Drugs, Weed, Alcohol, Ice

[@DrSyl]

I'm a doctor in training to become a psychiatrist and my opinions are subject to change! These videos are to stimulate discussion - comment below your thoughts & opinions.

[@jeordidicus]

Love how you call it weed lol 🤪

[@TaliaMellifera]

So the Ice part is to cool down the rant? It's sweet when people rant who don't loose it! And your speaking hands teach beautifully about what it looks like when the body is fully inhabited and not cut off by any drug or insincere avoidance.

[@jessicamclaughlin8165]

Here in Canada marijuana is legal. I am a student in professional addiction studies. According to my studies it would be better if a person were over the age of 25 to try psychoactive drugs. The reason being that your brain is fully developed and you have a better chance of not becoming addicted.

[@jeordidicus]

The sunny beaches of Canada

[@kchardison9480]

Alls I know is that the first time I spoke with my new psychiatrist (again for schizoaffective), he wished me well and told me I could drink occasionally if I wanted to but for heaven's sake, don't smoke weed. That was the first time I heard it coming from a clinician. There are a lot of horror stories in support groups for psychotic illness about what weed has done to them. Some success stories as well, don't get me wrong, but most just talk about how bad it was for them. Again, that's for psychotic illnesses specifically.

[@jolenethesimmer9286]

I used to smoke weed fairly regularly and like you say about it touching people's souls I saw it in my life as a wholly good thing. I didn't start until my 20s and I found it just added pleasantly. HOWEVER, about a year and a half ago I had a Cannabis induced psychosis, or a psychotic break essentially, and I was hospitalized for two weeks, and it took probably a year to fully recover from. So I don't smoke anymore but again to your point about the soul thing, I'm still sad I had to give it up and I would have continued using it if something like that had never happened to me. I definitely agree that you shouldn't start too young, I intentionally never tried it in high school because I was afraid I would use it as a default coping mechanism, which was something I didn't want.

[@TaliaMellifera]

Thanks for sharing! Now, as a former long time weed user I want to reply that a nice warm raw cacao, maybe with your favourite indian spices and a bit of honey could give you a good feeling as a replacement and there are other natural psychedelics out there none of which I consider apropriate for public use, partying and a regular, non-ritual context. I am hugely sorry we forgot how to meet the teacher plants but we can relearn it. This is definetly not about entertainment, but it is mental work as if we would listen closely to a bizarre important story a stranger told us.

[@cyberiad]

Don't underestimate the pure existential relief that alcohol provides to someone who's continuously anxious. Ease off the alcohol, the anxiety comes back even worse for a while. How can you refute the body's reasons when it's not even conscious? On the other side of addiction when you're starting to actually cope with anxiety instead of avoiding it, it's hard work and the ever-present knowledge that there's an instant solution to pain. And all the old rationalizations which fit so easily back into the drawers of memory.

[@oakleyj7930]

I havé a personality disorder diagnosed (did/BPD) and I have autism/ adhd however smoking weed has saved my mental health so much. It calms me down when I’m in an episode, it makes me happier and let’s me look at the bigger pictures of problems. Weed has helped me over all with my issues mentally and the effects of it. I don’t often smoke during episodes bc I’m usually crying and shit but when I do it helps me turn off the water works and let’s me think about WHY I’m crying and how I can fix the issue and write down how I’m feeling. It’s helped me a lot.

[@lollipopgirl1689]

That's good to hear. Still be careful ❤ I did the same when my sister died and it replased every good memori of those years with hell of detoxing from it and dopesick symptoms psychologically after 5 years smoking it for my depression, anxiety, PTSD and panic attacks. It made everything worse. Now using CBD for relaxing, pain management, insomnia, anxiety, depression, low brain function and sleepyness during day time and for feeling hunger (couldn't feel for years without weed, so CBD gave it back when I quit weed, medicine makes hunger non-existent)

[@ariahathaway5517]

Wow this is the best discussion on weed I've ever heard... I struggle with mental health and often wished I couldl use weed rather then depending on Clonazepam etc but I know it would hook my soul.. And this hidden defence of weed by people to use it is so spot on!!! No drug is good for you.. It takes the ability away from you to discover all the tools you have inside to cope and become a more enlightened person. Thank you this was really one of the best ever discussions I heard!!

