I live in Michigan, a state which recently passed a Medical Marijuana law. I have seen a lot of discussion online which people with Aspergers Syndrome claim use of cannabis helps them cope with Aspergers Syndrome.I have never smoked weed, and have no plans on doing so, but I feel it would be responsible to discuss what some people claim to be a fact. From what I know from people that smoke Marijuana they claim it slows things down, helps you relax and gives you the munchies.
When getting overwhelmed making things slow down would definitely help me better cope, as well as feeling relaxed.
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Do you think Marijuana can help those with Aspergers cope?
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I have never smoked marijuana myself, however, I have many friends (and family) that have smoked it (recreationally). As with any substance (medication, alcohol, etc), it has different effects for different people. For example, I have a friend that says marijuana makes her extremely paranoid and does not calm her at all. And another friend that used it as a substitute for prescribed Xanax (for anxiety), who said it calmed her.
I think just like any substance you put in your body, there are possible side effects and it will effect people differently.
No. It also increases paranoia, etc., etc., in many people. I would say pot would in most cases be a horrible thing for people with AS.
Good point.
Hey I suffer from AS and I find the medical marijuana motivates me and makes me more socially aware. Since my brain is constantly on high load from overthinking, medical marijuana helps me relax for once and makes me have real emotions. So why don’t you guys stop writing this bullshit about how it doesnt help people with AS especially when you dont suffer from it.
Actually Mike, most of us here have AS. I certainly do. Please don’t just assume we do not. I understand that this helps you, I also understand others who are on the spectrum have doubts. I would like to see some testing personally, and perhaps a clinical controlled trial?
I would actually have to disagree with you Asp. I have aspergers syndrome and I have been using medical marijuana vapor for near to 4 years to control anxiety, slow down my thinking to a productive level, among other dispositions common with AS.
id have to disagree severely i have asbergurs syndrome and realy bad axiety it used to be so bad i could never socialize with people cus i had to many things in my head to process at once i couldnt sleep cus my axiety kept me up i was never happy cus i was always very anxious and uncomfortable because of my axiety started smoking mj and all the axiety went away now for some it is diffrent i am merely stsateing my experience with it
I have to strongly disagree with your statment bucause I am a medical marijuana patient of 10 years diagnosed with asperger’s & the “paranoia” (very few people experience) only comes with the fact that marijuana is known to most as being an illegal substance & people get paranoid because they believe they are breaking the law & are afraid of consiquence, or they are a first time or new user & dont know what affects to expect from marijuana. take these 2 things out of the equasion & this would never be an issue. guaranteed!
Marijuana has saved my life & is nothing short of a miricle in my life & I wouldnt be able to cope or remain in a consistant, steady, calm, level mind without it. I am not upset with your comment, I just want to inform the general public of how medical marijuana makes life livable for those with aspergers, autism, anxiety, stress, gastro intestinal disorder, social anxiety & any other symptom that is experienced with the wide aray of autism spectrum disorders.
((I experience all symptoms listed above without medical marijuana & it is unbearable.))
It continues to stress me out & make life hard not having the support of my own country or even my family.
without marijuana, I would be dead!
I hope this help people without an ASD understand our situation of why medical marijuana is NOT a drug to us but a medication that is not abused or even used recreational in our lives.
thank you for listening.
I agree 100% with this man’s statement. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s pre-high school, used it illicitly since 15, medical user for the past year. Now there’s zero-paranoia associated. I can even SMALL TALK with a POLICEMAN while medicated. I certainly couldn’t even do that “sober.”
Just a note. As with any drug, moderation is necessary. MMJ also helps to bring out the creative side that’s hidden in my brain, but I’d never want to smoke before writing a term paper (unless of course I’m actually passionate about the subject).
My father is a neuropsychologist and my mother is a lawyer, and naturally both are against it. They come from that “older generation” but are slowly seeing the benefit of this beautiful plant, at least in my case.
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Josh, I too have all the symptoms you mention and, while I have never been diagnosed or sought out treatment, I believe that I fall somewhere on the spectrum. MJ certainly has helped me cope with my own thoughts, allowing me to process information in a more ‘normal’ way instead of the skewed way I usually interpret social situations. Everything always seemed confusing when I was interacting with people, and MJ seemed to allow me to develop a more clear understanding of what was happening and react appropriately. I do not, however, advocate this as the only solution. Over time, stress will push you to either adapt or be consumed by yourself. I have adapted by questioning my immediate reactions to events and consciously making an effort to think the opposite if I feel I am making assumptions that may not have any real basis. While this is by no means a perfect solution, it allows me to understand how to act normally (to an extent) without the necessity of MJ. I believe that while MJ may be an easy and effective fix, real changes can be made without it; changes that give you more control over your own life instead of handing control over to a substance that is regulated and may be taken away at any moment or get you into difficulties that will cause you further distress. By the way, my father is a neuropsychologist and my mother used to be a lawyer too. What are the odds of that? Did your father realize you had aspergers? Mine never realized or made any indication that he thought I had these difficulties which still perplexes me…
u obviously have no idea of what u speak, i have AS and i smoke everyday, all day and since i started my married life hasn’t been better!!!!! i almost got divorced 4 times my first year, the second year there has only been 1 major fight!!! people with AS also can have the violent out lashings like regular autism so the marijuana also helps control that. my mind moves so fast that i cant keep up with my thoughts most the time, when i’m high i can almost function like a ” normal person” . you should really do research on shit b4 u talk about it. i am 29 and have dealt with this my whole life, did i mention i’m a US NAVY VETERAN? not only drug dealers like marijuana and its affects aren’t all bad, do u have any clue what we could have made taxing it like beer????????????????????????? TRILLIONS YES I SAID TRILLION WITH A “T”!!! so b4 u go thinking something is bad again, actually do your research and i wont have to write another letter like this!!
first of all, who are you responding to?
second of all, if you are referring to me, than YOU are the one who hase no clue about what you are talking about.
Maybe you should re- read my messages & understand what I am saying instead of dreaming up your dillusional conclutions!
This is obviously one of your uncontrollable lash outs you have & maybe you need to smoke another one & come back & act like a responsible mature adult so we can have a decent conversation. Seems like you posted that simply to start an argument. think about what you say B4 opening your mouth.
Read all the posts for this topic here & you will see where this was headed untill you spewed out a bunch of nonsense!
I’n not against mmj (medical marijuana) but I am against the recreational use of those I am familiar with.
It turns people into… well, pricks like you!
because I am trying to find an alternative other than mmj for my condition(which you have no clue what or how bad it is) you interprit that I think mj a bad thing??? NO its not bad, its the only thing keeping me level headed so I can live my life without pain or other related problems.
Please, explain yourself in detail what your issue is, I’m quite interested in what other nonsense you have to ramble on about.
I dont know what caused you to turn into a
keyboard commando all of a sudden but its not welcomed here.
so unless you can keep your lash outs under control & are able to hold a normal conversation than hold your tounge because no one wants to hear it.
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Thats not for all people. It effects everyone differently. And its not the actual marijuana that makes you paronoid its the fact that you know you are doing something illegal.
no it doesnt ‘increase’ paranoia, SOME very litle can smoke it and get paranoid but to be honest most people are paranoid about people finding out because its illegal , and no it is not horrible thing for people with AS. considering ive got it and adhd i find for both cannabis helps for definatly feel more relaxed around people , and can help me concentrate for a longer time. & alcohol, alot of prescribed drugs [including asprin] & tobacco are all more harmfull than cannabis
How many times do i have to say this IT DOESNT ALWAYS MAKE EVERYBODY WHO SMOKE IT PARANOID OR GET BAD EFFECTS , alot of the dealers are paranoid because of the fact of it being illegal but i dont know one single person who smokes it be more paranoid than they were before smoking it
People out there react to every single thing differently for me cannabis helps me push my self to socialize my anxiety goes down but like i said its not for everyone just like every drug or food
People need to note that its not EVERYONE who smokes it will get these bad effects many out there don’t
I agree that some on the autism spectrum could find this beneficial. However, in this climate where so many think of autistics as a population to be controlled, I don’t really think it would be a good idea to push for this. If it were like my coffee habit, where I drink some coffee to give myself a boost in the morning or before a social event because it both energizes me and makes me a little more gregarious, but I’m free to not injest it if I don’t want to, it wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately, marijuana is not considered to be in the same category as beer, coffee, tea, and cigarettes. Right now, society has two categories for marijuana users: those who take it as a necessary medication, who are accepted by society, and those who smoke it recreationally, who everyone is telling to go to rehab because they’re seen as having an addiction. The way I see it, suggesting the use of medical marijuana for “coping” purposes could be dangerous because it would put all autistics who use marijuana for this purpose into the category of people taking marijuana as a necessary medication and could serve to further medicalization of autism and giving people more reason to compare autism to cancer. Marijuana could be good for autistics, but in this climate, it’s a bit too dangerous to be pushing for it right away.
