Some teens smoke pot for their health

Numerous studies and surveys show that adults sometimes use marijuana as relief from medical symptoms. It appears teenagers may occasionally do the same. A study published today found one-third of the adolescents interviewed said they don't smoke pot to get high but to treat health problems.

The study was small -- only 63 teenagers in Canada -- but it raises the question of whether kids smoke pot only to act out or to get high. The researchers, from the University of British Columbia, conducted in-depth interviews with adolescents who said they used marijuana. Twenty of the teens said they used it to relieve or manage health problems, such as emotion problems (depression or stress), sleep difficulties, problems concentrating or pain.

Many of the teens had unsatisfactory experiences with the healthcare system. For example, some had been prescribed medications for sleep problems or attention disorders but didn't like how the drugs made them feel or felt they weren't helpful. The teenagers said they were not worried about using marijuana for their health problems and said they did not use it excessively. In general, they were "thoughtful and prescriptive with their marijuana use," according to the researchers.

"They were adamant and confident that marijuana provided relief from their health problems," the authors wrote. "The decision to smoke marijuana was stated in a straight-forward fashion (e.g. 'I started it to make myself feel better') and justified because they had a 'reason for it.' "

Parents and doctors need to consider whether teenagers with health problems feel standard medical care is helping them. These teens said they felt they had little recourse for help with their health problems. Regular use of marijuana puts people at risk, the authors note, something that the adolescents in the study seemed to be unaware of. For example, smoking pot to alleviate depression actually increases the risk for depression.

The paper is published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Substance Abuse, Treatment, Prevention, and Policy.

 -- Shari Roan

 Photo credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[JohnF]

When I was around 18 years of age, I had a terrible time falling asleep because my brain just wouldn't shut down. They would probably have labeled me ADD these days and prescribed all kinds of drugs. I discovered that smoking pot would help me get to sleep at night from time to time. So, when I had trouble sleeping, I would get a glass of milk, a box of Pop Tarts, smoke a bowl, and just drift off. Several years later I moved into an apartment where smoking wasn't allowed, and I've never smoked since. It's funny, I never understand why people smoked pot, because all it did was make me sleepy. And I never understood the addiction argument because I smoked it at least once a week for several years and dropped it without any withdrawl issues. Another funny thing is I now have glaucoma and am afraid to treat it with pot because of the impact it would have on my life if I got caught. So I spend $100/month on pharmacological drugs that have known side effects so I won't go blind.

[Mark Montgomery]

It's logical that if adults do it some teenagers will do it too. Marijunana should be legal. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and their experience has been positive. Now if you are caught with a 10 day supply of your drug or less you face an administrative court, not a criminal court. We can do that here in the USA. A group of 20,000 very serious policemen, prosecutors and attorneys have formed a group to legalize ALL drugs, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://leap.cc ) They see what happened when we legalized alcohol in 1932 as a good example of how drug legalization would work. We can't stop drugs. They're sick of chasing drug users and sending innocent people to prison for decades just because they like to get high. This foolish war on drugs has lasted 37 years and cost us over a TRILLION dollars and we are not an inch closer to stopping drugs. How many millions of Americans are we going to lock up in prison for decades? Legalize ALL drugs now. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com

[Jordan]

marijuana definately helps me go to sleep at night. I use it reasonably, to me every other night or so. I have ocpd, and adhd. The point is ive been on adderall and stratera half my life, I choose not to take that shit. It has all kinds of bull shit side effects its rediculous. Marijuana should be legal for purposes like this its now past 5 in the morning and I cant go to sleep because my brain goes on auto pilot at night. If I was to smoke a bowl or 2 I would feel tired and passed out a few hours ago.