7 minute read
Marijuana and mental health
By Eve Crosbie
Marijuana (weed, pot, dope, grass - whatever you want to call it) is having a moment. No longer just the stuff of stoners, people from all walks of life are turning to this Class B drug - and not necessarily as a means of getting high. Eve Crosbie explores...
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Producing and supplying it can land you a criminal conviction, but a growing number of people in the UK are taking cues from America and elsewhere and deciding to ‘self-medicate’ with cannabis, using it to treat everything from insomnia to anxiety attacks.
A 2018 change in the law means that medicinal cannabis is now available in the UK, allowing specialist doctors in England, Wales and Scotland to prescribe patients with cannabis-based products such as cannabidiol, better known as CBD oil.
However, those suffering from anxiety-related disorders are unlikely to get the green light for a prescription. Currently, cannabis can only be prescribed on the NHS to children and adults with rare, severe forms of epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy and those with muscle stiffness and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. NHS England says an exception would be considered when other treatments are not suitable or had not helped.
The legislative change came about after several high-profile cases of individuals fighting to get medicinal cannabis available in the UK, including the mothers of young epilepsy sufferers who argued that cannabis-based oil or liquid extracts have helped manage and alleviate the number of seizures their children experience.
At the same time, there has also been international momentum towards the decriminalisation of the drug in recent years with North America leading the way, where the use of cannabis for recreational purposes is now legal in Canada and 11 US states. Medical marijuana has been legalised in a further 33 US states, and it’s estimated that over 2 million legal medical marijuana patients are benefitting from this change.
According to the US-based marijuana news site Leafy (yes really), the qualifying conditions for medical cannabis in America can vary from state to state but are significantly more lax than the UK’s current ruling. The drug, hailed a 'mirale cure' by some, is used to treat everything from Alzheimer’s and Chron's disease to Glaucoma and Lupus. Across many states, it is also increasingly prescribed for a variety of mental health disorders.
Recent studies have shown that many cannabis users perceive the drug to be an effective way to treat mental health-related disorders. In one study of 2,400 regular cannabis smokers, over 60% say that they use the drug to help treat a medical condition—the top three being anxiety, depression and physical pain.
So could medical cannabis be a potentially better, safer and more cost-effective alternative to the mental health treatments currently available in the UK? Or even an additional medicament to add to the mix?
Ollie, 25, is one of those who think so. He says that while he didn’t much like the taste of cannabis when he tried his first joint aged 14, he’s now an almost daily smoker as he uses it to help treat his insomnia and depression.
“I used to only ever smoke pot in social situations, but once I realised that it was able to calm my mind and help me sleep, I began to smoke regularly,” he says.
“I tend to step outside and have a quick joint by myself if I’m feeling really bad and think that I’m going to have a sleepless night – which is most nights,” he adds.
He explains that this ritual has been particularly helpful ahead of important university deadlines and exams. However, he clarifies that smoking weed has not taken the place of the medication he takes to treat his depression. Instead, he sees cannabis as a supplement, something that works well alongside the traditional medication he already takes.
“Pot usually leaves me feeling clearer and in control. But I don’t know if it would work on its own without the medication that I take,” he explains.
For Maya, 23, cannabis has completely replaced the GP-prescribed medication that she used to take to treat the anxiety disorder she was diagnosed with as a child. She now self-medicates with cannabis which she smokes, bakes into food and even drinks as a tea.
She says that none of the medications she has tried over the years has had a significant impact on her anxiety levels, but have instead left her feeling listless, low and, at times, suicidal.
“I’ve been on so many different anti-depressants, it’s actually insane,” she says. “It was a constant cycle of changing my medication because I would get all the side effects and none of the benefits. In the end, it became exhausting and contributed more to my anxiety.”
Maya says that since she came off of her medication, she has seen a significant improvement in her energy levels and no longer feels like she's in a “zombie-like” state — which she credits to her cannabis consumption.
“It has absolutely 100% changed my life for the better,” she says. “The anxiety is still there, but weed helps way more than the pills ever did.”
While Maya sees the positives for her of smoking weed, there are downsides that can significantly affect regular smokers.
For Saharsha, 21, it wasn’t until he came to university that he started experiencing negative side-effects such as paranoia and the chilling ‘white-outs’ (when your body feels drained of blood, and you freeze in terror). It was at its worst when he found himself among people he didn’t know so well.
“I started getting anxious thoughts, and I would become paranoid, thinking that everyone was looking at me.” He says he’s now quit – except for the odd joint – but takes precautions not to inhale to avoid feeling paranoia again.
Similarly, Ishaan, 22, says he stopped smoking cannabis after he began to experience severe panic attacks and depressive thoughts when he got high.
“It would make me feel like I had no control and leave me thinking I had done nothing worthwhile in my life,” he says.
“While all my friends were having a good time, I would get irritated with everyone else’s behaviour, even if they were perfectly okay. It felt like my whole world was crumbling down, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I just wanted the high to end.”
Ishaan says, “I stopped doing weed when I realised it was no longer making me happy. It made me feel worse than when I was sober.”
Dr Iris Gault, Associate Professor Mental Health Nursing at Kingston University explains these different phenomena, “There are some who believe that cannabis causes psychosis, but the evidence suggests that it does so only in vulnerable individuals and that early and heavy use might indicate a young person who is vulnerable to psychosis.”
“We must be really careful about judging behaviour and blaming people in mental health. The evidence — and my own practice experience — supports the view that someone who has had psychotic episodes is not helped by continued use of cannabis.”
Almost exactly a year on from the UK’s landmark ruling, in October 2019, the results of a 40-year study into the effects of cannabis on mental health was published with damning findings for those hoping to see the drug available for anxiety on the NHS anytime soon.
The research found that there is ‘scarce evidence’ to support the notion that cannabis does any- thing to alleviate or improve men- tal health symptoms.
Professor Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales, who co-authored the study alongside researchers from the National Addiction Centre at King’s College London, writes, “Doctors and patients must be aware of the limitations of existing evidence and the risks of cannabinoids. These must be weighed when considering use to treat symptoms of common mental health disorders.”
Referring to countries where medicinal cannabis is widely used, she adds, “Those who decide to proceed should be carefully monitored for positive and nega- tive mental health effects of using medicinal cannabinoids.”
The review ultimately reveals something we already know: there is simply not enough evidence to say whether cannabis can treat mental health conditions or not. However, people are not go- ing to stop using cannabis any time soon and given the current wellness boom, the market for cannabis-derived products that (claim to) treat a whole host of medical conditions, mental health included, will continue to grow.
At the same time, young people are deciding on their own whether cannabis has a positive effect on their mental state or not. With all this - and the results of Dr Degenhardt’s study - in mind, it seems that this should be more than enough motivation for medical professionals to conduct more rigorous and indepth studies into the cannabis and it's effects on mental health.
