Teens Self-Medicate With Cannabis
Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 24, 2009
When legal therapies let them down, some teens apparently turn to cannabis.
A new study, published in BioMed Central’s open access journal
Substance Abuse, Treatment, Prevention and Policy suggests that
around a third of teens who smoke cannabis on a regular basis use it as a
medication, rather than as a means of getting high. 
Joan Bottorff worked with a team of researchers from the University of
British Columbia to conduct in-depth interviews with 63 cannabis-using
adolescents. Of these, 20 claimed that they used cannabis to relieve or
manage health problems.
Bottorff said, “Marijuana is perceived by some teens to be the only
available alternative for those experiencing difficult health problems when
legitimate medical treatments have failed or when they lack access to
appropriate health care.”
The most common complaints recorded were emotional problems (including
depression, anxiety and stress), sleep difficulties, problems with
concentration and physical pain.
The teens’ experiences with the medical system were uniformly negative.
The authors said, “Youth who reported they had been prescribed drugs such as
Ritalin, Prozac or sleeping pills, stopped using them because they did not
like how these drugs made them feel or found them ineffective. For these
kids, the purpose of smoking marijuana was not specifically about getting
high or stoned.”
The
authors emphasize that the unmet medical needs of these teens are of key
importance in these findings. In contrast to the unpleasant side effects of
prescribed medications and long, ineffective legal therapies, cannabis
provided these adolescents with immediate relief for a variety of health
concerns.
Of course, cannabis isn’t completely harmless, but as one of the respondents
noted, “It’s not good for you, but then again, neither is McDonald’s and a
lot of other things.”