Cannabis does not cause cancer TOBACCO does… read your facts it can cure brain cancer , skin cancer, breast cancer , and help towards many other things
I think a lot more research needs to be done by the Psych community into alternatives to SSRIs and SNRIs. If THC acts as a Dopamine antagonist then maybe the people could alternatively be prescribed something like Levadopa, which is used for Parkinsons. (What I am against is prescribing SSRIs for Various imbalances like Depression and OCD, when there are other things that were restricted by prohibitionist laws that might work just as well, perhaps with less onerous side effects. Weight gain with that pill anyone? Liver damage? Kidney overload?)
That said, I am not against medical marijuana, and think roadblocks into research with it need to come down.
I am not against anything being used for a legitimate medical purpose. I am however concerned about this being abused.
Abused how?
Marijuana helps myself and other friends with AS deal with anxiety, sleep issues, and Carpel Tunnel / RSI from communicating with keyboards for most of our lives. Without it the world is much harder to deal with.
I had a terrible reaction to Prozac. It made me retreat into the back of my head and I felt even more disconnected from the rest of the planet. Never again.
Depakote, Zoloft and a few others did that for me.
I have AS, during my life it has proven to bevery disasterous and unexplainable until very recent years. I was prescribed so many drugs, and NONE even came close to even helping. The problem was a misdiagnosis with ADD, and those drugs shut me down. Of course that diagnosis truely never sat right with me, some doctors even tried to tell me I was manic depressive(bi-polar now), WRONG! I started smoking as any teenager would, someone introduced me to and, and it made me feel different, so I kept doing it. Little did I know it was actually helping me socially, and allowing me to focus my mind on things I would otherwise overlook, even my temper calms, to name just a few areas this has helped with. Since my difficult childhood free from pot, I am now a daily user. There is no equal to what is offered by marijuana in this instance. There is no drug that even offers this effect with side effects, let alone without them. Marijuana is a miracle. I do not care what MD disagrees with me here, they are less informed. I will not say this is a cure-all, or that it would help another aspie, but for me there is no better. In this case with most I will say it is best to inform yourself, do not believe what a right wing politician has to tell you. They are looking for supporters, not answers. I have been a daily smoker for years, I am not schitzyphrenic, I am not stupid(my IQ is above average and then some), my reaction time is only effected when I choose to sit on my butt and eat cheetos while watching tv which is rare, I am not lazy(daily personal fitness program). I am not sure who the politicians are getting thier information from, but they should seek answers from people with actual experience.
The more time that passes, the more people will find that marijuana is not satan, but it is a very helpful substance even possibly a cancer cure, but for that to happen the Federal Government would have to legalize research on the substance. My highest hope is that one day, this very available medication will not send its beneficiaries to prison merely for seeking medical help doctors can not exactly offer to everyone.
“The American Medical Association (AMA) urges that marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines. Previously, the AMA recommended marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance, but it now believes the substance deserves more clinical research.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/11/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5614233.shtml
My aspie son struggled mightily with severe depression and other negative effects of the syndrome in early high school. We tried zoloft, prozac, ambien. Nothing seemed to help. Eventually, he dropped out of school his sophomore year and started taking online college courses. He slept all day. Played video games all night. His weight soared to 350 pounds. He had no friends, and his depression worsened. He often spoke of ending his life. I am thankful to the two neighborhood acquaintances who introduced him to the substance. My son is going to junior college, funny, talkative and off to the gym every day now. This is a kid who resented having to walk to the car! I understand it is illegal, and, certainly, drugs have different effects on different people. For instance, alcohol sends him into sobbing cries of despair. In terms of side effects, I’ve heard of none that concern me more than the constant threat of suicide. For my child, it has been his salvation. He’s lost almost 100 pounds. He’s a college sophomore at 17, and he now talks about his old age. As his mother, I will do whatever I have to do to ensure he has access.
I have smoked marijuana recreationally.. I have aspergers syndrome… I’m a guitar player.. Actually very talented at my guitar.. I will have to say medical marijuana is good for kids with aspergers.. Just as long as they dont smoke to much….
Its a mild hallucination..
But I’ve done it and I dont actully have anything against that at all…
As a kid doing it from 12 years old i have noticed it helped me get inspired more about music… It hadn’t made me fat… Lazy… or lost of ambition…
What did make me lose my ambition is my manic depression
but untill i smoked cannibis i felt better…. It helped me alot with my ambition…
think of it this way… Alcohol is a depressent that is legal to use recreationally
it causes depression
it causes anxiety of everyday life..
it fact it can be highly addictive…
I know many people who think marijuana is better use for recreation
then alcohol which is legal..
But just like everything it would be bad to do to much if you dont have
anything wrong with you physically of emotionally…
But I do think if you gave a phycotic kid a bole or a joint or 2 he would be calm…
same with kids with a.d.d
or aspergers… people with aspergers have been known to have a vivid imagination or a little troubles learning. but i think if they had a bole or a joint.. It would probably help them learn easy cause what happends when you smoke marijuana..
its a hallucigen… but mild.. Depending on your personality it affects you..
but when i did it and a teacher taught me algebra while i was high. i understand it cause it made me imagine what she meant…
It stimulates there learning… or it can depress it..
But by a certain person it would be good
it cures cancer, aids, and other mental disorders..
just as long as its not too much just like every medication
I would check your sources…
Marijuana has no withdraw effects, if you get addicted its because you are mentally addicted to the feeling. And with no physical addiction this makes it easy to quit, ex: you wont wake up sweating or shaking because you want it so bad.
It doesnt make you depressed, actually quite the contrary. Take a famous person for example; snoopdog. He got his medical card because he claimed he was depressed. A reason to get accepted for a medical card is depression… hence this helps with depression.
I can also second the help with depression from personal experience. Actually marijuana somehow transformed me out of depression to being religious.
Yes marijuana may cause anxiety / paranoia, but this is on a person to person basis and also the type of marijuana. I got my hands on a strand of medical (happy) anti-depressent mari. and I had a smile the whole entire time.
Other things I can agree on what you said, I just dont want the wrong information to come out and bash; for it is not true.
I know marijuana helps people with Asperger’s. I’ve seen it work in a very positive way. It calms anxiety, prevents meltdowns, helps the person focus on school work and opens up their creativity. The person is relaxed and cheerful and pleasant to be around. There are no side effects like there is with man-made chemical drugs.
Unfortunately, Michigan’s Medical Marijuana law is very flawed and access is very difficult and costly. I naively thought that if you followed the rules and filled out the proper forms, it would be easy for the qualified person to receive their Medical Marijuana Card. HA! What I found, was that almost all medical doctors who are guided by the AMA (American Medical Association), will not sign the form for you. Because of this fact, “special” doctors have sprung up who will sign your form for a $200 fee. Add that to the $100 application fee, which btw, these fees must be paid every year. If you finally get a card, you will find that you have no easy access to obtaining marijuana since there are no dispensaries. Your options are to pay a “caregiver” (one who is approved to grow and sell marijuana) an exorbitant amount, about $200 for a small bag, or invest in all of the equipment to grow your own.
After finding out all of this information, I realized that it’s much cheaper and easier to just get marijuana the same way people have for years – from your local pot dealer, ha. Oh well. I agree with Andrea, as a mother, I too, will do whatever I have to do to ensure my daughter has access.
I struggled with social inhibitions, ADHD and anxiety throughout my youth, including years of SSRI use with very mixed results. I started smoking pot at age 19 and it changed my life, lowering anxiety and guiding my way towards proper social interaction and normalcy. At age 30 I have discovered I am indeed an Aspie, and realized I have been self-medicating all this time. For what it’s worth, I barely drink and have no dependency problems with other drugs.
High quality marijuana, whether smoked or made into food, is a very special tool for mellowing out the mind, with no other option that compares to it. It’s not right for everybody, but should be a part of the toolkit for managing Asperger’s and Autism. Its effects can indeed range from therapeutic to miraculous.
For those that worry about the ‘potential for abuse’, I would encourage you to re-examine your biases. Marijuana is natural and essentially harmless. When recommending herbal tea or chicken noodle soup for sick people, do we worry about potential for ‘abuse’? Daily use of dangerous medications isn’t considered abuse; I’d much rather be a pothead than a pillhead.
For those that worry about the political danger to the ASD community by bringing marijuana into the picture, your motives are noble but you’re ignoring the needs of real people that need help. Why deny possible treatment to people just because of the political implications?
I feel like autism is a side effect of the brain’s swift evolution into modern life; fortunately, cannabis has evolved with us as a natural balance for quieting the mind.
I have AS and a history of panic attacks and a really violent temper. I have found that when I have a panic attack/ultra-violent, angry old testament god like, berzerker rage, temper fit pot is pretty much the only thing that will calm me down. One minute I’m breaking everything/everyone I can get my hands on and screaming like the lunatic I am, then I’ll take a couple of hits of bud and the next minute I’m WAAAAAY calmer and half way rational. By the time the bowl’s out I’ve usually apologized for being such a caveman asshole and I wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’ve tried all kindsa anti depressants, anti psychotics, etc but they always screw me up even more than I already am especially if i miss a dose and go into withdrawl (even though the Dr’s have told me that stuff is non habit forming, not addictive, etc… then the next sentence outta their mouth is usually, “but don’t quit all at once. we’ll have to step it down over a couple of months.” I wonder how much the drug companies give them to tell me crap like that… Rotten sons of….)
