health was declining because all I ever wanted to do was smoke. I wasn’t doing anything good for my own life. I was pouring out my life into a ditch. I wasn’t controlling my life. The addiction was enslaving me. I wanted to be free of addiction and use my God-given brains. Sometimes I felt like I was some kind of machine that needed some fuel to run. But I’m not a machine; I am an image bearer of Christ. When I realized that the good feeling the addiction gave didn’t last, only feigned life, and was only leaving me with scars of emptiness, I wanted to be free of it.

The quitting process didn’t come easy. Firstly, I laid my burden before the Lord in prayer. I tried to fill my mind with the Word of God. I disassociated myself from the addicts I used to hang out with. I stopped going places that would only put me at risk. When the urge arose, I had a good bath and took a nap. After some months of doing this, the urge of smoking went away.