Marijuana for depression??

I suffer from depression and marijuana has helped me more than medication has. I feel more alive when i use it and i dont feel like a zombie like the medication makes me feel.

In a way I feel opposite. I was never actually 'diagnosed' with depression really. I guess my doc kind of wanted to say that but I don't think I was ever actually diagnosed.

I have smoked weed since I was 13 though and honestly it pretty much always made me feel better (unless I was also drinking which makes me very angry)

Now that I have to quit in order to get a job my depression has been tenfold.

I only took an anti-depressant once and I hated it. It made me shakey and uncomfortable and if I forgot to take it, it made me very angry. Therefore, I stopped taking it and continued smoking.

Since 8th grade I have been able to 'cope' especially if I could get high. It would just calm me down and make me happy. I could just be sitting and thinking and smiling.

Without it. I sit and think and cry. Since I've quit which it has only been about 5 days I have been very depressed. I don't like to be alone or in the dark. When I smoked I could function not I feel like I just want to curl up in the fetal position until everything is OK. With weed everything was OK.

I can't actually say for a fact that it helped my depression but it definitely made me feel better. And I always felt better using weed instead of a doctor prescribed pill that I will more than likely get addicted to.

I can tell you that the withdrawal hasn't been horrible though. It's not physically addicting so I'm not vomiting or anything like that. I'm just blah. I know when withdrawaling from meds the results can be a lot more traumatic.

I'm biased of course. :)

I actually think there is somehting to this... I am not a proponant of marijuana... I smoked a little back in my early 20's but had an ex who was a heavy smoker, we lived together and I think that my bad experiences are more connected with teh fact that it is illegal and therefore brings trouble... who the Hell wants to worry abotu police??-- plus I found that a lot of skeeeeeeezy people were suddenly hanging around our house... plus it was a bad rleationship anyway and suddenly where there had been little to say to each other there was NOTHING to talk about... but if it were legal it probably wouldn't involve hanging around as many lowlifes and if we had a healthy relationship in the first place the communication and boredom mayy not have been an issue either.

ANYWAY... my ex had untreated (and undiscussed) depression problems... I think he HAD to smoke every day or he would be overwhelmed by it. I didn't know him before he smoked, but I have a feeling he smoked to deal with the depression..not htat the depressionw as CAUSED by the marijuana. This is counterintuitive because I believe marijuana is a depressant? am I correct? which means that it should make it worse??

I wonder if it could work like a stimulant for people with ADD... the "medication" levels out their baseline so it is even with their threshold? if that was true though alcohol would make depressed people feel better too because it is a depressant... and it does NOT help someone with depression... so maybe (if it does help as it seems to) it is the actual chemical properties of marijuana that does the job??

an antidepressant could do that too I suppose... but marijuana doesn't seem to have the side effects of most perscription antidepressants... that's my 2-cents anyway.

Let me add in here though that there is no substitute for getting therapy or counseling to help with actual issues that have caused depression... otherwise you are just ignoring it and when the drugs wear off the problems are still there... in my response above I was talking about depression caused by a chemical imbalance.

I smoked it all my life. I was diagnosed with depression I think when I was 7 or at least I was in therapy then. I started smoking when I was 10 years old. I never knew life without it so I most defiantly used it as a medication. I'l tell you why I DON'T think it's the best but it has potential, I'd like to see more research done. It's the up and down. WHen you smoke it, you feel good and high but how high you get depends on when you smoke, how much, how long, and then there's always a come down. If you smoke all the time like I did. You just don't even get high any more. You get "back to normal" and that's when it's not so good because you can get more depressed without it once you get to that point. It can be a pick me up but when you get on it to the point where you can't get high any more, you are only not high and normal. I think if a person could get the quantity it might be good as a tea where it could be absorbed by the body more slowly and eliminated more slowly and affect you more in a more subtle way. A tea or even some kind of capsure if it could be time released to stop the up and down. If someone could use the up effect properly I think it could be great. I do't know the science on it and what I do know about it, smoking it you can get fatty tissue on your brain that can leave scar tissue. For super smokers. That's what they said in treatment anyway.