Anyway, this isn’t exactly good science but I’ve found that when i get all screwed up like that pot seems to help me calm down and keep me from hurting anyone. That being said, I’ve had a long history of substance abuse.
Hope that was somewhat helpful.
Great thread. We should be thinking about this more effectively. First, lets separate policy and strategy from efficacy (I’m thinking of sadderbutwiser here). If medical marijuana is determined to be useful and effective within understood parameters, then we can work through the strategy around policy and positioning. California, for example, is getting pretty close to full legalization – the policy can change.
Second, lets not close any doors (I’m looking at you ASP). A perusal of the thread shows lots of anecdotal evidence that medical marijuana can be quite helpful for Aspies.
What we should be doing is trying to establish effective heuristics for action, gathering the highest quality information possible and trying to know what we know.
Here is my take, based on personal experience.
* Aspies react quite differently to most neurochemicals (including caffine – its a hell of a drug) than normals. That means while we can look to general population studies, we can’t rely on them.
There is a let-down here – similar to the pharma SSRI withdrawal – so be cautious. Think of it like climbing a mountain. Rewarding with risks.
* In my experience, stimulants are bad news. Just too much of too much. Even coffee should be treated with care. I can reach great heights on coffee, but man does it ruin my biochemistry and mental balance.
* Empathics – (Ecstasy) can be incredibly useful if used carefully. For us they aren’t a party drug, but a chance to see how a very different emotional landscape looks / “feels”
* Marijuana is also very useful. I am much more empathetic – is this how normals are all the time? – have much more emotional resiliency and much more awareness of aesthetic experiences. If you are an Aspie, I’d venture to suggest that you have never heard music if you haven’t heard it stoned.
* Psychedelics. Also very useful. Far fewer side effects than any of the pharma stuff and allow you to explore yet another dimension of your psychology. The surge of serotonin usually serves to buffer emotional fragility.
In other words – like others on the list, I’ve had very positive experiences dabbling in the world of “alternative pharma” and have my own negative feelings towards the commercial pharma companies.
My advice to Zach if he happens to still be looking at this thread. The physical risks are far lower than alcohol, so you don’t have to be enormously worried. The biggest issues are setting and personal response. Find a few friends who understand marijuana and are steady responsible people. Pick a very non-threatening venue and make sure you have a good block of time set apart (no conversations on the phone, no need to interact with people you don’t know, etc.). Then give it a try – use a vaporizer rather than smoking or eating. Smoking is bad for your lungs and eating has dosing issues. It might be useful, and it might not. If not, then you know. If it is, then you have to start bounding.
Probably the most important issue when it comes to medical marijuana for mental problems and therefore you guys is cannabinol (CBN). Modern breeding/genetic engineering has led to a huge imbalance of too much THC and barely any CBN which sucks because that’s where all of the healing is. This is another reason to legalize and regulate pot as medicine. CBN has been proven to be an effective treatment for schizophrenia, so there you go right there. There certain strains and certain ways of cultivating which bring this out. There is anecdotal evidence THC heavy strains can trigger schizophrenia in people who are susceptible or already developing it. Hard work and perseverance will help us bring this science to the forefront…
Erm, you’re a bit confused there I’m afraid. The cannabinoid you’re thinking of is cannabidiol (CBD), not cannabinol (CBN). CBN is simply what tetrohydrocannabinol (THC) degrades to when exposed to light and air, and is only mildly psychoactive. It’s what you get when you’ve harvested too late, or if you’ve stored your cannabis poorly (though you’ll always have some of it in your weed).
Cannabidiol (CBD) levels are what have changed greatly with modern breeding techniques (not genetic engineering), and they have gone *up*, not down. Modern indica strains have vastly more CBD than the sativa strains which were used in decades past. It produces the ‘couchlock’ sedative effect, rather than the ‘head high’ feeling of THC.
Of course there are strains galore available these days (in regions where they are sold openly), including THC-heavy sativa strains, and there are in fact hundereds of different cannabinoids, each with their own biochemical effect to add to the mix. So it’s a matter of finding a strain suited to your individual needs.
Ive read all of your comments and my cousin suffers from Aspergersand heard about this and wanted to do some research on it before i talked to my uncle about it.I love my cousin and he too goes into extreme forms of depression and gets made fun of. I have fought his battles with kids who have made fun of him and they have treated him better now that I have intervened. same goes with the kids with disabilities atmy school I will stand up for them even when they are unable to. I am also a teen with depression and ADHD and have alwaysed wondered if it will help me with my own grades at school. Thank youguys for all the personal information and experiences so that Imay give this a try. I cant thank you guys enough and for those who have children with these disorders and for those on here that have them you are all in my prayers and hope you all live happy lives. Again thank you for the info you guys have been great
I have Aspergers Syndrome and ADD, and i can focus so much more when i’m high on marijuana than if i’m not, i can understand things that have stressed me so much before that i couldnt grasp it, i’m more sensitive to others peoples feelings and apreciate people more. I feel relaxed in a way that i’ve never felt before.
I think using marijuana as a medicine for the syndrome is an effective treatment if people intake it moderately. I’m not sure if there is a scientific evidence it’s effective for Asperger but, I have an experience of smoking marijuana in Holland moderately and my depression is cured. My concentration, learning ability and perception get better as if my brain become young. Some people believe that marijuana is a cause of mental disorder, but it happens only if we abuse it. People can be imaginative and can think about others well when they are under effect of marijuana, because marijuana activates the function of brain to produce serotonin more. Serotonin maintains our brain calm, sharp and stress-free.
It is known that autistic person has less serotonin in their brain than ordinary person. So, I think there is a possibility that Marijuana can be a medication for these syndrome.
I hope some radical scientists or doctors prove it is worth to use cannabis for a treatment of any brain disorders.
Yet another Aspie here who’s found weed incredibly effective and useful.
I’ve been using the good herb for over 15 years now (I started long before I was diagnosed), and it has revolutionized my life. It just keeps me at a nice level where I can focus on whatever I have to do or think about without worrying about everything/everyone else. Like others here I can feel more stuff instead of just thinking about it.
Mind you, it’s an interactive drug – it doesn’t ‘make’ you feel either good or bad. You need to let go and just ‘go with it’ rather than get caught up in worrying or trying to figure out stuff that really doesn’t matter, as that can just send you spiralling into anxiety. So being high is actually a skill – you need to know how to centre yourself and even out your mental/emotional forces. Learning some relaxation/meditation techniques can be particularly useful in quietening the noisy mind.
Of course I find people who use weed to be much easier to deal with than others, as it’s perfectly acceptable to talk about weird random stuff when you’re high (which of course I tend to do even when I’m not), and then sit there and say nothing for a while. Without the non-stoner NT social prissyness to worry about, I can just relax and laugh and shoot the breeze, or just observe the social to-and-fro.
Indeed my dad has told me that he’s though my social abilities have skyrocketed over the last 15 years, even though he disapproves of my use of weed (which I find tough to deal with). In fact he doesn’t even acknowledge the connection between the two. Hmm.
I also wish to echo Jordan’s post above, as I use vapourizers too – I absolutely recommend them to anyone who wants to spare their lungs, save half their weed budget due to their extraordinary efficiency (yes really!), and indeed reduce their anxiety levels even further with the smoothest, cleanest high. Vapourizers don’t burn the weed but just ‘toast’ them, evaporating most of the cannabinoids (THC,CBD etc) into a thin vapour for inhalation while avoiding virtually all the smoke nasties altogether.
But you do need a good, well-known model, as there are loads of cheap, unreliable pieces of rubbish around that are far more trouble than they’re worth. For anyone curious about the subject, I can’t recommend highly enough the magnificent FuckCombustion.com forums where all manner of vapes are discussed – and over the last couple of years the range and quality has exploded.
And also like Jordan, I also use, and have used for many years, ecstasy and (other) psychedelics on occasion (though only fairly rarely these days), and my experiences with those are similar to Jordan’s. Though I do go to parties, and love to dance, and I will do so for hours when the music’s good. Indeed, producing psytrance and related styles has very much been an Aspie special interest for me for over a decade. And of course my social abilities have improved markedly as a result of using these drugs as well as from using weed.
But, naturally, any such substances deserve respect, and should be researched thoroughly before being considered for use.
this is to all who read it but is also a response to QBIT,
I agree with you on the subject of mmj being thoroughly researched before any use, (by the user) for medical or recreational use, not some un edjucated liberal blind eyed
non users who was some how given the power by the government to tell us what they think is best for us instead of letting us live our own lives making our own desisions.
U.S.A, land of the free huh?
kiss my butt american government!!!
two faced country!
I am takeing a break from mmj to see where I am at mentaly & psysicaly because, If I could live without mmj I would.
