Marijuana Use and Mental Health

Ok I will come out with it, I smoked Marijuana but did not inhale.  NO, I did inhale.  In my early Tweties away at school...though a lot of people use it, I am still one to protest that for a lot of us it just does not work.  For people who suffer with Mental Health issues I believe it does more harm then good!!  Hey and if I sound preachy on the matter...well, I have been there, I give myself the right to discuss this! I used it and fell into the hospital at a very young age, destroying my future career and many other things along the way.  What if you are 16 or so and trying on weed for size, but also have a Mental Illness of sorts.  For one, everyone I hear is different with that drug.  In reality, if you have a Mental Illness and at 16 may not know of it, as scary as that may be.  Trying on pot for size, worsens the illness to a degree sometimes of no recovery.  Also it can trigger an episodic breakdown, the feeling is as worse as any.

I was hospitalized twice because of it and had a Ten or more year battle with getting healthy, mentally and otherwise.  Say you really don't like how pot makes you feel, you don't like the high but have a hard time saying no to your peers.  Trust me, I have had to do that.  You may yes, be looked at differently, not being a drug taker in your group.  You will though earn respect from so many, new friends and even yourself.  I found not doing drugs, I was able to wake up, enjoy everyday, without having to have a fix to make that feel good emotion.

So what happens to people young and older who smoke pot.  There brain waves that occupy that HAPPY feeling stop working regularly, it stops so that when you take that toke, that becomes the indicator on your happy feeling.  What happens when you are out of weed for a stretch...Your Seratonin can not be recreated properly or at all and then the feeling of being blue, unhappy and maybe irritable step in.  Just like any other drug, although some say it is not addictive that happy feeling is!  Then you are hooked, like any other drug.  If you have a Mental Illness it will rear it's ugly-and I mean ugly head sooner, quicker, to a higher degree.

So all the 16 or older people out there, think about how old you are.  Think about your future.  Do you really want to have a life where you need a hit just to wake up smiling in the AM?  1 in 4 people have a mental illness, I hate to say it, what if you are one of them?  What happens if you get hooked on weed, plus the prescribed medication that a doctor has to give you?  That is a combination that reeks havoc on your lifestyle more then you know.  Think, if you are in the hospital you would have to sustain anyways.

I am not concerned with the over 25 age group who have taken Marijuana for years.  My passion lies with the younger generation who still have a chance to make a choice.  You want to feel happy on your own merit don't you?  Don't you want to wake up in the spring bright eyed and glistening able to go for a hike without stopping for that high, when the trees and the nature could easily provide that Happy high all day, everyday?  The road gets rough with Mental Illness...it is much easier to stop the cycle just by saying NO.  I found if you say NO three times in a row you are half way there and people will know your stand point and most likely value it and respect it.

I just know what I have learned over and over, what I have gone through, the many therapies I have been given and learned about over 25+ years.  I would hate to see a teen waist there time and energy on such things.  You don't want that road. Take the high road, not a quick fix high, but the high that can last a lifetime of you getting up everyday, able to produce seratonin levels in your brain on your own.  I have heard many horror stories, seen it with my own eyes.  Do something different, be different.  Don't succumb to a passing drug.  Instead, take care of yourself and others too may follow.