[@TomJustAnother]

Love the inclusion criteria for use: Have to have your life in order before your first puff! Brilliant! From what I've read in the evidence (albeit small pool of good data), THC seems not so amazing, CBD probably okay. An interesting time in psych with the legalities changing, and small telehealth "plant medicine clinics" prescribing liberally. When I take a vape history I usually just ask what size vape they have, ask how long it lasts them, and figure out how many puffs they have a day. I was told by an ED boss, 500 puffs = 20 cigarettes (however, we did talk about the concentration in each vape not being regulated but could use it as a general gauge).

[@TheForeignersNetwork]

I am an American and I used weed every single day for about 3 years in order to treat migraines and anxiety/depression. I don't think there was a 12-hour period in those three years where I wasn't high. Eventually I started to have panic attacks while using weed so I had to stop--And the withdrawal was brutal. It was like having a 2 weeks long panic attack. I never ever want to go through that again. I do still miss it though because it has some positive qualities that are beneficial. It's the only substance that I can think of that treated all of my inflammation, and no other over-the-counter drug even compares. I now suffer from really intense back pain due to nerve problems, and I wish that cannabis didn't make me react so negatively, but it's just too intense for me to handle. For that reason I'll never go back to it, but paradoxically, I haven't found anything that treats the physical symptoms of my pain better (even after seeing doctor after doctor after doctor).

[@caitlin8349]

Have you ever tried just cbd oil?

[@TheForeignersNetwork]

@@caitlin8349 I have actually and it does work a little bit, but I think the overall effect of CBD is enhanced by THC. Rather than getting rid of my inflammation to a reasonable level, CBD mostly just makes me tired.

[@caitlin8349]

@@TheForeignersNetwork I’m sorry to hear that. Another thing that works on the endocannabinoid system is PEA. I take it for fibromyalgia pain and I find it pretty effective. I wonder if it would work better for you

[@TheForeignersNetwork]

@@caitlin8349 I just ordered some PEA, thank you for the suggestion!! We'll have to see if it works!

[@Seabeastie20000]

Im autistic and it helps me generally be... Not overwhelmed and burnt out all the time. Ive never hallucinated while high, but i can see if you already have a problem with that itd lower your ability to manage that. HOWEVER, physically it absolutely has had detriments in combination with my average medications. I take a ton of medications with sedative effects, and i suffer from um... Medication caused gastroparesis? Or is it idiopathic? My tummy is extremely slow. Im nauseous all the time. Pros and cons. Im an adult now and my parents are older. Support systems for people like me dont really exist in america, and i /have/ to keep cool to not hurt them or myself or the home. I have, after starting regularly ummm taking it, kicked half of my sedatives out of my life including xanax which i was addicted to. There's pros and cons to everything, but thats my experience.

[@adjappleton]

Now to send this to my 20 yo or not...he does want to be a psychiatrist.

[@susanne4028]

That all really makes sense. Thanks for the talk and hello from snowy Switzerland

[@Huckleberry500]

I take 5mg of thc in edible form to fall asleep. It prevents me from using melatonin every night to fall asleep. I would say it also lowers my suicidal ideation and doesn't really affect my anxiety. If I take over 10mg though, it will create intense paranoia.

[@jhjwarren]

Very interesting rambling. Thanks Dr Syl!

[@jaskiratsingh7750]

The only thing I wonder in these videos is which car he drives 😂😂

[@sjacobs3190]

After ECT, weed has induced psychosis every time I consumed it, and I had previously been almost constantly high for a decade

[@lollipopgirl1689]