If I was medicated on mmj right now, I wouldnt have written that statment about america. As far as pros & cons of smokeing this is another mark on the board FOR my use of mmj.
reason for my break from mmj is, it is very easy for me (personaly) to use more than what is nessasary.
I think that, ( just because I have it, that I should smoke it)
as apose to only useing it when I need it.
Trying to limit my useage only complicates things & causes added stress & anxiety.
I cant afford to buy a consistant supply & I’m not going to place the burdon on my parents by growing it at home & I have no other options.
I am almost 30 years of age & am unable to live on my own as of now. I hope to one day be independant but my ASD has prevented me from doing so.
My case is not sever enough (according to the gov) to qualify for disability iether.
again thanks & kiss my rear american government!!!
This is how I look at it,
I only want to have to medicate when things get bad & becomes extremely difficult for me to handle, but if I medicate outside of a consistant routine (every day), I become too sedated the next time I medicate causing further temperary confusion, it doesnt help my problem & drives me to return to a consistant routine so that I stay at a level of functionality.
most interpret this use as an addiction.
Think about it like this,
If someone suffers from any pain , they’re going to do what they can to relieve the pain or ((cope)) with it.
If you dont, then you have something severly wrong with you & you need help!
our condition is no different!
now,
when I medicate consistantly I am still on a rollercoaster so to speak (ups & downs), (like everyone else) but I have control over how far up or down I go with the help of mmj.
Because I have been forced to recreationaly use mmj
(on the psysical aspect) in the past because I wasnt going to smoke around my family, at the same time, to my mind I was realy medicating without knowing it due to lack of knowledge of my condition at the time, I now wonder about
weather I would even be able to live without it, or
if I have other options besides mmj & bodily harming perscription pills to help cope or better my condition to a livable level.
Do any of you have this problem or are you able to medicate every so often as needed without every day use?
Part of my condition is a need for consistancy in daily routine.
I think this contributes to my need to medicate daily.
I need to find a way to willingly only medicate when needed instead of everyday use.
any ideas?
I strongly suggest you check out vapourizers – specifically at the FuckCombustion.com forum. It’s not a commercial site as they sell nothing and it’s ad free, and I have no other links to it besides the fact that I post there a fair bit. And it’s undoubtedly one the best communities I’ve found on the net.
It’s not about being an anti-smoking Nazi, as I smoked the herb for the best part of a decade. Rather it’s to do with the fact that vapes are better for managing anxiety, particularly the variable temperature vapourizers. The thing is that smoke by-products mess with your mood as well as your physical health.
Besides, there isn’t just THC in weed that gets you high – there are many other related cannabinoids which contribute to the effect, and these different cannabinoids boil (and become vapour) at different temperatures. When you burn weed (>250C/480F) you get the whole range of cannabinoids, but with a variable temperature vaporizer you can actually ‘tune’ the high according to where you want to be.
A lower temperature setting on a vapourizer (~175C/350F) will give you a much ‘brighter’, more cerebral high, which I often find particularly helpful, as it lacks the ‘couchlock’ effect, and can be quite stimulating. But as you raise the temperature (so approaching but never reaching burning point) the effect of the vapour becomes more physically sedative. Each person tends to find what suits them and when. Indeed I feel that the tune-your-own-high factor makes vapourization a very Aspie-ish way to toke weed.
So yeah, head on over to FC and browse though the sub-forums and threads, and at least you’ll come away from it better informed.
Second Qbits recommendation on the vape. I’ve been using a Volcano for several years now. Particularly if you are going to be medicating on a reasonably consistent basis the vape approach has many advantages.
I’d also recommend looking closely at all the different varieties that are out there. They all have different effects – some widely different. Some are better for pain, others for nausea, others for anxiety, others for sleeping, etc. etc. You’ll want a portfolio of mmj that you understand that can reliably deliver the effects you want. Combine that with the precision of a variable temp vape and you can really start being in control of your situation.
My brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer a few months back and this initiated a major increase in our family’s research on the subject of MMJ. The cancer-fighting properties of cannabinoids is not just well demonstrated, it is increasing daily. So much so that we are beginning to think of cannabis more as a “vitamin” than as a drug. I can easily imagine a scenario where low doses are given to a very large segment of the population similar to how anti-oxidants are given today.
Then we can layer in the reality that for much of the population “normal” is “sub-optimal” and that an increase in measured consumption of “Vitamin M” is more broadly useful. The personal stories above certainly don’t rise to the level of controlled scientific study, but I would be entirely unsurprised to discover that a sizeable portion of the population (and a quite sizeable portion of our specific Aspie sub-population) would be better off with a periodic intake of Vitamin M.
We just have to get better as a culture understanding how much, for who and how to “train up” behaviour to maximize the upside and minimize the downside. Want to save money on healthcare? Give everyone over 60 a daily dose of Vitamin M, take away their driver’s license and jack up spending on public transportation.
to: jordan,
I’ve used numerous types styles & brands of vaporizers & then took the vaporized weed & tried to get high off of it with out success so I dont get how there is “other” canibinoids contained within marijuana that gets you high that wasnt extracted within the first extraction of vaporizing???
NO, I didnt have the vaporizer too high a temp iether.
Is there any facts to back up this thiery?
I’d be realy interested to hear them.
I like to keep an open mind so I’m not in complete disagreement with you on this topic.
I just had to speak from experience of being completly sober & attempting to salvage some vaped weed because it was all I had at the time.
On the subject of the valcano,
Is that the one that uses a bag you have to wait forever on before you can inhale the vapor?
I dont like having the added stress of waiting an unnessasary amount of extra time before being able to medicate.
I like useing a vaporizer every once in a while but it would frustrate me to have to wait to medicate when the reason for needing to medicate is to relieve stress & pain.
If you broke a leg or have an excrutiating headache,
is your first thought,
O, I can wait to take an asprin or see a doctor? NO!
A simple perculator stemed bong with a bubbler ash catcher on it will do just fine.
I am still sober, going on a week & a half now & am experiencing some mixed feelings, good & bad. more good than bad.
On the good end of the spectrum, I am able to acomplish things with greater accuracy & speed & feel pretty good for the most part.
On the bad end of the spectrum, I have been realy moody lately with minor lash outs & get frustrated with ignorant people.
My twitchy repeatetive body movements like arm flapping & forceful eye blinking has rapidly increased & has become much more uncontrolable & is noticed by others much more also.
I crashed hard for the first 3 days, up, down, up down.
The (roller coaster affect)
I have kept my mind pretty busy with work around the house & spending time fishing & shooting at the archery range which is so relaxing it is a partial alternative to medicating with mmj but cant be done whenever I want so it doesnt work as a consistant alternative to medicating & doesnt help me eat nor does it help with my gastro intestinal disorder iether. the acid reflux feels like an electric ice cream scooper is digging repeatedly right under my sternum. My weight went from a steady 190 lbs a week & a half ago to 175 lbs as of today.
I will continue to go sober until I cant take it any longer.
I have been praying about this matter believing that God will help me & so far he has.
If any of you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to drop me a message.
Hi Josh,
It sounds like you have a very serious situation and I wish you the best of luck. I hope you have a good group of people around you who can help you work through everything – no medicine is better than a good community.
As to the diversity of cannabanoids, there are at least 66 in the marijuana plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid Many of these have effects that are not well understood. Your empirical experiment with the spent leaf might result from a number of conclusions – (did the first vape get all of the cannabanoids? where there remaining cannabanoids that had harder to notice effects, etc?) . What I can say is that there are a lot of cannabanoids in any given bud and the different varieties of bud can have very different effects.
I am talking about the bag-based Volcano. I prefer it, as does my brother for his cancer. I hear you that waiting the 2-3 minutes for it it heat-up is a bother and when you really need it can be too long. There are, of course, non-bag vaporizers that do the job quite well. You have to match your treatment to your situation. The upside of the volcano is that you can really dial in the temperature and the bag reduces the harshness of the vapor. The downside is that you have to wait.
I hope that things work out for you and it sounds like you are following a good path. The only thing I might mention is trying to experiment with different kinds of bud – in particular, there a certain Kushes that can really deal with pain and nausea but leave you pretty clear headed.
Unfortunately, none of this has been really formalized – because MMJ is so new, most learning is “folk wisdom” of people trying to figure out for themselves and sharing what they can.
best,
J
I have mixed feelings…
Up until about a month ago; I though I was just myself… High strung, quick to the trigger, overly intelligent, lacking in social skills, etc, etc, etc… List every symptom for Asperger’s and those who really know me will tell you that they’re reading a step by step guide to my inner workings. Quite freaky really, but it’s now very nice to know that i’m not a freak.
I have Asperger’s… NO; i have not been clinically diagnosed, but I can tell you that it explains a LOT.
I have smoked MJ on and off for the past 10 years and honestly think that I’m more myself when using it than not. I’m 28 now, married and at a new place in life. When we met, I immediately told my now wife that I am/was a pothead. She fell in love with that version of me (or true self??) and has since gotten me to tone down the MJ use.
