Giving up a marijuana habit is no more difficult than giving up any other addictive behavior, and in fact it may even be a little easier. Here's why:

Like other narcotic substances, the active ingredient in cannabis causes an addiction response in humans. The good news, however, is that it's not a very powerful one, unlike more dangerous substances such as heroine, alcohol or tobacco.

The withdrawl period for THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes the high, is the same as that for nicotine, about 72 hours. Unfortunately, unlike deadly and legal nicotine, there's no over-the-counter THC patch, leaving the would-be ex-pot-head with no option but to suffer through a long three days on a diet of cold turkey. Again, the good news is marijuana's a pussy among drugs, and withdrawl symptoms don't get much worse than crankiness, loss of appitite, unusual dreams and a sudden loss of interest in watching Cartoon Network.

Putting the pot away gets trickier on the habitual end of the addiction. The physical addiction is mild and withdrawl relatively brief, but pot smokers have usually spent years emersing themselves in the culture and the triggers for using are all around. A house-cleaning might be in order -- especially those pipes, papers and stash boxes -- and the former doper might have to find a new peer group because while some of your old pals will be right behind you, some you'll never see again. Embrace the change.

If you're the kind of toker who gets high and gets active you might not have as great a problem with triggers that set off the urge to smoke as tokers who like to get high and zone out. Or then again you might, so either way it's best to plan ahead: You're going to have to find something to do with the time you used to spend stoned.

Have confidence in yourself. You can do it. But, if you make a mistake, don't harsh your trip. Smoking pot is something you enjoy and it's going to be hard giving it up. Be mellow with yourself and keep trying. Seriously, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again and all that crap.

And good luck.