If you struggle with a substance use disorder, you are not alone. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 48.5 million people struggled with addiction.[1]
The best way to overcome a substance use disorder is to attend an addiction treatment program. But what should you do after you complete substance abuse treatment? Because your journey isn’t over, it’s best to enter a sober living home that can offer the recovery support you need to remain sober.
While most sober living homes prohibit the use of marijuana, some of them understand that medical cannabis is necessary for certain individuals. For example, it can be used to treat chronic pain, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more. If you use medical cannabis in recovery from addiction, you’ll need to find a sober living home that allows marijuana use.
Thankfully, programs like Patrick’s Purpose allow you to use medical cannabis to manage a diagnosed condition. When looking for a marijuana-friendly sober living program, you should choose one that has the right rules to keep you safe, offers assistance in building life skills, provides support for medical marijuana use, and charges reasonable rent prices.
In this article, you will learn:
- What is medical cannabis used for?
- What is a sober living home?
- How to choose a weed-friendly sober living home
What is Medical Cannabis Used For?
While weed is considered an addictive substance, it also has legitimate medicinal uses. Even though marijuana can lead to addiction, it does not carry significant health risks like other drugs. In other words, it’s one of the safest mind-altering substances you can use.
That said, medical cannabis can treat a few different conditions, including:[2]
- Severe chronic pain
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscle spasms
- Chronic pain or nausea from cancer treatment
- HIV/AIDS
- Glaucoma
- Seizures and epilepsy
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Eating disorders
Medical marijuana can provide significant benefits to those suffering from chronic pain. Additionally, it might help increase the appetite among people with eating disorders or side effects from cancer treatment. Even though marijuana alters your cognition, the benefits often outweigh the risks.
Medical cannabis patients in recovery from addiction should be careful when using weed. Because you can get addicted to marijuana, you should only use it as prescribed. If you avoid using weed to get high and only use it to treat your symptoms, you should be able to experience the benefits without relapsing.
What is a Sober Living Home?
Sober living homes are transitional housing programs that help people learn how to maintain their sobriety outside of a treatment program. To explain, inpatient rehab often shields people from outside triggers. While this is helpful during treatment, it means they’ll have a hard time adjusting to the outside world once they leave the facility.
Thankfully, sober living homes are there to help ease this transition. You’ll have access to support from your house manager and your peers. You’ll also be heavily encouraged to attend sober support groups like 12-step meetings and continue your therapy sessions.
Most sober living homes have rules in place to keep their residents safe and maintain their sobriety. For example, you might have a nightly curfew, have to sign out when you leave the home, and submit to randomized drug and alcohol testing. These rules make you less likely to relapse while keeping you accountable for your sobriety.
How to Choose a Sober Living That Allows Medical Marijuana Use
If you are a medical cannabis patient, you might have a hard time finding a sober living home that allows you to use weed. Thankfully, there are options out there. For example, Patrick’s Purpose is a sober living home in California that allows its patients to partake in medical cannabis use.
If you are looking for a marijuana-friendly sober living home, choose one that offers:
Rules and Regulations
Even though you are allowed to engage in medical cannabis use, your sober living home should still have rules and regulations you are expected to meet. For example, you might have a nightly curfew, have to sign out on a sheet every time you leave the home, and participate in randomized drug and alcohol testing.
These rules make you less likely to relapse and keep everyone in the sober living home accountable for their sobriety.
Support for Medical Cannabis Patients
Because you are at risk of developing an addiction to weed, you need to have some form of support specifically targeted at your medical cannabis consumption. For example, at Patrick’s Purpose, we offer Go Green Meetings to ensure our clients using medical marijuana have a community of support to rely on.
During these meetings, you’ll be able to talk with others who use medical cannabis and share coping skills you use to ensure you avoid a relapse.
Assistance in Building Life Skills
In addition to helping you cope with your medical cannabis use, you also need to develop the life skills that are necessary for independent living. Your sober living home should help you learn how to obtain and keep a job, help you sign up for school, and show you how to navigate the healthcare system, public transportation, or government assistance like food stamps.
Reasonable Rent Prices
Lastly, while medical cannabis might be your first priority, the price is probably equally as important. You don’t want to choose a sober living program that is too expensive for you. In other words, you need to shop around to find a sober living house that offers reasonable rent prices.
You can find reasonably priced sober living homes in areas of your city that are not known for charging high rent. Additionally, some sober living programs offer sliding scale fees, which only charge you what you can afford based on your income.
Get Connected to a Recovery Residence that Allows Cannabis Use
At Patrick’s Purpose, we operate sober living homes with the understanding that cannabis use can be beneficial. If you engage in cannabis use to treat a condition like chronic pain or PTSD, we will allow you to remain at our sober living program. Additionally, our recovery residence offers support for our tenants who engage in marijuana use in the form of Go Green Meetings.
Our sober living program will help you achieve and maintain long-term sobriety, make your daily life easier to cope with, and help you reach your recovery goals one at a time.
Contact us today for more information on our marijuana-friendly sober living program in California.
References:
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): Highlights for the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
- Medline Plus: Medical Marijuana