This is so good you bring out for people that weed can be harmful and addictive for people with mental illnesses and even normal anxiety. This happened to me too. I was 16, when my sister and friend were brutally murdered, while I was locked in bathroom scared shitless. Still have PTSD after 11 years when people scream. I did the WORST decision after that to smoke weed when I missed my sister and when I had PTSD episodes, anxiety and depression induced need to get high. The thing which made things worse was that I saw that horrific day 6 months before in a dream and remembered it consciously when they told us my sister was found dead. It hit hard. I sunk deep depression and drug abuse for 6 years after that and got addicted to weed. It got so bad that I didn't even enjoy any of it but I had to had it. Dopesick was so bad I only thought the next smoke. In the end I smoked so much that I couldn't do anything during high and we in Finland only get high THC weed from the streets. Finally I got clean 4 years ago. It was tough but nothing to compare with the hell using was and excisting got. I got amnesia that I couldn't barely remember anything learned in high school during that time. So I had to go back to repeat some studies for the chance of rehabilitation from hEDS (hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) so that I could study to an career with helping people without restictions of my disease. Now studying chemistry in adult high school while battling some other diseases like hypothyroidism, ARFID (avoidant restictive food intake disorder), depression, anxiety and it's induced functional disorder that causes timely paralyzing and posturing, insomnia, oversleeping, fatigue and other diseases and symptoms like page long. I quit little while ago smoking cigarettes aswell and I have to recommend Allen Carr's book "Easy way to stop smoking" to read for quit smoking cold turkey without dopesick to nicotine. It helped me to psyche myself to hate cigarettes so bad I almost throw up when I smoked my last cigarette. You should read it and recommend as alternative to nicotine supliments. Anyway got away from the point. Weed made me forget a lot of things in the end and only remember bad things during those years. Little after quitting THC high weed, I started CBD supliments. THEY. ARE. AMAZING. No insomnia, I got hunger back, I'm energic while awake, pain is less over in months and it REPEARED most of my nerve damage pain, over the years needed less and less opioids, focus and memory is better and I am so happy even though I have repeatedly depressed episodes since I was 9 years old. Everything is better with using liposome capsule pure CBD. It's illegal in my country Finland so I'll have to order over seas but it so is worth it. I recommend it as a suppliment for BIG verity of illnesses and it would be amazing to hear such a video from you after you studied and learned and maybe even tried it and get more doctors view of things. Anyway, gonna subscribe for more videos like this ❤❤❤

[@cynthia-vj9oe]

I just found your channel and subscribed. I find your knowledge and sense of humor makes it easy for me to watch. I have been diagnosed with punch drunk is what my doctor called it when they found it in a MRI in 2012 (frontal lobe TBI) preconcussive repetitive blows. Then as we go I was diagnosed with PBR affect, mostly crying) generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder and complex PTSD. So yeah, I'm like onion lol but I so enjoy your videos I have been crying and I wanted to let you know when I heard you talking about weed, I started grinning. It's not for some people, but for me it helps relax me. Sometimes I get scared of my diagnosis and it helps me to stay calm. So there you go, from someone who smokes it regularly, for me it works. And thank God I'm only an occasional drinker, I do know someone who went from being extremely abusive sober to putting guns to people's heads in blackout drunk stages so yes I wish alcohol were banned instead of marijuana. I do not do any other drugs. Thanks for your channel I'll keep watching.

[@cynthia-vj9oe]

P. S. I wish you were my doc, and or more could have your personality. You're going to be great..er!

[@aspidoscelis]

When I quit alcohol it didn't even occur to me to talk to a doctor about it. I guess I was too used to thinking of doctors as gatekeepers-you see a doctor when there's something you want to do and aren't allowed to do otherwise. But you're allowed to stop drinking on your own, so just do it...

[@V1LL1N]

quitting on ones own terms sometimes makes something 'so hard' quite easy!

[@aspidoscelis]

@@V1LL1N For me, it was very unpleasant. But not difficult, exactly. Remaining sober long-term is harder, though at this point my body reacts poorly to alcohol. That makes it easier. When I do give in, it's a bad experience and I immediately stop.

[@V1LL1N]

@@aspidoscelis exactly, my body started to react differently and made it easier to stop when it was always bad to worse! Very unpleasant but not difficult, I like that

[@homerodysseus4203]

Hey Dr. Syl, I live in the US where meth use is relatively high and would like to hear you talk more about the negative impacts associated with it. That'd be awesome if you did, thank you for your rants! * Edited to fix my typo

[@anaisgoasse4211]

In my case weed really helped me everytime I fell down into anorexia again on a to dangerous level by making me feel hungry ; wonder if I m the only one coping with anorexia by smoking

[@SuperKeithers]

i dont have anorexia however weed does help me enjoy food more & I'd agree that I eat more when I smoke & that's okay for me because I metabolise real fast and dont weigh much

[@krlady4703]

Weed was a main contributor to a family member’s psychosis twice. The second one was combined with significant stress and loss that resulted in two months in the hospital. Near the end of the hospitalization the doctor explained what weed does to the brain and how it interferes with antipsychotic medication. Luckily our family member has not touched weed since and is on the road to full recovery. I love your videos and they have helped me get through this year.

