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Anecdotally I've seen multiple friend's mental health deteriorate while smoking weed consistently. In more than one case, they had a history of mental illness i

Anecdotally I've seen multiple friend's mental health deteriorate while smoking weed consistently. In more than one case, they had a history of mental illness in the family. This could just be a correlation.

bjt2n3904 8y ago
Here to report two more cases of mental health decline with family history of mental illness.
southphillyman 8y ago
Same. I remember reading somewhere that it can trigger latent mental illness in some individuals.
sv123 8y ago
My mental health greatly improves while smoking cannabis.
- lewisflude 8y ago
  That's good! I don't doubt that the same thing that could hurt someone could help someone else. The mind is a really complex thing. I think cannabis does have a lot of medical merit.
thanatos_dem 8y ago
Anecdotally, marijuana has been an amazing improvement to my mental health. I have suffered from insomnia my entire life. Then two years ago, my job got significantly more stressful and I began having panic attacks. I was perscribed Lorazepam in case of future attacks, but the potential side effects were terrifying (you may just suddenly die in certain circumstances), so I was scared to take it. Enter medicinal marijuana. I’m now part of the “smoke weed every day” lifestyle, except with edibles because my apartment doesn’t allow smoking. 20mg CBD, 5mg THC, about 2 hours before I want to sleep. Accept that I’m not going out for the rest of the night, work on some side projects, watch some TV, and then go to sleep waking up refreshed, no hangover or grogginess. Only real detrimental effect I’ve observed is a reduction in my short term memory. So I started keeping a proper notebook and calendar to compensate for that. After a couple of days of not consuming, my memory seems to return to normal, so I’m not too worried about long term effects there, but I would absolutely love to see more clinical trials around it.
- jryan49 8y ago
  > I was perscribed Lorazepam in case of future attacks,but the potential side effects were terrifying (you may just suddenly die in certain circumstances) Saying that a therapeutic doze of lorazepam is going to make you "suddenly die", is a great exaggeration. Panic attacks are best fixed with a combination of drugs and CBT. So maybe try adding CBT to your drugs to wean off of it.
  - thanatos_dem 8y ago
    I know it’s an exaggeration, but it’s also a (small) possibility. Believe it or not I’m not at my most rational in the middle of a panic attack ‍️
eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
Ehh most people I’ve seen already had preexisting issues. Marijuana was their way to cope or suppress it, just like how some people do with alcohol or really any other drug.
- insickness 8y ago
  In other words, they self-medicate with marijuana.
hbosch 8y ago
I have a family member who is addicted to cannabis. Maybe not in the same way that opiate or alcohol addicts are physically addicted, but this person smokes all day long from a small vape. First thing in the morning, all day, every night before bed. He sneaks it on to airplanes and smokes it in flight. He smokes it in public places and other peoples cars, like Uber’s. Without it, he’s irritable and short tempered. Without it he has no appetite and can’t eat. He does it at work and while he’s driving. I used to smoke weed. I’m older now and it makes me antisocial, so I stopped. But I always was (and remain) pro-legalization, but I’ve reflected on its danger as an abusable substance and can now recognize that its addictive — even if just in lifestyle.
honkycat 8y ago
Anecdotally, I really enjoy smoking weed and know dozens of daily users whose use has a minimal impact on their mential health. I personally use weed and it makes me relax, helps with my insomnia and lack of appetite. It's similar to World of Warcraft: Weed isn't the problem. It's the easy escapism that is the problem.
tabs_masterrace 8y ago
I'm no expert, but I think weed definitely promotes psychotic thoughts. More so, the stronger the THC content, and the longer and frequent the use of it. In very rare cases this can trigger Psychosis, but in most people it will not. Rather what you tend see in daily smokers is a attitude of mild delusional distrust, often leaning towards conspiracy theories, anti-authoritarianism, etc. Since many are not aware of any unreasonable thought patterns, it may be seen as a mild form of psychosis. It goes away only 1-3 days after stopping consuming it though. But I think it's worth keeping an eye on, in this day and age, we really don't need more people following misguided errands.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  > attitude of mild delusional distrust, often leaning towards conspiracy theories, anti-authoritarianism, etc Almost every article here on hn is about how some entity is spying on you, hacking you, or selling your data. Just because I'm paranoid, don't mean they're not after me.
- plmu 8y ago
  Once you know that, you can resist these thoughts. The first few times I used it, it seemed like learning to drive a bycicle as a small kid for the first time. Once you learn how not too fall, it becomes trivial. If it were legal, like alcohol, people would better be able to deal with it. Even if not 100% harmless, prohibition is not helpful, for (almost) noone.
makewavesnotwar 8y ago
Could you expand on what you mean by "seen multiple friend's mental health deteriorate"? Also don't be so quick to assume there's a legitimate correlation... it could be sampling/observational error.
- lewisflude 8y ago
  I'm referring to increased symptoms of anxiety, psychosis and increasing normalisation of weed as an every day thing. I specifically mean smoking weed, watching TV and living a more "relaxed" lifestyle (which isn't inherently bad) over doing things that might me seen as productive, both in a traditional sense (school, work) and in a personal development sense (hobbies, friendships, health). I know that there's a very big chance that it's just a correlation, and not a causation. In these specific cases, it really did feel like weed did make things a lot worse. There were long stretches of time where one of my friends in particular would stop smoking (conscious decision) and mental health stuff would get better. Note: I'm pro legalisation.

