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Some teens smoke pot for their health

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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.

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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

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