[@fabiolahernandez1114]

again!! I like these car talks.

[@tcort]

I agree 100%. One thing I'd mention is that people who want to use weed should look for alternatives to smoking it such as capsules, edibles, drinks, tinctures, etc. As for quitting alcohol, the book "This Naked Mind" by Annie Grace is really great. Read it a couple of times and you'll be done with alcohol without even trying.

[@Moxxiemorgan]

Happy to hear this perspective

[@hollehpazouki7623]

Thank you, Dr.

[@PirateWW]

I like your rants Dr Syl!! Please keep doing them!

[@mathew9851]

You're right some people absolutely should not be touching it, this is due to people having genetic mutations that make them susceptible to psychosis from weed. While at the same time, others can smoke whenever they want and never have any symptoms of psychosis. If genetic screening test were accessible to people (I don't know if they are or not), that would let them know if they are susceptible to drugs like weed.

[@Liv_Says]

I’ve noticed weed helps with my suicidal tendencies, and my BPD. Made my anxiety worse and made my depression worse though. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. I could have probably learned to cope in a different way but things got too tough and I gave in.

[@Razzy316]

Is that a title or a shopping list for the weekend?

[@tim7801]

This was great to hear your perspective, Dr Syl. My psychiatrist didn't recommend my continued use of CBD oil (95.7% CBD content) that I'd been prescribed by a GP for ongoing anxiety as a strategy to taper use of an SSRI. I'd only used the CBD oil occasionally - but my psychiatrist would only be take my word for it and view my records showing when CBD oil was dispensed. It's not great that medicinal cannabis is becoming widely available given that cannabis affects the dopaminergic networks involved in ADHD, schizophrenia, and even migraines. It makes sense my psychiatrist would not recommend CBD oil. As you say, there are about 100 compounds in cannabis, with research on CBD and THC just scratching the surface.

[@ChaiLatte13]

I tried weed a few times as a teen and it was terrible. It gave me horrible anxiety and paranoia. Alcohol makes me cry and depressed. It got even worse as I got older, so I don't drink or do anything now, not even occasionally. It's sad that you felt pressure to get a beer. I'd tell them to piss off. lol

[@HughBond-kx7ly]

I had the same experience with weed so luckily I didn't take it up

[@harrisonkenney6246]

Weed is interesting because it fits in so well with people when it does. When you find the sweet spot it calms you down, gives you energy, takes away the imperfections in life. Seriously, it messes with your sleep but takes away your nightmares. Makes you hungry while burning calories(can be more of a problem than not depending on the situation). Helps with pain to a degree unless you keep thinking about it. Forces you to be introspective. Makes laughter come easier. But the duality of this which ive mentioned to some degree is its downfall. A lot of people stop smoking weed because it causes anxiety, health problems, psychosis, mania, lack of motivation to enjoy life, a lack of meaningful thoughts, etc. Its a shame to give it up but ive found everything but relaxing at the end of the day much better without weed (hold for some boring shifts at work). The way ill put it is weed will give you back what its taken away. Which is different from alcohol or other drugs, where itll cause seizure ect in people who never had them. Weed is an interesting drug, and should be respected as when its bad it goes south fast. I agree with the sentiment of waiting until your life has actually started. At the same time if you're already heading down that road it seems best to just smoke some weed, start low and slow, until you're sick of it or losing your mind. Then stop/ start the recovery journey. I don't know, it just seems like waiting until there's more in life to risk isn't a good idea with drugs. People seem to wait until they've lost everything to think about quitting...depending on how well you have your life put together that might be a while if you wait until you're 25 to smoke weed, and you might ultimately lose it in the process. But then again you might have more self control by then, i wouldnt know as im 25 and just starting recovery

[@user-zt2cn5in2h]

Weed and anxiety and motivation is tricky for me de motivating weed use (for me) is bong smoking which isn’t recommended medically, but my anxiety is horrendously more demotivating, so if I use cbd with low thc in a different way than smoking, like oil/Vapor/edibles are game changers and I get way more done; I eat and sleep and get executive function back. Couldn’t agree more on the “earning the right to use it”comment, and you really have to be your own expert - it has to be dosed and controlled to make it work for you. Being on the right path or a path that’s moving forward is the best. I think it needs more research, so much more research into its pharmacology and how well it might work when you don’t smoke it and what different combos can do for the big three anxiety, depression, insomnia. Good topic! Thankyou for not spouting stigma and presenting both sides eloquently as always 🙇

[@kateawake]

I`m sober for many years now. I drank a lot in combonation with painkillers. Starting age 14. And going on for 7 years. I never want to have any synapsis tango again. It was so hard to get sober. Back then there was no other option but to go cold turkey.

