One thing that continues to be regurgitated in the War on Drugs is that THC is some evil demon that will send you mad. It was the tack used during the Reefer Madness of the 1930s, and we still don't move on. Except it doesn't add up. Don't get me wrong, cannabis isn't for everyone, though I'd argue that a bit like whiskey, there are so many, you just haven't found the right one yet. High THC strains can lead to psychosis in those predisposed to it, although putting it in perspective, so can lack of sleep, prolonged stress, certain medications, poverty, discrimination and a whole manner of other things. It can lead to anxiety in some, though again, I know someone who becomes anxious if they have too much CBD. We know increasing amounts on the power of CBD [1] to counter THC-related ill effects of this nature but prohibition and lack of public education and awareness means that a large number of cannabis users will be unaware of this, as many will be about prescription cannabis and the popular and prescribed alternative to smoking, vaporizing. They will be unaware of the different effects of indica-behaving or sativa-behaving strains on their health, partly through the restrictions of availability within the illicit market and likely unaware of the power of terpenes. These are examples of the public harm that every day of cannabis prohibition causes.
Here is an extract from the September 2021 publication 'Psychosis and schizophrenia [2]:
How do I identify a person at risk of developing a psychotic disorder or experiencing psychosis?' from the National Institute for Care Excellence:
"Review the person's history to rule out use of prescribed drugs that can cause psychosis, for example, anticonvulsants, high-dose corticosteroids, levodopa and dopamine agonists, or opioids."
When do you ever read or hear about these, given how many times you must have read or heard about the dangers of cannabis and psychosis? Absolutely there's a risk, as there is with anything, but it's a relatively small one and lack of access to the correct strains by maintaining prohibition increases it.
What isn't so widely lauded or advertised is the importance of THC. For me and many others, it's essential to managing my tremors and spasms, my fits, my pain..... and my mental health! Because THC is prescribed now. For anxiety, for depression, for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), for ADHD. (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Even 'Skunk' strains are prescribed, including in Sativex. I myself have suffered from depression since I was a teenager, and it probably won't surprise anyone to know that it hasn't got any better since I became disabled. The world isn't geared up towards people who use wheelchairs, it's only getting worse and we see in the media and social media all the time how people are blamed and judged for illness. It's stressful in a whole manner of ways and that never really goes away. I have constant problems with transport and the Social Care sector is even more broken than healthcare. Everything costs more, especially when the only thing that helps your physical health is cannabis that you have to pay privately for. Conversely the stress would be significantly lessened if this wasn't the case, and your medicine wasn't constantly changing because of stock problems. That said, under these conditions, my mental health is still significantly better when I consume cannabis, the right cannabis, than it would be otherwise. So is my concentration. It's all relative. The wrong cannabis usually helps a lot of my symptoms, but it stops me sleeping so it creates new ones.
Severe depression and anxiety are at least as debilitating as my physical symptoms. Before I became disabled I was a mental health nurse, though I worked primarily with people with psychosis. Many used cannabis, often for the short-term relief from auditory hallucinations but often it would trigger a bad response, which would desist when they stopped. Some it helped and they're weren't negative effects, though not that many as I remember, but virtually nothing was known about the beneficial effects of CBD back then in terms of mental health, so I often wonder how it would have been for them if their strains had been different. I've seen worse reactions to synthetic cannabinoids, I must say. It worries me greatly that they're presented in the media as though they're the same as cannabis, ignoring the well documented adverse reactions that are substantially more serious than any from cannabis. To quantify that, I'd argue that lack of awareness and understanding around respectful consumption, alternative methods of consumption, different cannabinoids and terpene profiles, plus lack of choice are harming public health, rather than the cannabis itself. There is also the move towards synthetic cannabis prescribed by the National Health Service in the form of Nabilone. Again, why?
The thing is though, like I said, I'm talking about a relatively small number of people in the grand scheme of things. What also gets continually ignored is the vast numbers of people in the population who take cannabis and have done so for years. I consumed a bit when I was younger, then later very occasionally if I was stressed or my insomnia was bad, but until I developed my last tumour and found that it helped that and many of my neurological and mental health symptoms without any ill effect, with the obvious exception of the stress of the financial costs. But I've always known as many people who chose to partake than not and do you know what? They were probably walking amongst you as every one of them has been a functioning member of society, more so than they would have been without it. Do you know what else? If they hadn't been, they probably wouldn't have bothered parting with cash and risking the wrath of the law for it.
References
2. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (September 2021) Psychosis and schizophrenia:
Updated September 2023