I say blaze it up!

I think for some people marijuana can help with depression. i think it should be legalized. Its natural & maybe less harmful (in pure/non-tainted form==of course since its illegal/u have to get it off street-it could always be laced with something so u got to be careful) than many prescription drugs to treat depression. My feelings are if it works-u are not depressed then take it. However-i think therapy is also important-to work out problems causing depression. My worry would be that if u need marijuana high everyday not to be depressed-at some point u may get a tolerance to it/not get the high u are looking for-and need to move on to harder drugs which would be bad for u. I guess it is something u should use with caution to treat depression--and idealy it be good to take while getting help from a therapist or under a doctor;s care.

For me-moderate use of alcohol & marijuana help w. the occassional anxiety or mild depression. As jessica mentioned alcohol-a depressant-depresses the function or activity of a specific part of the brains & depresses the central nervous system-but i disagree w her logic that if this were true alcohol would be used to make people less depressed (when one is depressed they want upers like stimulants--when one is up/nervous they want depresants/downers) bc that is the opposite of what i think she was saying--alcohol can be used to make people less anxious/anxiety-bc it depressed/lowers the function of the central nervous system (for most people alcohol lowers their worries & inhibitions). Alcohol in some way does the same thing as many anti-anxiety drugs-although the drugs are designed to target certain receptors in cells/more specific--where alcohol can;t do that & anti-anxiety pills not soley characterized as depressants (they fall into the mixed effect drugs).. I actually think to handle minor anxiety--its far safer to have a drink or 2 then go on anti-anxiety meds. Of course-severe anxiety issues my concern would be one developing a tolerance for alcohol/need more & more to feel calm-alcohol toxin so too much very bad for body--and so it could lead to one drinking excessively & not treating underlying cause of anxiety. Anti-anxiety medicine is still toxic in some ways to the body (many hurt liver too) & people can develop tolerance-but because they don;t fall into one category (its not just a depressant but mix) & was developed to target specific parts of cell/receptors & do specific jobs-tolerance issues less of a concern & one is more likley to take them while under care of therapist/treating underlying condition.

Marajuana is a very interesting plant & doesn;t fall neatly into one category.

The most important drug contained in cannabis is THC, but cannabis actually contains a number of other drugs.
THC does not fit nicely into the categories that doctors and pharmacologists invented to describe other drugs.
THC is sort of like a STIMULANT, because it increases heart rate, just like the prototypical stimulant amphetamine.
THC is sort of like a SEDATIVE/DEPRESSANT-bc it dumbs reflexes/depresses brain & central nervous system function
THC is sort of like a HALLUCINOGEN because it makes people paranoid and psychotic, especially in large doses and occasionally after prolonged use. .

Like alcohol. i think marajuana (if it was legal) would be great to treat the occassional depression spell ---but my concern would also be tolerance where if one needs more & more to take it could lead to needing other/harder drugs. Excessive usage of marijuana-like excessive usuage of alcohol is very bad for the body. For severe depression-i would suggest seeing a therapist bc then one likely has biochemical problem--and use of marajuana might further damage one's chemical properties in brain-leading to a worse depression.

Sorry so lengthy. let us know if marajuana continues to help u battle depression.

Not sure the effects of marajuana mixed w. anti-depressants-so u might want to look into drug interaction or even ask a pharmacist before mixing the too-combined they might have opposite effect & make u more depressed or worse

For years I thought weed was a depressant turns out its actually a hallucinagent. I find that it makes me feel better emotionally, but spend too much time worrying about the legal aspect. I am currently trying to find information on the medicinal use treating depression but have not found any reliable information.

Personally I think it should be legal- I can not stand alcohol and its effects on people. But it is a personal judgment call at to whether the positive effects are worth risking your freedom and record for