I want to make clear my view on the use of marijuana by people who have ADHD. Â I am writing this post because of a recent piece in the New York Times that misled some readers.
I am totally and completely opposed to the use of marijuana by people who have ADHD. Â John Ratey and I made this clear some fifteen years ago in our book Answers to Distraction, and our opinion has not changed. Â The reason I feel this way is that I have seen too many patients get into enormous difficulties due to their use of pot. Â Not only can they get into trouble with the law, they can develop a dependency that leads them to be less productive in their lives than they otherwise could be. Â People with ADHD are at great risk for developing addiction or dependency on all illicit substances, as well as activities like gambling, spending, sex, food, and even exercise. Â In my experience, marijuana ranks at or near the top of the list of substances that cause problems for people who have ADHD.
I hope this clarifies my position. Â Pot and ADHD do not mix well.
Happy Holidays to you all!!!!!
It is True I know first hand I Had never smoked before and at the age of 36 I smoked for the first time thinking it would help my insomnia. After the first few times I was adddicted. In my life I have had many difficult times though with hard work I built a successful business marrage family and the pot use had me almost to a vegetative state.
Do not try it If you use it please try to stop.
How do you feel about occasional marijuana use in the general population?
I’m not convinced that smoking pot is playing as big a role in ADHD symptoms I experience as much as other factors such as sleep, how busy I am, keeping regular routines, etc. I have smoked pot since I was 13 and don’t see noticable differences in how “scattered”, etc. I am when I smoke pot once a week or so. Every night? Probably not so good. Addicted? Can’t say “no” sometimes, but can usually. Everything in moderation, they say. My brother adds, “…including moderation”. I really enjoy the high with a friend or two. Cutting back again, though. Anyone cutting back on food right now? My psychiatrist could only focus on this point, never any other. I hope to post about this again some time.
I have found that smoking pot can be beneficial, but the trick is “how much”. One “toke” in about a six-hour period, especially w/ today’s very strong product, is more than enough. The problem I’ve noticed is that if I’m bored or depressed I’ll engage in the more addictive-type behavior and smoke a lot, then regret it because I notice it has increased my ADD related behaviors.
I think marijuane can be beneficial if it is used with very careful planning and if one doesn’t have a tendency/propensity toward addiction to it. If used judiciously, with actual planning involved, I believe it can actually help one stay on task. I suspect, from my own experience, that it induces the hyper-focus component to a certain extent. However, as I mentioned, quantity is the key and the dosage must be very low to be beneficial.
I typically stay away from marijuana becuase I’ve found the effects to lead me away from what I want to accomplish unless I have a strongly purposeful agenda already mapped out.
As a parent of a sixteen year daughter, I had the heartbreaking experience two nights ago of seeing the effects of this drug on my daughter. Coming from a teen who promised us she would not use or experiment due to the family history of alcoholism and drug abuse and her fears of this. She had a life changing and extreme effect from a few hits of pot with four friends. She was scared to death and was not well for two days. Her body was out of control and she became physically ill. Thank God she called us for a ride and did not drive. A lesson for all teens: You never know what is in this garbage or what it is tainted with. The vision of her getting out of the car with my husband is haunting as well as the side of his car covered in vomit. There is nothing good about drugs. Stay away from drugs!!! I pray for teens.
I think the confused masses are missing the point. Add/Adhd causes your brain to race at incredible speeds, the issue comes when trying to slow the brain down to process a thought or make a decision which at times is very important. Smoking slows the brain down to allow for processing and decison making. It does not confuse the brain unless you over use it which like everything else in moderation. Like anything else use with common sense. You can be as successful as you choose to be. parents freak about illegal but alcohol kills always and it is legal.
The use of common sense in this society is a dying thought process, I encourage independent thought and not mindlessly following the masses. the govt’ is against it only because they cannot as of yet figure a way to tax it. reality check
Clean website. Wondering if you sometimes trade featured posts? I am running a page on my latest hobby sleep disorders and looking to trade some content with worthy pages. I checked out your site and you’ve got some great articles and I was thinking our readers would both benefit. Thanks!