[@bl3524]

Love your channel :) I have diagnosed adhd and bipolar type 2 (both diagnosed in my late twenties when I started getting my shit together) As a teen and young adult, weed made me very paranoid, was a gateway drug to harder drugs and made me psychotic/dissociative when I took it together with LSD, and definitely affected my cognitive abilities and memory, and made my mental health worse probably (anxiety and depression). I also used alcohol to escape and manage anxiety. Now I’m medicated by a psychiatrist and the only addictions I struggle with are cigarettes and Internet

[@DoorDash-nf7cd]

I read a study recently that explored personality traits among people who use drugs. Apparently, they found a higher score of neuroticism and a lower score of conscientiousness compared to the population but specifically for the people who used hallucinogenics like weed, they scored lower on agreeableness compared to the rest of those who used different types of drugs. So, I really wonder if that is partly why they don't want to admit that there are some downsides to weed? Maybe they just aren't as receptive to the social pressure of admitting there is problems with it?

[@GenZedsMother]

I took up smoking weed aged 45 and wish I’d started sooner. It’s better than drinking, opiates and benzos. It’s not physically addictive at all and doesn’t effect my motivation. I will defend it as it’s a better alternative to binge drinking or popping pills. I think adults should be allowed to decide what they do with their bodies, including consuming illicit substances. As a person of Grandparent age, I don’t need someone half my age dictating to me what I can consume. If you’re not stealing or harming anyone then you should be able to consume what you want. Our bodies , our choice. Legalise it, tax it, regulate it, collect data on it. The billions of dollars of tax collected could be used for rehab programs and psychiatric visits instead of lining the pockets of corrupt police, corrupt border force officers, corrupt prison guards and bikies and cartels.

[@jenshockley805]

❤❤

[@MCrazyDaDragon]

I personally smoke medical cannabis in the United States of America and I do have some bad reactions to sativa but indica is my preference due to it slowing down my thoughts with adhd my thoughts more often than not are too fast for me to recite my thoughts from mind to verbally say and I also have autism and it does help with the anxiety of social interaction if it was used moderately but i also have had to learn my limits and i have studied what i smoke and make a point to be self aware of what I feel when i smoke and how much I smoked then the time of effects.

[@bl3524]

Why don’t you take adhd meds instead?

[@MCrazyDaDragon]

@bl3524 I've tried almost all of them and either I build a resistance to the stimulants abnormally fast or they trigger a bad reaction causing irrational thoughts and agitation

[@-lloygic-3565]

I would assume that the reason weed is so defensible is just because of the culture. It's seen as a harmless positive social booster. You'd probably get the same defensibility among beer drinkers when holding them to the WHO standards of binge drinking (3 drinks in one day) and alcoholism (one drink per day). Alcohol is seen as a social lubricant. Drinking a flat of beer a day, everyone can recognize the negatives there, but a pinch hit a day? The culture has made it harmless, despite the fact that it's insidious in its long-term cognitive impacts.

[@learnieshaw]

Would love to hear more of your views on alcohol - especially in places like the UK, where a heavy drinking culture is so normalised

[@DiggingDeepVlog]

TBF if you live in the UK you deserve to be drunk 24/7. Haha just joking mate

[@rohini8084]

Love this video, and would definitely like to see/hear more of your thoughts thru the more causal talks, uh drives lol!

[@Funkelbun]

I would never by own choice smoke digest weed since i had a very bad experience with it in the end (like 9 years ago)….. i got psychotic and i got schizophrenia. Which I still struggle a bit with. I may have gotten it anyway. But it was not good for my life and my brain. I accomplished not half of what I would accomplish if I did not smoke. I felt so good in the beginning and then it turned bad. So not for me.

[@searching-for-truth]

Can I ask, did you get the schizophrenia after the psychosis? I got psychosis after having some edibles just back in December. I'm much better now, only very very occasionally having paranoid thoughts. But I'm scared to develop schizophrenia now.

[@Funkelbun]

@@searching-for-truth my psychosis came back again and again….