I’m stressed out a lot though i don’t tend to show it often. When I do show it, I unintentionally lash out and am quick to fire of negative remarks, nasty comments or derogatory statements. Because of the Asperger’s; i’m unapologetic, don’t care about the consequences of my actions and only feel bad later when i’m able to rationalize the behavior. I try to change these bad cycles, but just can’t seem to. I have a strong desire to fix the problem, but don’t know where to begin.
When using MJ… none of this is an issue…
thoughts?
Ask your wife why she wanted you to ‘tone down’ the weed. If it was because of the smoking, well there are other methods of delivery (cooking and vaporizing – see above). Then refer her to this thread and many other sites where use of weed for Aspies and autistics in general is discussed (just Google combinations of asperger’s/autism and marijuana/cannabis – there’s quite a few TV reports, articles, blogs and forum posts).
She ought to put two and two together from that, and if she cares about you and the situation, she’ll shift her position. In fact as with the wife of another poster on another forum in a similar situation (Aspie who used weed and then stopped), she may actively encourage you back to pot.
hey leftaintright,
We are here to talk to & give any support you may need.
we are people just like you, we dont work for this website.
I volunteer my time to you guys to help you with your conditions because this helps me with mine.
Its a personal choice to use mmj, I dont care what any government says & I too am in a perdicament with useing mmj or not. I am 27 & am dealing with my family not giving me the full suport that I need as well as my own mixed feelings. If you have read my previous posts here I have been trying to find an alternative to mmj, I just got a job at my local bait & tackle shop so this will help keep me busy with my number one interest which consumes my life now more than ever. I dont want to have to smoke to level me out & make me normal but I havent found any other way, we all have bad days & mmj isnt always there when we need it, ya know what I mean? So I am looking for a different way to handle my condition.
As far as my recent research, for those who are fallowing,
I went a week & a half without mmj but had a relaps & sold my most favored shotgun for my medication because I looked at it this way, whats more important? meds or a gun?
better to trade my gun for medication than use the gun on myself to end my suffering. no joke, I was so close to eating a bullet over stupid unimportant things that bother me.
luckily I was able to make the trade & now with my new awesome job I can buy it back! I took my first two deer with it as well as most of my upland game birds. It has allot of meaning to me.
Anyway,
Back on point. I had a relaps & smoked. Coincidently on the national celebratory day of marijuana, (420) 4/20/10
Any way I was able to enjoy a stress free weekend turkey hunting & fishing for my friends b-day this last weekend.
( I wasnt shooting, just guideing him & filming the hunt) But it also had a negetive affect, My friend who swore never to smoke again because his previouse best friend killed himself suposedly because of depression caused by weed, (so he says) well, he asked to take a hit, I asked him if he was sure if he wanted to do this & he said ya & I wasnt gunna refuse him that on his b-day so we smoked! I dont want anyone to smoke weed unless they feel they need it for medicinal purposes, I dont like how it affects people who recreationaly use & abuse it. It turnes allot of people into shady, backstabbing, greedy, lying, thieving, no good losers. I have seen it in 97% of the people who I was around throughout highschool up untill a few years ago when I refused to be around those type of people.
Back on point again,
I hope my friend doesnt start smoking again, He has a good life & I would hate to be responsible for ruining his life because I let him smoke. Thats why I asked him first if this was what he wanted. He looks up to me & I had to be shown this by others inorder to see it. We are becoming best of friends now, hanging out almost every weekend since we met & we have only known each other for 5 months so the last thing I need is for him to want to smoke because of me.
I havent medicated since saturday & feel pretty good because of my new job but I know if I get a stupid customer one day, I will need to smoke that night or my mentality will crumble, I will have an overwhealming amount of self doubt & life will become unbareable very rapidly & usualy without warning.
Consuming my thoughts every wakeing miniute on a daily basis with fishing & hunting knowledge (the things I love) has helped keep my thoughts busy so I dont have time to think negetivly.
I live a very stress free life & it plays a huge part in helping me with my condition but when others bring negetivity into my world it takes its toll on me physicaly & mentaly because I dont often deal with these type of situations. I’m sorry that most people with aspergers at an older age dont have this option of a stress free lifestyle due to an already busy life, but if you have a loving family, you should have them to keep your thoughts accupied with care & love for one another.
If not, A good friend is just as good!
I am a man of christian faith & God plays the most important part in getting me thru all of my hard times, I often dont realize it & I havent given him the credit he deserves. If I killed myself, I would go to hell & my lifes work for the lord would be for nothing.
Helping others helps myself!
It gives me comfort in knowing that I’m doing good by helping others through difficult times.
I encourage everyone to take mmj very seriously
(as medicinal use) & think about your life & other options of helping you cope. If you are like me & havent found another option besides mmj for your condition, you have my vervbal support in helping you find other options.
Feel free to send me a message.
Hey Josh – have you considered growing for your own use? It takes some time and care – but this plant is robust and loves to grow virtually anywhere. If you live in a state with an MMJ law, you generally are OK growing for yourself and you sound like the kind of guy who would enjoy cultivation and could be very good at it.
It would help on the $$ side – and actually growing from seedling (I’d recommend cuttings rather than seeds, but that is a different issue) – and might help you find the right relationship with the plant.
Also, don’t forget Genesis 1:29 and 9:3. The plant is here for a reason and, used right, is a medicine for your health. Just don’t abuse it.
Good luck!
Left –
A few thoughts. You definitely need to make sure that you and your wife are on the same page. You can’t have any questions or confusions (which are al too common in marriages – trust me). This has to be a complete team effort.
This doesn’t mean that you have to convince her to let you go back to your stoner ways – or that you have to go cold turkey. Only that she knows and understands all of your whys and hows and vice versa (as Qbit asks – *why* does she want you to tone it down)?
As I’ve mentioned above, you can and should look into different varieties. You can find some that get you where you want to go without taking away most of the things you want to keep. Its not the same as being sober – but its different than being stoned. If you think about Vitamin M as medication, you start to dial it in.
You might also want to try two other medicines. I’ve recently started experimenting with Oxytocin. Particularly in a new marriage, this hormone which seems to be lacking in the Autism spectrum, could work wonders to keep you and your wife feeling attached and without reservation with each-other. I dont know enough about it myself to recommend anything concrete – but something to look at.
The other thing to look at is ecstasy. Yes, I know, I’m raising the spectre of marijuana as a “gateway drug”. But X (or A as it was originally and better called) isn’t supposed to be a dance drug. Its supposed to be something that is used in couples therapy. It requires some real care – if you take it you will feel like you have a bad coffee withdrawal for a few days later and can be extra snippy. But the benefits *particularly if taken together* is extraordinarily open and mature conversation. And it seems to actually allow deep problems to be fixed long term. Something else to think about.
In any event, you should definitely look into a vaporizer. Josh is right – it is a bit slower than a pipe or bong, but given the issues you are dealing with, that might not really be a problem and the dose regularity is a really big plus.
I took extacy once & it was at night & all I did was go to sleep but wake back up in the middle of the night & watched american chopper on t.v. & the extacy made me want to be a bike builder.
go figure. It might not even have been real extacy, people get that ALLOT!!!… I mean more than the real stuff! My opinion, dont even think about it. youl likely end up takeing something fake that you have no clue what it is & couldnt tell the doctor what you took to save your life because you dont know what you realy took. I have seen it several times in my highschool days. that and the real stuff gives you a 3 day dehidrated hang over (according to people I have spoken to) & is as bad for you as crystal meth mentaly as well as physicaly, look it up.
I use a vaporizer at a friends house but I only medicate when I absolutely need it so at that point I’m in too much of a hurry to wait 5 min on the vaporizer when I can instantly smoke. plus you are chained to a wall plug if you want to use a vaperizer.
They made a pipe vaporizer but it is pointless because you are still inhaleing butane from your lighter! go figure.
Every body wants a piece of the pie & they will make useless crap just to get a slice & rip you off.
I love the taste of smokeing good product out of a regular pipe or water bong.
The result with a vaporizer box is nice because it eliminates any harshness in your throat & lungs, you are 90% less likely to caugh & its a slightly more enjoyable experience if you can wait the 5 min.
I dont want you guys thinking I’m completely against the vaporizer because it is a very usefull invention.
And they say people who smoke are stupid!
A full on hippie from southern CA invented the first true vapor box, I had the pleasure of meeting him when he 1st sold them out of his house for $250.00. He was a bit overboard with his thoughts but still a smart guy.
jordan-
I stated earlier that I still live with my folks & I am not going to place the burdon of growing in their home or on their property.
I wish I could but I cant do that, its not an option.
smell in the house.
horrible neighbors that would see it growing & steal it.
I cant aford a cage to lock it up outdoors or the money for a shed with lights,vents,fans,C02 emitter, filter,potting soil, fish fertilizer, super bloom, so on & so forth. I use to know people who grew.
Thanks for the scripture,If its what I think, I have already read it but will again when I get a free moment.
anyway,
back to the conversation at hand.
