Medical marijuana is a hot topic that has slowly made its way into politics, health care, psychiatry, and education — into society itself.
Diverse opinions on either side of the many issues in our society are common; the people in power still argue about gay marriage and abortion, religion and taxes. It’s fair enough for people to take sides, but when it comes to medical marijuana, it is worth the debate.
Like all social and political issues that start slowly and suddenly catch fire, the opinions regarding the use of medicinal marijuana are exhausting. ProCon.org, an accredited website that focuses exclusively on the use of medicinal marijuana asks the question: “Is medical marijuana an effective treatment for depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety, and similar mood disorders?”
Let’s find out.
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This was a good piece, but half the “patients” in the USA are criminals. My point being less than half the states in the USA allow medical marijuana. So what, there are no patients there? I live in florida, no scripts here. I have been using it for about 40 years. I don’t know what a dispensary even looks like. But my use is real. I learned long ago, alcohol gives seizures, marijuana takes them away. There is much said about low thc-high cbd pot, but it does not look a a person as a whole person. Seizures are just the tip of the problem. Depression, situational, and pharmacological are both huge issues. High thc, would seem more promising here. More study needed.
I was diagnosed with very severe OCD, but NONE of the prescriptions significantly reduced my symptoms. Even after trying atypical antipsychotics, and massive dosages of SSRI’s, I failed to have any improvement. My grades suffered as a result. I discovered marijuana and now live symptom free.
For every patient legitimately seeking pot for psychological treatment, the next one to two clearly are just looking for justification to get high. Attack this comment all you want, alleged needers, treatment is exactly that, needs and not wants.
Frankly, I wish more of my colleagues would take a stand and challenge this unwarranted push for pot to treat mood and anxiety disorders. Really, if it worked and patients could function fully in the community with this psychotropic’s effects, why are these patients coming to doctors anyway?
Oh yeah, ’cause it is illegal and not so pure in effect anyway!
Well, Doc, I hate to break it to you, but you seem to be operating from assumptions here. Why would so many people go to all the trouble and expense of getting certified as patients just to get high when they can buy their weed on the street far cheaper than in any dispensary? Dispensaries deliberately price their medicine higher than street prices just to avoid this.
Past that, the fact is that the number of Americans abusing prescription medications is somewhere around 12 million, far greater than the total number of medical marijuana in all states combined. Which is the real public health problem: some percentage of MMJ users getting high legally (horrors!) or millions of people addicted to actual dangerous drugs, mostly opioids?
If you can hold back your cynicism for a moment, there are plenty of researchers like Dr. William Courtney (who advocated juicing raw plants) and ProjectCBD.org (a clearinghouse for information about CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid) who are helping many patients without getting anyone high.
And as to your other comment: I personally lost 10 years of my life to depression, seeing multiple doctors and trying multiple antidepressants. I cleared it all up in less than two weeks by using tiny doses of cannabis, and I don’t get high either.
I have several patients who use marijuana medically and find it has been very helpful especially for certain illnesses, insomnia, and anxiety. Thanks for highlighting this as an option. Ilissa Banhazl, MFT in Glendora
I’m an MMJ patient whose had her card for just about a year and a half. I got my card for chronic pain I’ve had since I was young, before getting my card I’d never tried cannabis. Had my first try (edible) in March 2011, quit all my pharma cold turkey (no withdrawal) end of May 2011. I’ve not taken anything since save one round of antibiotic for a tooth abscess. I don’t think about killing myself every day and I look forward to doing things, cleaning my house, spending time with others, camping, exercising… started a garden this year for the first time in my adult life so we could eat healthier. Cannabis saved my life and I want others to know the joy of living. If I based things on the fact I’m no longer dealing with severe depression I’d still consider cannabis amazing. I’ve experienced so much more – pain relief, increased desire for healthy things & healthy living, decreased risky behaviors, and more. My life is exponentially better than at any other time in my life. I owe my life to sharing this with others.
There are too many vested interests for any sensible drug policy to be established:
(1) Organized crime, of course, which holds the leash of more politicians than you’d like to believe.
(2) The pharmaceutical industry, which will lose out if you can grow stress, anxiety, and depression relieving substances in your own back yard instead of relying on their snake-oil, which nobody knows what the long term effects are and is frequently subject to recalls.
(3) The drug testing industry, which is second only to defense in sucking up wealth with no return on investment.
(4) Dow Chemical, et al, which does not want you to know that you can also produce fuel, plastic, and fabric from the byproducts of hemp.
The insurance industry only thinks it will lose out, which is why they will fight legalization tooth and nail, because they don’t realize they will save large lucre, see item (2).
(5) The firearms industry, which makes millions selling to both law enforcement and drug cartels, and we pay for all of in in the big loop.
Employers also will fight any kind of reform, as they have bought into the entire crock being peddled by the insurance industry.
suffice to say that nothing will change without a collapse of the larger international commerce and
law enforcement system, in which case we, and they, will have bigger problems than what people are doing to feel better.