[@HughBond-kx7ly]

I decided not to take it up after four tries If you are not in your right mind you can't defend yourself.

[@kasie680]

An IGET Bar can provide 3500 puffs, and every 200 puffs are approximately equal to 1 pack of cigarettes. The calculation shows that the IGET Bar is equal to approximately 350 cigarettes

[@Dreeey-s3h]

I stopped drinking because (thankfully) I started getting sick from alcohol before I even felt an effect. So when I'd go to the bar I'd order tea. In the beginning people thought it was weird but I owned it, it became like my thing and I became 'the girl that drinks tea at the bar' :D

[@Flein10-r5j]

Weed edibles made me go schizophrenic

[@cherish5364]

in terms of vaping i was buying a disposable 5000 puffs vape about one a week or maybe once a week and a half, when i went to start quitting i tried the 'step 2' nicotine patches that are i think under 10 cigs a day recommended to start quitting. i was having sooo many withdrawls and it was so uncomfortable so i went up to step 1 which was 'more than 15(?)' cigs a day and it was a lot easier. much less cravings. most vapes get measured in how many 'puffs' they have but it also depends on how quickly you go through that. i relapsed with vaping and i am currently vaping again and i now go through a 5000 puffs vape about every 2 weeks to every 2 and half weeks. so im stretching a bit more and not having quuuite as much each day. i want to get it down a bit more or even quit again but its hard.

[@Alex-ws4xh]

Thc makes me want to die 99% of the time lol. It ruined my life as a teen and gave me permanent deja vu and a feeling of impending doom, luckily after the 10 years the permanent awful feeling of deja vu went down to maybe a couple times a week. CBD only tinctures are okay for me. Strangely enough lsd never caused issues like weed did.

[@northkirra]

Imo, weed is ok for someone who is aware of the very real risks, has structure and a goal set in life/the foreseeable future. Being able to not only handle but enjoy the effects would be good too. Weed is not suited for someone that has lost structure, and by that I mean not having as little as a schedule throughout the day, has no idea where one is headed in life or is simply too young to responsibly make that decision. . I would also advice caution around coupling the consumption of weed with other bad coping mechanisms/addictive stuff like gaming or drinking or whatever silly thing floats your boat.

[@katzrantz]

I'm one of those people that can't smoke weed. I was fine while I was high, but for a couple of days after coming back down I'd be so disfunctional I probably should've had my kids taken off me.

[@electricmagnetic]

Quick question, could you please recommend studies about the effects of unalive attempts on brain chemistry and brain damage post unalive attempts. A quick search brought me to couple of articles on CO poisoning after the attempt and unsuccessful hangings, which mostly talk about the commonly known oxygen deprivation effects on the brain. Obviously different attempts will have different effects on brain damage. Also, would love to hear you talk about the pathology and biological changes in the brain after traumatic experiences. Again, obviously it will differ greatly from case to case but what I'm interested in is which parts of the brain are most commonly affected and in which way. THANK YOU 😊

[@tthompson9244]

The doctor is so preoccupied with recording this video he doesn't even notice he's driving on the wrong side of the road. Very nerve wracking to watch.

[@pardalote]

Its much easier to get away with ordering a soda water if you're female. But why don't you just order a low or zero alcohol beer? That’s a better solution isn't it? I hate alcohol and its effects on others. I grew up with an alcoholic father. Not fun, i assure you.

[@LesterBrunt]

Maybe it is different in Australia, but here in NL there is a gigantic drinking culture. It feels so much like gaslighting when people treat cannabis use as this dangerous drug addiction but then have normalized alcohol use everywhere. Like if I were to spark up during lunch there would be plenty of people who would suggest I take up help for my addiction, yet you can walk through any city and find all the terraces filled with people drinking beer or wine during lunch 7 days a week. To what extent is this institutionalized double standard CAUSING widespread anxiety among cannabis users? Lets not forget this is not just some innocent disagreement over preferences, one type of drug use will get you different treatment under the law. If I go through a divorce and my wife shows a picture of me smoking weed on a sunday morning they will say "oh he is a drug addict, he can't possible care for his own children", if they show me a picture of drinking a beer on a sunday morning they will say "well that doesn't prove anything, was it a birthday? People tend to drink during birtdays,". If I arrive at work hungover from booze people think it is funny, if I arrive hungover from weed they think I'm an addicted loser. One time my physiotherapist literally said "the weather is so nice today, are you going enjoy it with a nice beer? That type of relaxation will do you good you know?". Somehow I can not imagine them saying the same thing with cannabis. All this is a kind of social segregation, pot smokers are bullied and shunned, so of course pot smokers feel anxious, isolated, demotivated, aren't all those emotions perfectly valid in response to the way society has been treating cannabis users? Lets not forget, it was super illegal just a couple of decades ago, it is still super illegal in a lot of countries. I don't think it is possible to ignore this when talking about cannabis and mental health problems.