bjt2n3904 8y ago

Here to report two more cases of mental health decline with family history of mental illness.

southphillyman 8y ago

Same. I remember reading somewhere that it can trigger latent mental illness in some individuals.

sv123 8y ago

My mental health greatly improves while smoking cannabis.

lewisflude 8y ago
That's good! I don't doubt that the same thing that could hurt someone could help someone else. The mind is a really complex thing. I think cannabis does have a lot of medical merit.

thanatos_dem 8y ago

Anecdotally, marijuana has been an amazing improvement to my mental health. I have suffered from insomnia my entire life. Then two years ago, my job got significantly more stressful and I began having panic attacks. I was perscribed Lorazepam in case of future attacks, but the potential side effects were terrifying (you may just suddenly die in certain circumstances), so I was scared to take it. Enter medicinal marijuana. I’m now part of the “smoke weed every day” lifestyle, except with edibles because my apartment doesn’t allow smoking. 20mg CBD, 5mg THC, about 2 hours before I want to sleep. Accept that I’m not going out for the rest of the night, work on some side projects, watch some TV, and then go to sleep waking up refreshed, no hangover or grogginess. Only real detrimental effect I’ve observed is a reduction in my short term memory. So I started keeping a proper notebook and calendar to compensate for that. After a couple of days of not consuming, my memory seems to return to normal, so I’m not too worried about long term effects there, but I would absolutely love to see more clinical trials around it.

jryan49 8y ago
> I was perscribed Lorazepam in case of future attacks,but the potential side effects were terrifying (you may just suddenly die in certain circumstances) Saying that a therapeutic doze of lorazepam is going to make you "suddenly die", is a great exaggeration. Panic attacks are best fixed with a combination of drugs and CBT. So maybe try adding CBT to your drugs to wean off of it.
- thanatos_dem 8y ago
  I know it’s an exaggeration, but it’s also a (small) possibility. Believe it or not I’m not at my most rational in the middle of a panic attack ‍️

eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago

Ehh most people I’ve seen already had preexisting issues. Marijuana was their way to cope or suppress it, just like how some people do with alcohol or really any other drug.

insickness 8y ago
In other words, they self-medicate with marijuana.

hbosch 8y ago

I have a family member who is addicted to cannabis. Maybe not in the same way that opiate or alcohol addicts are physically addicted, but this person smokes all day long from a small vape. First thing in the morning, all day, every night before bed. He sneaks it on to airplanes and smokes it in flight. He smokes it in public places and other peoples cars, like Uber’s. Without it, he’s irritable and short tempered. Without it he has no appetite and can’t eat. He does it at work and while he’s driving. I used to smoke weed. I’m older now and it makes me antisocial, so I stopped. But I always was (and remain) pro-legalization, but I’ve reflected on its danger as an abusable substance and can now recognize that its addictive — even if just in lifestyle.

honkycat 8y ago

Anecdotally, I really enjoy smoking weed and know dozens of daily users whose use has a minimal impact on their mential health. I personally use weed and it makes me relax, helps with my insomnia and lack of appetite. It's similar to World of Warcraft: Weed isn't the problem. It's the easy escapism that is the problem.

tabs_masterrace 8y ago

I'm no expert, but I think weed definitely promotes psychotic thoughts. More so, the stronger the THC content, and the longer and frequent the use of it. In very rare cases this can trigger Psychosis, but in most people it will not. Rather what you tend see in daily smokers is a attitude of mild delusional distrust, often leaning towards conspiracy theories, anti-authoritarianism, etc. Since many are not aware of any unreasonable thought patterns, it may be seen as a mild form of psychosis. It goes away only 1-3 days after stopping consuming it though. But I think it's worth keeping an eye on, in this day and age, we really don't need more people following misguided errands.

brokenmachine 8y ago
> attitude of mild delusional distrust, often leaning towards conspiracy theories, anti-authoritarianism, etc Almost every article here on hn is about how some entity is spying on you, hacking you, or selling your data. Just because I'm paranoid, don't mean they're not after me.
plmu 8y ago
Once you know that, you can resist these thoughts. The first few times I used it, it seemed like learning to drive a bycicle as a small kid for the first time. Once you learn how not too fall, it becomes trivial. If it were legal, like alcohol, people would better be able to deal with it. Even if not 100% harmless, prohibition is not helpful, for (almost) noone.

makewavesnotwar 8y ago

Could you expand on what you mean by "seen multiple friend's mental health deteriorate"? Also don't be so quick to assume there's a legitimate correlation... it could be sampling/observational error.

lewisflude 8y ago
I'm referring to increased symptoms of anxiety, psychosis and increasing normalisation of weed as an every day thing. I specifically mean smoking weed, watching TV and living a more "relaxed" lifestyle (which isn't inherently bad) over doing things that might me seen as productive, both in a traditional sense (school, work) and in a personal development sense (hobbies, friendships, health). I know that there's a very big chance that it's just a correlation, and not a causation. In these specific cases, it really did feel like weed did make things a lot worse. There were long stretches of time where one of my friends in particular would stop smoking (conscious decision) and mental health stuff would get better. Note: I'm pro legalisation.