How Marijuana Affects Mental Health

Whether people like it because it makes them happy or because they use it as medicine, this plant has changed the lives of many through natural, self-medication. Quoting Natasha Tracy: "Mental illness is the only disease that can make you deny its own existence." From experience, I know that something people don't understand from mental illness is that it takes away your motivation to get better, i.e., you want to stay "sick". Weed can help some of the 1 in 5 Canadians who potentially experience mental health issues in their lives.

Mental illnesses marijuana can treat include depression, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD (4), Alzheimer's, other forms of dementia, epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorders. (3) Apparently, (I put that in italics for a reason - go see my last post), weed disrupts brain cell activity. (4) This is actually linked to relaxing, mood-elevating effects. Pot slows down thought processes, which breaks the cycle of negative thoughts. Those with depression and anxiety may benefit from this as they consult other methods, e.g. therapy, to address the base of their illness. (5) People always complain that they can't stop thinking, they think too much, they stay up at night and blah, blah, blah. So, if THC slows down your brain thinking, a lot of people could benefit from taking a break and not having to think about silly things. 
       
        Some people like that marijuana can ease them to sleep while others don't. Weed helps people sleep by prolonging the stage of sleep where the body rejuvenates. This means that if people use pot to sleep, they don't get bad dreams, which can then help those who stay up at night for that reason. I struggle with this constantly. Life in general stresses me out to the point where I stay up all night if I'm not having nightmare after nightmare. Then, I go to school to face a busy day where I am either not participating in class (sleeping) or giving MAJOR attitude to my teachers and classmates. The point I'm trying to make here is that I need sleep to function and if I can get it thanks to this plant, that's great. If the dumb government doesn't let me, well, I guess my lack of sleep will encourage me to go deck everyone in charge. I'm harmless, I swear.


        This video by BuzzFeed Motion Pictures is entitled Drunk Vs. Stoned. It was made to test an average man on whether his actions were more efficient under the influence of alcohol or marijuana. At many instances, weed seemed to enhance his reflexes, creativity, and productivity levels.




       




This video is an ABC News story on medical marijuana regarding children. Parents witness wonderful results from this controversial medication. Ryan Mendoza, a 12-year-old with a bunch of cognitive difficulties, uses it mainly for his OCD. Joey Perez, 11 years old, cooperates with his autism through pot. From these two cases I can conclude that weed does/may have a positive effect on its patients.

        Relating to the use of marijuana for mental health...

        Someone really should have told me in eighth grade that once I would be in high school, the information from 90% of those rare DCMA classes would not serve their purpose. They should let me anticipate that it'd be incredibly obvious whom should be avoided in terms of drug use. They should have told me that I would subconsciously question myself along the lines of what the people I avoided wanted to ask me. Someone should have told me that peer pressure is but the straw that broke the camel's back. They should have rushed through the part where I was taught to be an individual and that potential death could result from submission to peer pressure. I was simply taught that abstinence is the solution to everything.

        Returning to the straw that broke the camel's back, the only reason I would succumb to peer pressure would be because I would already be thinking about whatever beforehand. Us teenagers, surprisingly, have something in common: uneasiness towards a world beyond the safety of our homes, where our parents are always right. As we develop the qualities required to see further from those walls, there is a lot of pain involved. With this pain, we learn and grow but don't realize it until we see the end of it all, if we see the end of it all. I say it like that because there are people who, at one point, lose sight of their end. I did. I felt/feel as if I couldn't/can't live life without something that forced me to forget and enjoy myself. Through this pain, this dark yet beneficial pain, I had/have abandoned any if not all knowledge on how to be happy. When this hit/hits me, it was/is invisible. I hid/hide everything, not only due to the surrounding stigma but since the illness obligated/obligates me.

        Psychogenic pain is a kind that cannot be bandaged or iced. There is no known physical factor that brings recovery. It all starts from inside, which sucks. Weed will not solve everything for those suffering, but it is a relief. Pot isn't the fast way out; it makes the way through quicker. Those with mental illnesses may not feel comfortable talking to anyone. I know many people, including myself, that deal with it alone by choice. We should let those 1 in 5 Canadians self-medicate; that statistic can translate to 1 in 5 deaths. Remember: psychological illness is the only type that makes victims unwilling to get better. Lots can be deduced from that, concerning the measures needing to be taken. We should, as a community, as a nation, take them.

(1) https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/47/63/ac/4763acb04b5957f064883e477a8aaf1d.jpg
(2) https://alberta.cmha.ca/mental_health/statistics/
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis
(4) I know people/general online research.
(5) http://www.theweedblog.com/top-5-mental-conditions-treated-with-marijuana/
(6) http://weedreader.com/cannabis-sleep-aid/