The Downsides of Marijuana Use

As marijuana becomes legalized in more states, it no longer faces the stigma it once did and many people are using it as a way to deal with health issues such as chronic pain and glaucoma. Many users assume that because of its many medicinal benefits, it doesn’t have any major disadvantages, which is not the case.

54%

of people injured in car accidents had drugs or alcohol in their systems

A recent study found that 54 percent of people who were injured in car accidents had drugs or alcohol in their systems with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the active ingredient in marijuana being the most prevalent. While research has been limited due to federal guidelines around marijuana research, it’s important to understand the potential downsides and disadvantages of marijuana use.

Negative Impacts of Marijuana Infographic Fort Wayne Recovery

How Marijuana Can Impact Health

While medical marijuana use is beneficial in helping cancer patients and people with multiple sclerosis, it can also cause issues to the user’s physical and mental health. When people smoke or vape marijuana, they can cause damage to the airways in their lungs. People who have a preexisting heart condition can experience an increased heart rate and their heart will have to work harder- increasing the risk of them having a heart attack.

While some people may use marijuana to help with mental health issues like anxiety, research shows that the effects of THC can cause things like depression and social anxiety to be more prevalent. People who already have a generalized anxiety disorder may feel that their anxiety worsens when they’re not using pot and can become dependent on it. Marijuana can also cause additional behavioral health issues such as memory and cognitive problems and high usage can lead to paranoia and schizophrenia, especially if the user has a family history of psychosis.

Tommy Streeter, a community outreach coordinator for Allendale Treatment and Fort Wayne Recovery says that he used marijuana to help with social anxiety but found that it caused additional problems. “If you’ve got depression or an anxiety disorder and you’re taking medication for it but you’re also smoking weed, it’s not going to work,” says Streeter. “It interferes with the chemicals in your brain and will oftentimes make those issues worse.”

Young people who use marijuana regularly could experience brain development issues since the human brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25. A brain imaging study found irregularities in the prefrontal cortex of teenagers who said they were frequent pot users. While research is still limited, it suggests that early users of marijuana could experience lasting effects into adulthood.

If you’ve got depression or an anxiety disorder and you’re taking medication for it but you’re also smoking weed, it’s not going to work”

Tommy Streeter, A Community Outreach Coordinator

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Unfortunately, barriers to cannabis research have prevented comprehensive information on all the impacts it can have on users. As cannabis use becomes legalized in more states, it’s easy to assume that more research will become available as to both the positive and negative effects it has. This is not the case until it becomes legalized nationally or is no longer labeled a schedule one drug by federal law. Researchers from states where marijuana is currently legal, still face hurdles when it comes to obtaining marijuana for research purposes so there are still a lot of unknowns on its overall impact.

While there’s hope that legalizing marijuana will lead to many societal benefits such as a decrease in crime, even in states like California where weed has been legalized, illegal marijuana farms still exist as growers want to profit from the black market. There’s also concern over new risks such as children accidentally ingesting edibles that they’ve mistaken for candy and an increase in emergency vet visits for pets who’ve ingested pot as it becomes more prevalent in homes throughout the country.

Physicians also have their hands tied since they didn’t study the benefits and disadvantages of marijuana in medical school and some like Jan K. Carney, M.D., of the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont in more research to guide patients better. “Widespread use of medical cannabis is straining medicine’s conventional boundaries, as patients venture without guidance into the unknown and return bearing strange medicines that seem strikingly nonmedical,” says Carney.

‘Widespread use of medical cannabis is straining medicine’s conventional boundaries, as patients venture without guidance into the unknown and return bearing strange medicines that seem strikingly non-medical”

A “Safe” Substitute for Harder Drugs

People who are struggling with a substance use disorder to drugs such as heroin or cocaine may feel that replacing those substances with marijuana is a way for them to effectively overcome their addiction but that wasn’t the case for Streeter. “I got into a pattern where once I completed in-patient treatment I thought I’d be able to return home and manage my addiction by just smoking weed,” says Streeter. “Heroin was my drug of choice and I thought there was no way I could be completely sober.”

So, I thought smoking weed would be okay but after a while, I’d start feeling cold and sweaty and I had trouble eating and sleeping because I was going through withdrawal from the marijuana. I felt similar withdrawal symptoms when I used heroin, so it was just a matter of time before I had a needle in my arm again and was back to using heroin.”

“Heroin was my drug of choice and I thought there was no way I could be completely sober.”

Tommy Streeter, Community Outreach Coordinator

Even if it becomes legalized nationally, marijuana is still a substance that people can become addicted to, just like alcohol. Nate Moellering, a community outreach coordinator at Allendale Treatment and Fort Wayne Recovery says that people in recovery need to be cautious about using marijuana as a substitute for a harder drug. “If you’re in recovery and it’s working for you or if you’re struggling in recovery, you need to be cautious about the idea that marijuana is safe to use as a “softer substance” because it won’t ruin your life or cause you harm,” says Moellering. “Unfortunately, I’ve seen it turn into a major problem for several people in recovery.”