I’m a 47 year old man that was never diagnosed with ADD/ADHD until about age 38.
I abused marijuana and alcohol both for many years, since age 15, trying to self-medicate.
For those of you kidding yourselves that marijuana is okay, harmless, and compatible with ADD/ADHD, please let me share something with you.
I have not touched marijuana now since the summer of 1988.
So I am approaching 22 years of not using pot.
Oh my god. If my mind had been this clear when I was younger, I could have received 2 or 3 Phd’s….
As it was, I dropped out of school to get my GED the same year at age 17, bounced around nearly 60 different jobs in 30 years.
I have been back in school now the past 2 years full-time and achieved a 3.8 GPA and I am Phi Theta Kappa, the International Honor Society. I get grants, loans, and scholarships to attend a private university.
Anyway, to anyone that wants to smoke pot, just keep in mind that you are not helping your situation.
Pot interupts the synapses in your brain…..the connections that it makes to process information.
It also destroys your short term memory.
And if you have ADD or ADHD, do you really want to mess up your memory and your brain’s internal connections ?
Geez, do some research why don’t ya….
I’m grateful that I have a second chance at life even as I approach the age of 50.
I just wish my parents had made the effort to find out why I was special when I was younger, and were around to tell my about the dangers of smoking pot.
For people that have cancer, sure, do what you must to survive, but if you are simply self-medicating, you are not doing yourself any good.
Trust me. I’ve been there, and done that…..
I disagree with you, only people who have ADHD can understand, its like your thoughts are just flashing in your head faster than you can even think about them actively. Marijuana is not a heartbreaking, family ruining monster. Its medication that helps people like me get grips with what’s going on in my mind, as a psychologist you see things from a different spectrum witch doesn’t apply to where people with ADHD are coming from and what the effect is on our minds. I used all the new medications like ritalin and concerts and adderal as a kid and it changed me as a person andi feel like my appreciation for life and the things around me was lost and it turned me into a mindless drone that would just do all of my work and sit there and stare. The medicine that doctors and the FDA approved that ducked up my personality for the rest of my life. So bluntly fuck what the FDA ,the government, and doctors say because I know when something is good and allowes me to enjoy my life in a way that I could have enjoyed maybe before it was ruined by common ADHD medicine. I know I got off topic but I want to prove a point that the professionals don’t know how to medicate it properly in the first place, so why criminalize something that’s WORKING, and saying its not proven based on the numbers and outdated studies?
I respectfully disagree with you. I was diagnosed with ADHD 10 years ago and I’m taking a stimulant medication. Before my diagnosis I was self medicating with pot. It made me unmotivated and depressed after I came down off of the high. The more I used the deeper and harder the lows became. After getting properly medicated under a controlled dose unlike what smoking a pot does I went back to college and got a 3.65 GPA and have held a good job with very little sick time taken for the last 8 years. I will agree that there are benefits to smoking marijuana for terminal cancer or other terminal disease but not for treating ADD/ADHD. This is just my experience, however I do know several others with ADHD that choose to self medicate with pot or alcohol and all have not been able to hold a steady job or have meaningful relationships because of their use with either substance..
I disagree with the overall message of this post and most of the viewers. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I was given Ritalin and it made me feel horrible. I could not operate properly. I was still getting good grades in school, but I was not right. When I turned fourteen, I started smoking marijuana. I immediately stopped the Ritalin. I did so much better that I actually started making friends. When I turned 17 I started doing everything you do before you enlist, which included stopping the marijuana use. I did not do well in the Marine Corps at all. Since I got out, I started smoking again and I have been back to school, was running my own company (slaughtered by the economy…), I am married, I have a good job. Oh yeah, I also started taking college classes at 15. I was smoking a lot too. I am about to go back to college yet again.
One of my main problems with your article, is how you and almost everyone else in the world thinks that marijuana is a gateway drug. Most people try alcohol first. I had my first beer at a very young age. Sugar is the gate and parents are the key masters. If parents did not first give their children that first “sugar high” then there would probably be less people addicted to hardcore stimulants, prescription or made in someone’s garage.