I reached a point where I dont need to smoke every day but I still have to smoke every other day or every 3 days otherwise I start to get the rollercoaster affect. I smoked some realy good stuff last night that leveled me out, I was still wide awake with no sedative affects & it tasted & smelled incredible.
My new job is helping me cope with my mentality but not my psysical symptoms. I stay busy all day at work doing what I love, talk about fishing! : ) I am truly blessed with this job & it will open new doors of oppurtunity in my life. I will continue to smoke but in moderation.
I think it would be best for all of us to just ignore JBG from now on, obviously he has no clue as to what we are here to talk about & doesnt have the decency to act like an adult.
I have Asperger’s, and I’ve smoked weed before. And it helps. A lot. I can actually be social in a somewhat normal way. And be comfortable doing it. It’s actually had some permanent (positive) effects on how I think about the world, I guess because I can remember my thought processes from when I’m high and apply them to normal life.
Just to get the heads spinning-the symptoms and characteristics of AS or related are best managed by which strains? One’s with high CBD? low THC? or more ones that are high THC? Is there a need to have more than one kind of strain for best management as in cases with central nervous system dysfunction? I’m researching-curious and a clinical trial guinea pig right now….
Cj – May I ask WHERE there is a clinical trial? Thanks.
the clinical trial is for the Gulf War Syndrome-not related to Aspergers, but the Central Nervous System Dysfunction and the actions of the hypothalamus. I’m thinking from that perspective because I manage a lot of issues with cannabis and believe that it can help autistic or Apergers and many other conditions.
They are studying my brain responses and spinal fluid changes and I’m looking at “why” more so-I’m trying to study it from the point of which strains help which pains? If the endocannabinoid system works in line with the central nervous system, running throughout the body like highways-it would make sense to have someone trace which strain is effecting which areas of the endocannabinoid system….if the problems for Aspergers and CNS issues are being helped by the same strain, for example-a stretch but work with me here..- then it would make some logical theory that the commonality could reveal the cause and course of action with just a little more data added. Similar to when a fibromyalgia patient surprisingly responds to a parkinson’s medication…. I can’t work so I research-might have Aspergers in some form myself and thought I’d ask in this old thread about medical grade uses and how they help.
Hey Cj,
Good questions. I can speak from some experience, but I don’t know how / if the effects are common. FWIW I discovered a new website recently (leaf.ly) that should act as a good resource to baseline effects and to possibly differentiate AS effects from normative ones.
My biggest issues are psychological (lack of empathy, inability to read emotions, difficulty in dealing with emotions, not getting art/music, etc.) and some physical issues (mostly neuro-muscular). I find that I am fond of both sativa and indica strains. The indica strains are best for interpersonal activity. Staying very level and understanding what other people are thinking/feeling. The downside is that they can be more physically effecting (less dexterity, etc.). Great for going out to eat (completely eliminates GERD, dramatically increases experience of and appreciation for flavors, etc.). An indica has helped me suddenly realize that a friend was gay, that a relative had a problem with his mother, etc.
Sativa, on the other hand, is *much* more cerebral. Perfect for listening to music, reading math, physics or philosophy. Something like “superpowering” my own AS symptoms – diving into my own head with a vengeance but also rewiring the left-right connection or something along those lines. Much less ability to get other people – but a strong tendency to get “situations”. Because the physical effects are lighter, different sativas (particularly the sativa kushes) can be productive. Might even be “performance enhancing”: better at dancing, better at basketball, swimming, etc.
Hope this is helpful/useful.
J
From the
I just discovered that I have aspergers, but have been smoking pot mildly for almost a year before I even knew I had aspergers, average 3 times/cigarettes a week.
I had health issues and troubles my whole life and never knew what it was, and turned to pot out of sheer accident.
My experience- the quality and strength of pot, is different and I have had one negative experience where my paranoia exploded. They need to make pure quality pot available, because when its good pot its a miracle for me.
Most of the time the experience has been beneficial, to the point where I regain my ability to act do things and interact with people.
My problem with it is 3 fold right now
1) I can’t figure out how to get exact doses and the right amount to treat myself so I can function well. I end up over smoking to make sure.
2) I feel like a weird addict of some sort because if I don’t smoke for a week I feel like I need it and it does improve my condition, but on the other hand I have no true addiction to it (I don’t have to have it and can stop at any time for long periods/except then I just don’t function).
3) The people I buy it from at times have been bad/very bad/ they couldn’t care if they really killed me and regularly try to by trying to force sell me truly harmful impure serious drugs. (so I would never want my child to ever have to deal with these bad boys just to ease their pain and suffering) I have had money stolen from me and indirect threats at which point I lose these dealers but he bad experience and dangers really shouldn’t exist at all.
I haven’t smoked in a week now as I write this, but I feel like I may get some in a week, just to sooth my anxiety/pain etc etc I may get off pot if my doctor can find a solution that is close to being as effective.
Otherwise I feel like an ill person stuck under the control of truly criminal/dark laws against my well being and shady dealers that have no idea what angels they are, but are only doing it cause it pays.
Hey Alex. Take a look at http://www.leaf.ly/explore. This is a new social network dedicated to collaboratively improving our understanding of the different strains of medical marijuana and their differential effects. Both strain and dosing is important to get the medical effects you want and to avoid the effects you don’t want.
As I’ve mentioned before in the thread, it is strongly advised to try to move from smoking/combusting to vaporizing (using a vaporizer) this is much better for your health (you aren’t inhaling hot smoke) and is better at precise dosing.
Your dealer situation sounds terrible – and is one of the major reasons why MMJ laws were passed. I assume you are not in one of the sixteen states that have medical laws? If so, you should get a card and go to a dispensary. If not – have you considered growing your own? Its not trivial, but can be rewarding (farming is always fun), saves money and gets you away from the dealers.
As for addiction . . . one of my issues has always been GERD and canker sores. Turns out that I have to take a daily supplement of an amino acid called lysine to prevent these symptoms. If I don’t take lysine daily, I start coming down with them again. Am I an addict? Not really. Cannabinoids are a naturally occurring substance for which receptors exist in the evolutionary tree from mammals to birds reptiles and fish. The fact that your body needs supplements of cannabinoids to function effectively is no more mysterious than the fact that modern humans need vitamin d3 to avoid disease. Think of it like a vitamin. Just use your head and judgment and be *healthy*.
Marijuana definately helps my Asperger’s syndrome for the better. During my years at university, before smoking pot I was experiencing anxiety, depression and around exam times I had experienced a few panic attacks. Cannabis, however helped me because it gives me genuine relief from anxiety and social phobias and it helps me relax so I can have a good sleep at night.
It helps me laugh and be more intimate with my partner and more social. I stopped regularly drinking when I smoked pot 1 day on/off. I now use a digital volcano vaporizer to receive the cannibinoids which are helping my brain alot.
Apparently people with an ASD disorder have artificially low levels of melatonin, whereas, smoking cannabis corrects deficits in hormones which influence consciousness.
Contrary to common assumption, my grades increased when using cannabis. I was smoking pot daily during exam times and received high 2:1′s and 1st’s in my final year of my intensive UG degree.
I truly beleive cannabis helps people with autism and aspergers as it unlocks the mind and enables you to relax, focus and concentrate. Granted, whilst under the influence I may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but overall it has made me much a much more pleasant, nicer and calmer person. As a UK citizen, I am appalled at the current drug laws and I don’t want to be arrested because I self-medicate. Because the laws means I can’t get regulated product from a doctor. As I work in the care industry I cannot risk having a criminal record as it means I will never have a job.
If it wasn’t for cannabis I probably would have self harmed or become addicted to alcohol. The drugs they have for autism and aspergers in the moment such as risperidone are 100 times more dangerous and with lots of undesirable side effects.
It makes me more interested in the natural world and science. Am I an addict? No. I don’t smoke tobacco or consume alcohol regularly because that is genuinely addictive, I use cannabis because it actually helps my brain and not hinder it.
James-
Couldn’t agree more. After being put on ritalin as a young child, misdiagnosed ADD/ADHD I certainly enjoyed being what I now understand to be equivalent of a cocaine high. That alone is so scary to realize.
I’d rather hit all those sympotoms and be slightly groggy (my stuff is very potent) the next day rather than fight a slew of prescription politics. And since I’m not graced by the NHS, the costs are something to notice as well.
So I can either consider my health or my pocket-book, cannabis wins either, and either is enough for me.
Yes because medical marijuana treats everything these days, even AIDS!!!
I’ve been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome since I was 14 (2005), and there’s always been a direct link between my AS and my performance as a student. Prior to my diagnosis, I was a terrible student. I didn’t know how to focus, I didn’t get my work done, and I was very moody, on top of the usual social awkwardness and speech delays. After my diagnosis I learned a lot of strategies to cope, but it didn’t change the fact that I suffer from irrational irritability and speech delay including mild stuttering, slurring, and lack of verbal clarity.