I have suffered from Bi-Polar disorder since the age of 8, Wasn’t diagnosed till I was 18, I found Cannabis worked much better than the pharmaceutical meds when I was 22 and still say the same now at 38 after trying many more combinations of pharmaceuticals. I have been on the same combination for some time now as it’s the best found for me so far in all that time but they have nothing over Cannabis except for being legal. Here in the UK Medicinal Cannabis is showing no signs of even being tried here soon but there are things going on that could have a good effect in the push for it, That means I can’t even try coming off the meds and seeing how I am just on Cannabis alone, My wife won’t let me grow any and we can’t afford a constant supply. Things need to change fast for the ill whose quality of life can be much improved by this natural, More effective and Safer medication. Legalize Medical Marijuana Worldwide!
Whether medical or not, shouldn’t we, as supposedly free citizens, be able to put whatever we choose into our bodies, given it doesn’t harm anyone else? I would mention alcohol’s affect on others, but I’m sure everyone has heard that before. Dead horse not being beaten today.
ProCon.org is NOT exclusive to medical marijuana. They offer pro-con on many social and political issues. They offer indepth info on either side of many different subjects.
I am bipolar. It was approximately 18 years ago when I had my first episode and became obviously dysfunctional. Slowly over time I have progressively improved. There have been various setbacks for numerous reasons, but with maturity I have tried in several ways to quarantine and squelch, especially the most severe symptoms. Not to be preachy, but my first line of defense is my spirituality. Having authentic, loving and supportive relationships is the glue that keeps me over all accountable and living healthy. I have been prescribed almost all there is to take when it comes to treating bipolar. Not a big fan of the pharmaceutical industry. Lithium killed my thyroid. I put on 30 lbs in less than a month on Zyprexa (pre-cursor for diabetes) …And the list goes on. If I could afford it, I would see a naturopathic doctor and possibly look into hormone therapy. I hate taking pharmaceutical drugs. In the recent years I have only on occasion used cannabis to relieve symptoms. I admit that it does help in some regards. Considering that it is legal now; it sounds like smoking it isn’t the only method to ingest it either, making it an even healthier alternative. I would now consider myself an advocate for medicinal marijuana use on those that receive positive benefits from it. Recreational use? That’s another can of worms. Ask me later. In ’2013′ I plan to attack my illness from every angle I can think of: Prayer and meditation, healthy balanced relationships, healthy diet and excercise, balanced work and play, and the best medication regime that works for me. Great conversation.
I stand by what I wrote last year, I still see too many patients who are acting like substance abusers trying to validate that cannabis use is only therapeutic and should be mandated for treatment options. And while I do not work in a state that allow medical marijuana use, I am surprised to read that dispensaries charge more than what is accessible on the street. Maybe if this is true, the THC content is so potent you are legitimately paying for a high grade product.
Which, by the way, in my opinion, only someone with an ulterior motive would complain that they have to pay more for a better product. You get what you pay for in society, if you need and have valid reasons to access a controlled substance, which THC is irregardless of access, then expect to pay for what will have a therapeutic effect.
I look forward to the coming consequences for the states of Colorado and Washington, hopefully no innocent people will be harmed or dramatically inconvenienced, but these laws were not well thought out before passed.
Really, if this is such a cut and dried issue (bit of pun there), why did it take 30 years to get to fruition? Maybe because we have a President who is admitting more to his background than let on back in 2008? We’ll learn more, eh?
TO THE DOCTOR, YOU ARE TELLING PEOPLE TO GO ONTO THE STREET BECAUSE ITS CHEAPER,? OR ARE YOU SAYING THAT THEY ARE COMPLAINING BECAUSE THEY ARE ADDICTS? ARE CANCER PATIENTS ADDICTS? OR IS THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE EXEMPT? because i AM HEARTBROKEN WATCHING MY CHILD ( i KNOW ITS NOT OK FOR A KID, i HAD HEARD THERE WERE PILLS)he goes to school, gets restrained talks about hurting himself,or sits and cries because he doesnt understand any more than I do why he feels this way!( This is with all the support and therapy a person can get) he is on a slew of medicines that are not working, but is he “High” yeah, hes so doped up, I don’t understand how he can have such anxiety, and meltdowns but he does! He has add, SPD and EI and as a person who had these as well, maybe not the EI, but the other 2 I know I self medicated at 13,m, stopped at 17 and then issues started up, anxiety,insomnia, anger issues, all of the things i had as a kid got rid of as a teen and now im on other drugs to combat these feelings but they do not work nearly as well, HOWEVER, I am an adult and have a child I can not go around breaking a law just because it makes me feel better, do better, and not be angry, or I would, instead I am towing the line while I watch with a sinking heart the dozens of different meds they try on my son knowing full well, that even though he will not hear it from me, he will self medicate as I did when he is older and his friends start experimenting, we talk about not doing drugs all the time, or drinking, but that doesn’t mean when he finds marijuana and all of a sudden he feels better, can eat better, sleep again and not want to hurt anyone that he wont figure it out for himself!!
To some degree, I agree that cannabis can aid in treating depression on a short term basis. I feel this is true for any psychopharmaceutical, and that coping strategies and cognitive behavioral therapy are more important long term solutions. In my experience, long term use of marijuana can actually make depression worse, particularly when it becomes excessive and years of foggy thinking and motivational drain other than pipe dreams that go nowhere and leave you looking back on wasted years make you wish you had never begun. Before starting off on this path, it might make sense to look at some of the landmines others have experienced. this website has lots of discussions on quitting cannabis:
http://www.uncommonforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=75764