Marijuana: Helpful or Hindering? by Lacey Mehling, CNP

A study published in 2017 has found that depressed people who also use marijuana are less likely to recover from their depression. It has been shown that marijuana use is associated with poor physical health, worsening of depression, anxiety, and an overall decline in mental health functioning.

Although marijuana may produce instant euphoria, there are potential consequences including:

• * Impaired short-term memory.
• * Impaired attention, judgement and cognitive functioning.
• * Impaired coordination and balance.
• * Increased heart rate.
• * Anxiety and paranoia.
• * Psychosis.

Some persistent effects of marijuana include:

• * Impaired learning and coordination.
• * Sleep problems.

Some long-term effects of marijuana include:

• * Potential for addiction.
• * Impairments in learning, memory and possible loss of IQ.
• * Increased risk of chronic cough, bronchitis.
• * Increased risk of other drug and alcohol use disorders.
• * Increased risk of schizophrenia in people with genetic vulnerability.

While there are no current medications FDA approved to treat marijuana use disorders, research indicates that effectively treating (if present) the underlying mental health disorder with both medication management and therapy may help reduce use and improve functioning.

Some medications have shown promise in early research studies which include the anti-anxiety medication, buspirone and the anti-epileptic medication called gabapentin.

Both buspirone and gabapentin have been shown to improve sleep and executive functioning during the withdrawal period from marijuana. In early studies, N-acetylcysteine has been linked with reducing withdrawal effects by inhibiting the breakdown of cannabinoids.