Does Quitting Marijuana Increase Anxiety and Depression?

Cat, I had been using marijuana daily (and in copious amounts) for three years before I quit. I didn't experience that many ill side effects from it. About every other night I would have trouble falling asleep (I was too wired since I was used to taking so many depressants throughout the day), but that was about it for me. I think a big reason for this is because I was too caught up in working and school to really give the drugs much thought. So, I guess my best advice would be to try to keep yourself occupied with something else. I'm not sure how much you're spending on marijuana, but (at least in my case) the money I saved from not buying it could have easily went towards a membership at the gym or some craft workshops.

Hi Cat,
I applaud you for taking the first step of working at quitting. I know that it makes it so much harder when you suffer from anxiety and depression. Just know that the only way out is through. Once you get through this, you will have a much clearer mind to deal with the anxiety and depression. I know this from personal experience. I thought that I would suffer much more without smoking marijuana and, to my surprise, I found that smoking marijuana was actually contributing to my depression.

There is a school of thought that people who have problems with marijuana have problems that go beyond the marijuana. Your anxiety and depression have a life of their own. The average pot smoker may find life without pot boring. You are probably dependent on the idea of smoking pot. Yes, smoking pot can have a pleasant effect. So can watching your favorite tv show. Marijuana is not an opiate. You can get over it if that is what you need to do. If you think you are dependent on pot, you need to find out what the real problem is. Quitting smoking will probably make it easier to deal with the real problem. If you think that smoking pot is a problem for you, it is at least a part of the problem. There is no excuse for pot being a problem in anyone's life. If you have a medical need for pot, that should be no problem. If you feel a need to quit smoking and have a non-medical problem quitting, it is not pot that is the problem. Tobacco, opiates, alcohol all are addictive. Pot is not. Most of the advice given above by others can be useful, but remember that the problem probably goes beyond the pot.
If you are spending enough money on pot that it hurts your lifestyle, you have a problem. Pot should be the cheapest drug on the market. I realize that the day of a $20 lid of Columbian Gold is long gone. but a $5 bag should last one person several days. If that sounds unreasonable to you, you do not need to smoke pot. Legitimate medical problems are different.
There are legitimate medical conditions for which marijuana is the best solution, and anxiety and depression may be associated with them. Cancer is one of them. Unless your anxiety has such a cause, pot is probably not called for.

Like everything in this pulchritudinous world, everything that's being used excessively may cause torment upon breaking up with. Marijuana isn't an exception, no.

Since I've quit I've experienced quite a lot of anxiety. I'm not sure if it i withdrawal symptom or if I have always been prone to anxiety and I was self medicating. You can definitely ease the anxiety with exercise and meditation. Also try to reduce stress as much as possible.

I think just like any other drug, trying to stop usage could cause certain feelings and a sense of need in a person. The body get use to the things you put into it and reacts a certain way when those things are suddenly gone. If a person is a frequent user, then it could be hard for them ti stop using. I would think that it is easier for some who only uses every once in a while.

I'm not sure if this has been proven, but I read the other day via The Huffington Post that a new study has found marijuana to be effective against depression. It acts almost like your anti-depressant (the all-natural way).

Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/marijauna-depression_n_6622126.html

Many studies indicate that cigarette addiction is far worse than any opiate, and can in no way be compared to marijuana. Smoking Marijuana is a habit, just as flipping a coin may be a habit for some people, or perhaps jogging every day (although the jogging may have a chemical addiction component due to endorphins) The chemical addiction to cigarettes is extreme for many people. This is why smokers are usually given nicotine patches when hospitalized, as withdrawal from it can be fatal if you are in poor health.
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I meant to reply to a different person, who had compared quitting marijuana to quitting cigarettes of Heroin.

If you suffer from anxiety then pot should bring you down to a mellow state of being. If you get of it that doesn't mean you are getting anxiety attacks, nor is getting stringer. You just got use to being slower because of the pot.

Yes. It does. No matter what people say, quitting something you've been using as a 'security' blanket so to speak is going to incur normal increases in anxiety and depression over not being able to use. This is just a normal way to think and feel - you're not different. The difference comes in what you choose to do after you come down to keep away from this. Like someone else mentioned earlier in this thread, the list of options to do like meditating and such - that is what you need to focus on. Fill your mind with other things so that your depression and anxiety can't take over - they have no room or time.