Personally, unless you are smoking weed because you are trying to curb a craving, I think smoking pot makes it worse. It helps until you realize it doesn't help and then it just becomes more difficult to not find a real substitute that will help at all cost. Alcohol is a much more likely substitute if you are not trying to stop because at least with alcohol, you can sleep through withdrawal, but weed only helps with withdrawal symptoms if that is what you want weed to help with. The mental side of addiction is why this whole phenomenon is most surprising.