There is no single right way to stop. People quit successfully both ways, and the research on cannabis specifically is thinner than most articles admit. What follows is how to think about the choice, not a promise that one method beats the other.
The short version
Stop today if you have a deadline. Nothing clears THC faster than not adding more. Every session pushes your clean date further out, so if you are counting days until a test, the decision is already made.
Taper if the last few times you stopped abruptly went badly, or if cannabis is holding together your sleep, your appetite or your evenings and you want to replace those things one at a time rather than all at once.
What tapering actually does
Tapering is not about clearing THC sooner. It is about making the first week survivable by spreading the drop over a week or two instead of taking it in one night.
If you use several times a day, going to zero at once removes every cue, every routine and every coping habit in a single evening. Cutting to mornings only, then evenings only, then nothing gives you a chance to find out what each session was actually doing for you.
A taper only works if it ends. Set the last day before you start, write it down, and treat it as fixed. An open-ended "cutting back" is the most common way people spend three months at the same amount they started at.
What cold turkey actually does
Stopping all at once front-loads the discomfort. Withdrawal, when it happens, tends to start within a day or two, peak in the first week, and ease over the following weeks. That is a hard week, but it is one week, and everything after it gets easier rather than harder.
Cold turkey also removes the daily decision. Tapering means deciding how much, every day, while you still have some in the house. Some people find that harder than stopping.
Questions that decide it
Do you have a test date? Then stop today, and read how long THC stays in urine for what to expect.
Have you stopped before? Think about what happened. If you stopped abruptly and got through the first week, you can do it again. If you stopped abruptly and went back within three days, a taper changes the shape of the attempt.
How much is in the house? A taper with a full jar is a different proposition than a taper with two days left. Many people find the cleanest version is: use what is left on a schedule, buy nothing more, and let the supply run out on a date you chose.
What happens at your usual time? Whichever you pick, the hardest part is the hour you would normally have used. Decide now what goes there instead: a walk, a shower, a call, an errand. "Not smoking" is not a plan; "walking to the corner and back at nine" is.
Either way, the first week is the work
The method matters less than what you do around it. Tell one person your plan and your date. Get the gear out of the house rather than into a drawer. Expect a few bad nights of sleep and a shorter temper, and know that both are temporary and normal.
If you are struggling, that is not a failure of willpower and it is worth talking to a doctor or a counselor. In the US you can call or text 988 any time, and SAMHSA's free, confidential helpline is 1-800-662-4357.
What the research says
Cannabis withdrawal is a recognized clinical syndrome, with symptoms that typically begin within the first day or two after stopping, peak in the first week, and resolve over roughly two to three weeks (Budney et al., American Journal of Psychiatry). Estimates of how many regular users experience it vary widely between studies, which is why this page describes a range rather than a number.
Evidence directly comparing a gradual reduction against abrupt cessation in cannabis is limited, and existing trials are small. Treat anyone claiming one method is clearly superior with suspicion.