[@marijkem2919]

I started smoking weed in 2013, became addicted and got a psychosis twice. My psychoses were great, I created my own fantasy, perfect world / life and those were probably the happiest times in my life. Both times (I was hospitalized both times) I got out of it and fell in a severe depression. I realised everything I had experienced wasn't real and it was a nightmare. Since then I have not been well. I have severe mental illness, depression, anxiety and sleeping disorder, and weed addiction. I tried to quit many times but always relapsed. The weed completely ruined my life. Biggest regret of my life ever.

[@meganwaters7772]

I got a script for medical mj in Qld to help with limiting alcohol, but it hasn't really worked. There's no avoiding how hard it is to stop or limit drinking!! It also made me binge eat fatty foods, so not great for me right now.

[@oakleyj7930]

I Also ONLY smoke at night one hitters or a few Eddie’s and I’ll sit and watch movies or clean or get projects done. I’m very motivated smoking and not smoking. It’s changed my life in a great way. I’m not a wake and bake. I’m a wake and go about my day and have a good great reward waiting for me at the end of the day. Or end of the week. And I take time off of smoking and get rejuvenated

[@patrickquinlan3056]

Ironically, people often give up smoking weed around the age of 25.

[@Jsicle19]

I can’t remember where I heard/read this, but it’s something I agree with: modern weed is not the same drug it was even 20 years ago. The levels of concentration in these plants are off the charts now. It’s not the same drug that I smoked when I was 15 (17 years ago). Which begs the question if we as a society even have the right data to understand how bad modern weed is for mental health.

[@oakleyj7930]

Dissociative identity disorder

[@kasie680]

My best friends mum was diagnosed bipolar with schizoid tendencies and if she smoked to much weed bam 💥 psychosis

[@alphermail]

I'll take one of those with no ice, please

[@thuggie1]

personally i will stay away ii i suffer from anxiety problems and Bipolar its the same reason i don't drink if i don't need it in my body i don't put it in.

[@SoulfulMole]

I virtually never recommend routine use of cannabis to clients. Once in a while, the harm is probably negligible. But routine use really seems to contribute to worsening executive functioning, and for some folks can quickly exacerbate any serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It's not harmless the way people seem to want to believe it is.

[@HughBond-kx7ly]

I only tried weed a couple of times in my early 20's After the initial high it made me depressed and paranoid so i never used it again.Your better off without it

[@vendelaguggi8604]

it would be interesting to hear about how weed can affect people with bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder :)

[@vendelaguggi8604]

i am bipolar 1 and i have never taken anything except benzos, a lot of my friends smoke but i’m too scared because i’ve heard it can trigger psychosis

[@handyhacker11]

Nope. Me and cannabis have a complicated but wholesome relationship. I have abused it, used it wrongly. It has helped me alot, but now i don't need it. I want to honor / respect it properly. It's a waste to use it as a daily coping mechanism for depression, it has so much more potential in my life as a special thing. Recently learned that the thing that weed sometimes gives me is seperate from the weed itself: I call it "Antidepression". Yeah augmentation, so much better, so amazing. Much better than just coping. Weed can be so amazing and it's a waste to use it every day.

[@kandymich4861]

Then there’s the odd person who gets addicted to SH. That at times can give a high.

[@handyhacker11]

I just hate nicotine. My vape is just tasty. I also barely use it 😂

[@davidpouw3868]

I think there is a big taboo on drugs which gives a lack of information. Maybe more information about drugs can help people to understand the consequences of drugs and deliveres a safe idea on how to use it if people want to use it. With alcohol it is so normalized in society that people don't think about problems and consequences of alcohol which also creates a wrong image of the drug. I think society needs to be more openminded about giving scientific information about these things instead labeling it as wrong or normal.

[@aaronhickin]

u do relise u dont get high off of cbd