I went through high school completely straight. No medications, drugs, anything. I feared that drugs/treatments would make me normal. Getting diagnosed explained why I wasn’t quite normal, and I cherished that, but it didn’t make me perfect. My junior year I got fed up with high school, dropped out with one credit left to graduate, and started going to a nearby community college, thinking that challenging myself academically would help me cope. My grades continued to go down and I eventually dropped out and picked up a diploma through a charter school that was willing to work with me.
I started smoking pot about 15 months ago, but only once every few months, and very lightly (two or three hits max and not even good shit). It was purely recreational and didn’t benefit me at all. It wasn’t until June 2010, when I had a truly mind-opening trip, that I realized it could benefit me. After that particular trip, I got back into school and started taking advantage of the relaxed psychological state that marijuana granted me. I talked to my parents about there experiences with drugs including marijuana, mushrooms, DMT, and LSD, and realized that these substances are powerful medicines which really hold the key to human progress. Unfortunately, recreational use has caused these medicines to be lumped together with heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
Since I started school again in September, I’ve experimented with different dosages, strands, methods of consumption, and usage frequencies, and I can’t say I’ve perfected my use of marijuana as a medicine, but I’ve certainly seen a difference. I’m currently not protected legally, but it’s clear to me that I should be, so I’ll be applying for medical marijuana in the very near future. To answer your question, medical marijuana can ABSOLUTELY help people with not just Asperger’s Syndrome, but really anyone who can benefit from an improved ability to concentrate and apply themselves in a professional or academic environment.
Who does that include? Everyone.
Hello everyone. now I haven’t been diagnosed clinically with AS, though at one point in my life I was in a psych ward for other reasons (generally getting the doses and meds right for what we thought was my ADHD which is clue number 1 really. we all know that the two are definitely linked very often.) and the doctor said he’s pretty sure I have a mild case of Aspergers, not ADHD, though I am sure I have some of both as I display many of the ‘symptoms’. Now first I would like to say this, and hopefully in this environment and crowd people will see where I am coming from and agree for the most part, but I do NOT see aspergers (or even some types of ADHD) as some ‘disease’ or ‘syndrome’ to be ‘cured’. In fact, some have said that Aspergers and/or higher functioning autism are a next step in evolution. we are only different and do not co-exists among this flawed society as well as the ‘normies’. the only reason they are debilitating and inhibiting are because our society just isn’t designed for us. I could go on forever about this (perseverance and monologues, anyone?). in fact, I quite enjoy it. it’s part of who I am and what I like. if it werent for it I probably wouldnt be so into or good at computers for example. or martial arts.
getting sidetracked here… the reason I wanted to post this was that I found a fantastic link that says that CBD, a main cannabinoid, alone is not psychoactive and has a HUGE list of benefits including but not limited to helping with or preventing anxiety, schizophrenia, diabeties, cancer, and pain are some of the big ones. (https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/22485-want-cbd-not-thc/)
I would say more but I must go now. in conclusion, if you extract the THC and do what you want with that (give it to a friend?) and take the CBD (which has a higher boiling point which is a clue in how to extract it) for yourself, it can help MANY people not just us! the only problem is this unreasonable and illogical prohibition of it even though it is MUCH healthier that any legal drug or pharmaceutical it’s just they don’t know how to make money off of it so they come up with all the BS propaganda against it.
also, after doing a little poking around on the internet, I notice that it seems to help a lot of people with it and since I live in Canada, I might try a pitch at trying to get my own ‘green card’ so that legality is not an issue. that way I can ditch my concerta and risperdal (which, as of today, am starting to think it’s making it ‘worse’ though focus on things I am not interested in isn’t quite the issue as without)
just thought I would share my two bits
now… on to finding a damn variable temerature vaporizer that DOESN’T cost me my soul to the devil just to afford… XP
I felt compelled to post since I have a somewhat contradictory experience to what others here have reported.
I have recently realised that all the difficulties I have experienced in life (meltdowns, problems with eye contact & smiling, being treated as “odd”, sensory sensitivities, social anxiety, disliking being hugged or touched, literal interpretation of what people say, not getting jokes, high IQ not always matched by performance, obsessive interests, and so on and so forth) can be explained by the fact that I have aspergers.
I am currently pursuing diagnosis at the age of 26 – my difficulties having been overlooked as a child (my behavioural problems were incorrectly attributed to trauma experienced prior to being adopted at the age of 3)
I smoked weed between the ages of 16-18 (on and off) and I only ever experienced severe sensory overload, hallucinations and paranoia. I could smoke tiny amounts or larger amounts & always with the same result. It seemed to trigger meltdowns for me that could last for hours.
For many of the people who posted above, an ability to better deal with social situations was reported as well as an increased sense of calm. In contrast, I seemed to find meaning in everything, in a way that was terrifying. Peoples voices were too expressive & full of innuendo. Things they did seemed to have meaning way beyond what they logically could. Music that was being played was perceived by my brain as indicative that others new something about my childhood memories of what that kind of music meant to me.
Music that was bass-heavy would make me feel physically warm & tinny music would make me shiver. I would hallucinate things, such as hearing a tiny noise (turned out to be a quiet stream of water far away) as a hissing snake getting louder & louder, sneaking up behind me, causing me to fly across the room. I have no fear of snakes, which is indicative of the fact that it was the solely the drugs effect on my brain that was causing a terror reaction.
It is as though weed amplifies my sensory problems, or strips away the coping mechanisms I have spent years constructing to make my sensory issues more bearable.
No one around me could work out why I wasn’t laughing & chilled out. I think that now I understand my brain a little better, it makes more sense. I have never been a non-empathiser, despite my parents often thinking that to be the case. I actually believe once I understand emotion, I empathise with it to an extreme. When someone cries, I don’t have the skills to make them feel better, but I just want it to STOP, because their emotion threatens to engulf me & I have no context for the emotion (I don’t know what caused it) so I experience despair if someone else is slightly upset, which either makes me very angry (coping mechanism) or meltdown.
How this relates to weed : I have a theory that for some people with aspergers, marijuana allows their brain to experience the world in a more NT fashion ( & presumably calm them down). For me, I wonder if it lifts the veil that prevents me spotting non-verbal communication, in a way that creates a greater cacophony, resulting in being overwhelmed in a far more terrifying way than normal (I wonder if they may be akin to the types of meltdowns I had as a young child). I am not sure I can explain the severe paranoia however, apart from it being a reaction to realising for the first time that all this hidden stuff goes on in NT-land that I have been ignorant of all my life (thus feeling out of my depth & as though my brain has been lying to me) & also simply that I was around people who were negative.
I just wanted to post my experience since I think it is important for people to see the other side of the coin as well. Any drug can mess with your brain chemistry, (legal or not) and everyone, NT or on the spectrum, should exercise caution with substances.
I was given the very bad advice of “you aren’t smoking enough” or “you will get over it, it’s just because you aren’t used to it”. I ended up in a severe psychosis for several months (with no continuing use of any substances). A stupid psychiatrist who was “anti-drugs” tried to tell me I was schizophrenic & put me on *more* drugs (?!), when in fact I just needed some tlc from my mother & time to recover.
I really really don’t want to give out the message of “don’t do drugs” or perpetuate the ridiculously damaging myth that all illegal drugs are bad. My boyfriend smokes weed every day (I am going to buy him a vaporiser soon due to my sensitivity to tobacco smoke) & he is one of the most balanced, kindest, helpful people I know. He believes that weed helps him function better (I think he might be slightly ADHD from the way he describes experiencing things) and I respect his understanding of himself enough to believe that weed works for him. Likewise, he is considerate of the fact that it doesn’t work for me, despite the fact he sings the praises of the drug on a daily basis.
I personally have found that MDMA/ecstasy is a substance that has worked beautifully for me. It is the only thing that can quell my social anxiety (no prescription drugs managed that) and it was a drug with long term positive consequences. It enabled me to experience a connection with others whilst on the drug that was highly therapeutic, and has helped me interact with others more effectively ever since. It is not a substance I would ever recommend as it is currently used, (every weekend as a party/dancing drug) due to the long comedown & the way ones tolerance to it’s effects increases. Nonetheless, for some people, it can be an eye-opening, life changing, one-off experience.
However, implying that any specific drug will work for all people with aspergers/on the autism spectrum is foolish, because there are such a wide range of differing personalities & brain chemistries within that definition. That is not to say that we shouldn’t encourage experimentation, both within clinical settings & on the personal level. However, everyone should exercise caution – because what may seem like a innocuous, innocent drug to one person, can have long-lasting, extreme effects on another.
I definitely believe that a LOT more research needs to be done into drugs such as marijuana, lsd, MDMA, psilocybin, and so on. The current climate of fear & lack of education we have surrounding these substances is very damaging to individuals who could benefit from them. It makes me sick the amount of prejudice there is towards people who use illegal drugs, regardless of whether they abuse the substance or use it in a positive way to improve their functioning in society. This is even more sickening when you think of some of the horrific legal drugs that people are prescribed without a second thought, nor any attention paid to the opinion/experience of the person on the receiving end.
