Former addict reveals how his body changed after he quit smoking weed for months

Warning: This article contains discussion of drug addiction which some readers may find distressing.

A man who has been ‘addicted to’ smoking weed for ‘so long’ revealed how his body changed over six months after quitting.

Here in the UK, cannabis is a Class B drug and illegal for recreational use. However, in countries like Canada and a number of states and territories in the US and Australia, it’s been legalised.

Weed is also popularly used for medicinal purposes and ‘medical cannabis’ can occasionally be prescribed on the NHS.

But cannabis can have a negative effect on mental health and while some may think it is non-addictive, it is possible to become addicted to it.

And Dorian Develops took to YouTube to explain how at just over six months, it was the longest he’d gone without smoking it seen he was a teenager, having been the one typically smoking ‘24/7’.

Dorian says he was smoking nearly all the time (Getty Stock Image)

The creator admitted that going without his ‘drug of choice’ was ‘very hard’ with the first few weeks being ‘terrible’ but found that every month it was feeling ‘easier’.

He also points out this is just all his personal take on the benefits of going sober: “I’m not a medical professional, I’m just some dude who smoked a lot of weed.”

Mental health

In the video from February 2024, Dorian says he’s ‘always’ felt as though he’s struggled with ‘anxiety and depression to some degree’ and believes he may have been ‘self-medicating’.

“After being sober for a while, I’m noticing that my anxiety and depression was definitely elevated by smoking weed every day, it wasn’t reduced,” he explained as he noted ‘how much better’ it is now that he’s stopped.

Physical health

Dorian says his lungs have ‘taken a lot of damage’ from years of smoking and while he used to get high and do Jiu-Jitsu, he didn’t realise ‘how much it was hurting’ his cardio and stamina.

“Now I don’t feel as winded anymore, I feel like I have way more endurance in my lungs, I feel like I can breathe easier, I don’t wheeze anymore,” he said, as he believes he’s starting to ‘repair a lot of that damage’.

Weed is still illegal for recreational use in the UK (Getty Stock Image)

Relationship with food

While Dorian says he often had great ‘self-control’ when it came to eating when he was smoking, he would often take in ‘so much extra s****y food’. He adds that he was ‘borderline pre-diabetic a year ago’ and made big changes to his health, including giving up weed.

“Stoners love food, giving up weed has made me have a different relationship with food which is good,” he added. “It’s helped my health a lot.”

Productivity

Noting how he was regularly feeling ‘foggy’ from being high, Dorian says his productivity was impacted and he felt less motivated.

“I felt like I would have to read the same thing over and over because I couldn’t process it,” he noted, as things often felt ‘harder’ to do.

“It’s so much easier to be motivated to go to the gym when you don’t wake up and smoke,” Dorian continued. “[You] have more energy and you just have more mental clarity and focus. It’s a lot easier for you to want to set goals and be ambitious and do bigger things when you’re not in that weed brain fog state all the time.

“Being able to be organised and be productive is something that has improved so much in the last six months, especially in the last three.”

Sleep

Feeling far more energised since quitting, Dorian has also found that his ‘sleep feels much better’.

With eight hours of sleep, he wakes up feeling ‘great’ compared to when he used to sleep more but feel groggier.

“I felt like I could sleep forever,” he said of when he was smoking yet still ‘feeling tired’.

Plus, he’s found that he ‘dreams again’ in his sleep compared to before.

If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24/7, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week.