While many people smoke marijuana because they feel it helps to calm them down, in recent years a lot of questions have been raised about whether or not the drug does in fact contribute to or even cause anxiety.
The relationship between cannabis and anxiety is complex and many believe that existing anxiety levels play a big part. If for example you are an incredibly laid back person, smoking marijuana might not do anything to raise your anxiety levels. On the other hand, if you are a naturally anxious person, smoking the drug very well may exacerbate your existing feelings.
There are many arguments to support the notion that marijuana can be used to calm the mind and body. It’s a natural painkiller and it’s a substance that people often use to self-medicate. Whilst this may be true in some cases, many studies have in fact linked marijuana addiction and use to problems with anxiety.
How marijuana use can contribute to anxiety:
- Street drugs may be laced with other chemicals that can cause anxiety
- The act of buying illegal drugs will no doubt add considerable stress and anxiety
- How and when you take drugs can affect anxiety. For example, if you’re around someone who disapproves of it or you’re worried about getting caught
- Expectations – often, those living with anxiety unintentionally assume a negative reaction. This in turn causes a more anxious reaction. If someone has anxiety that causes negative thinking, this can be a problem because marijuana’s effects will conform to those thoughts and a negative reaction becomes more likely
- Withdrawal – one of the biggest side effects of withdrawal from marijuana is anxiety. As a result, it’s possible that even those without anxiety problems can develop at least temporary anxiety during the withdrawal phase
- Fear of marijuana addiction can increase anxiety levels
Does marijuana use always cause anxiety?
If somebody doesn’t typically suffer from anxiety and takes a mild to moderate dose of controlled, non-laced marijuana, it’s unlikely that the drug will cause them any feelings of anxiety. It’s important to consider however that drugs affect everyone differently and there’s no way of predicting the outcome.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that most of us in modern day life are anxious about something whether we realize it or not – it could be our jobs, money, moving house or relationship problems. It’s also very rare to find drugs that haven’t been tampered with in some way so at the end of the day, you can never be entirely sure what you’re taking.
Furthermore, as with any drug, the more you take it the more you increase your chances of developing an addiction to marijuana.
Can marijuana be used to treat anxiety?
As mentioned above, marijuana is sometimes used to self-medicate for stress and anxiety. There are several issues with doing this however:
- You should never depend on anything to medicate anxiety – the longer you use a medication or substance for this, the more dependent on it you will become. As a result, you will lose your ability to cope with stress without it and eventually, marijuana will become your only coping strategy. Once you become dependent on something, the chances of experiencing a drugs addiction are greatly increased
- All it takes is one hallucination or unusual reaction to create an anxiety issue – even if one wasn’t present before. There are reactions to and side effects of marijuana that can make anxiety worse
- Because marijuana can worsen anxiety, anyone with an existing anxiety disorder is putting themselves at risk for creating intense anxiety when their previous anxiety may have actually been manageable without it
If you think that you or someone you know may need marijuana addiction treatment or have problems with any other drugs addiction, please feel free to contact Toronto Trauma & Addiction Counselling in the strictest of confidence and we will be more than happy to help.