I apologise for the extreme length of this post. I find being concise difficult, no matter how hard I try!
I have been diagnoised with Aspergers a few years back and realized the best solution is marijuana. I suffer from stress, depression, and i am anti-social which makes me an akword person. When i use marijuana it helps by cope with my stress, depression, and it makes me more social. Another thing is i do not understand why alcohol is legal and marijuana is not. Look at how many deaths are recorded from alcohol, in plus it can make you agressive which can get you into alot of trouble. Alcohol is man made and marijuana is a nature herb that god put on this earth there is no reason why it should not be legal, but that is just my opinion. Marijuana calms you and does NOT make you an agressive person, research how many deaths are recorded from marijuana itself and garenteed you will see that there are zero deaths. Smoking any herb is unhealthy but thats why they make vaporizers, It vaporizes the THC and leaves behind all the unheathly stuff. For those people that think marijuana is deadly, unhealthy, and ruins your life suck up society. Good for you if you are against it but that does not mean that you should ruin it for people who need it and helps them cope with stress and depression. If you dont like it then dont do it, its that simple.
I know someone personally with Asperger’s and without MJ, he’s very quiet and aloof, doesn’t seem to get jokes..he tends to analyze them instead of laughing.
After using MJ, he’s more happy and outgoing and very social, and laughs at jokes instead of analyzing them. MJ is definitely a good thing for him!
I think if you smoked it at the wrong time it’d send you into a massive anxiety attacks. Maybe one J after a stressful trip shopping, and maybe one before bed, but next time you’re feeling really bad, take it from me. you do not want to get stoned.
Don’t know if this is any help, but weed always seemed to cut the time needed for me to get from logic-facts-and-figures-mania, to baseline. It also improved my appetite greatly and cut down the time it took for me to sleep. However, it also made my dreams a bit awkward (at times), and it DOES decimate short-term memory, to be perfectly frank and brutally honest. But it’s great if things are getting WAAAY too logical inside one’s own noggin.
And smoking ANYTHING (dope OR tobacco) is bad for your lungs. It’s probably best if you eat your dope, as opposed to smoking it. And if you MUST smoke, use a bong – not a cigarette. I started out rolling joints, and now I can’t get off the cigs either.
“And smoking ANYTHING (dope OR tobacco) is bad for your lungs. It’s probably best if you eat your dope, as opposed to smoking it. And if you MUST smoke, use a bong – not a cigarette. I started out rolling joints, and now I can’t get off the cigs either.”
Yes smoking anything is bad, no question about it. So yeah, spare your lungs cook and eat your weed – or use a vaporizer.
There are many damn good vapes available these days – and also a lot of really crappy ones. Check fuckcombustion.com forums for all the best info on vapes and vaporizing (and on cooking as well). I’m not spamming, I’m just an enthusiastic member (one among thousands). It’s a forum, not a shop – they don’t sell anything there, they just talk about it (in great detail).
My son is 11 and has aspergers. He was misdiagnosed at age 4 with ADHD. After years of horrible side effects on various stimulants and me ignoring my gut instincts that the doctors were full of crap I began my own research. After finding out about AS and really investigating I realized that my son does infact have AS. At 8 years old I hunted down PDD specialist in my state and he was officially diagnosed. He still very much has ADHD too but none of the meds work on him. Adderall actually made him start to be so paranoid he developed schizophrenic side effects. Finally I had enough and said no more and he has been without meds ever since, other that about 2 weeks on stratera, which also had horrible side effect. All in all we have tried around 7 different medications.
He still has such a hard time slowing down. He has difficulty sleeping and handling peer interaction. He becomes easily frustrated and is very rigid about many things. I really feel like he would benefit from marijuana. Of course im not gonna hand him a blunt and tell him to fire up but I am leaning toward giving him a small amount of brownies and see if it helps at all. I have 3 other children and I do not want them to think we condone marijuana use. I fully support medical marijuana and occasional use by adults. I however do not think young people should use it unless absolutely necessary. Like my 16 year old nephew has a severe brain injury and uses the marijuana to help with the pain and side effects. Do any of you marijuana users with AS think it would have benefited you if you had used when you were younger? I know there is no way it could be as harmful as the legal meth he was given by his DRs.
One of the things that frustrates me in hindsight is not having discovered marijuana sooner… I didn’t start smoking regularly until I was 25, but I had several friends even in high school who smoked it, and I was one of those “all drugs are bad” kinds of people before I finally starting seeing the bigger picture. I think ingestible marijuana would be an excellent thing to try for your son. I’ve read several blogs and articles from parents who have done the same thing, and they said it was one of the best things they ever did. I would recommend just telling him it’s a new medicine (somehow delivered in brownies) and maybe not being specific on what it is until you both see whether it works or not. I’d tell him the facts, what it may or may not do, possible side effects, basically all the info about what marijuana use is but without actually telling him it’s marijuana. Then, if it ends up working you can consider telling him the truth, perhaps when he’s a bit older. I agree, children, especially under 15, shouldn’t use marijuana unless absolutely necessary because the brain is still forming, but as I’ve read elsewhere, it could be the best thing you ever did for your son.
I can also attest to the benefits of marijuana in helping treat AS. From my own experience, I too felt that it helped slow my thinking down to a “normal” level. I felt connected to people in a way I never was, and I found it much easier to socialize with people. It also helped with my anxiety, where I would just blow up over the stupidest things, but after smoking I found it much easier to just say “eh, oh well” to most of those things and just not let them bother me.
For the sake of money and needing to find a job, I quit about two months ago, and I have since been to a doctor and prescribed Lexapro for my anxiety, and I have to say that I really hate the effect SSRIs have on me, having taken Zoloft about a year ago and having a similar effect.
That’s not to say there weren’t side effects associated with smoking marijuana, like sometimes getting confused or finding myself lost in my own thoughts and not paying attention to what was going on around me. It also affects the forming of new memories, and considering I already have some short-term memory issues this was one of the less-desirable side effects of marijuana. What surprised me was that I didn’t have to be “high” for the beneficial effects to linger… often, I could smoke in the evening after work, and even through the next morning and workday I found myself perfectly awake and aware but with much less anxiety and potential to become overwhelmed. It usually took about 20-24 hours for the anxiety to come back after smoking marijuana, even though the “high” effect was gone after 2-4 hours. It’s definitely something that requires a strong will and moderation as it’s easy to just smoke it whenever because it feels so good.
Also, like many medications, it takes time for the body to adjust to it. Smoking it once or twice won’t really give you an idea of what it will be like if you’ve been smoking regularly for months/years, and many of the side effects like paranoia and confusion go away once you get used to the effect and learn to compensate for it.
Now that I’ve found a job, I’m strongly considering going back to marijuana and ditching the Lexapro. People shouldn’t assume that marijuana won’t work just because of the effects they’ve read and then listing those next to the conditions of AS. People with AS have a physically different brain from a neurotypical person, and it’s reasonable to assume that how any medication affects a “normal” person won’t be the same for someone with AS. Personally, I would recommend it to anyone who’s having trouble coping with AS… to me it has truly been a wonder drug.
Strongly agree! thats the thing most people who have had problems are heavy daily smokers.
You need to learn to control it just like any drug for a medical problem like AS will be addictive
But the amazing thing about cannabis is as its still in your body the next day , without having the high effect your more able to concentrate ,gettin less distracted and being able to actually get on with life & anxiety goes
This is for me personally NOT everyone has the same effects just like prescribed drugs, just like food [allergic reactions] < The main reason
And you all need to understand if you want it healthy medication then vapour, pipe, injest , no joints with tobacco
I enjoy mine with tobacco but is thinking of investing in herbal mix's as too skint to smoke blunts all the time haha
Id like to add i may sound hypocritical about sayin to learn to control it , as at the moment i havn't due to it helping all 4 of my medical problems its abit harder to get off but in time i will learn and control it
The only thing i will say is if it does help you Asperges then your more likely to get addicted because of the fact of it helping you if that makes sense. If you have had a bad effect with it theres no need to look down on others just because it worked for them
Alot of these points i agree with strongly all the medication for ADHD and Asperges if any didnt work one made me more depressed and the other after takin a high dosage still had no effect at all i didnt feel anything
i started smoking cannabis a few years back just from enjoyment but now i look back and even now i can consantrate alot more and like what ‘Rich’ Said about you dont have to be fully high to have the effects like right now im not high ive had a few tokes on a spliff and im sat here consentrating writing this and reading above which would be very difficult[ Huge feeling that isnt spelt write sorry guys ] normally
i will say tho the only problem with cannabis is obviously the illegal side of it , goin to dealers & the ‘physcological addition’ due to my birth mother having many many drugs while she was pregnaunt with me i have an very high addictive mind BUT i will say i dont know many who are addictied like me they can smoke daily then the next thing be off it straight away with no problems
i also think because of the fact it helping 3 of my medical problems – ADHD , Asperges & Insomnia i Found out about theses only about 1-2yrs ago so school & college was abit of a nightmare ended up gettin kicked out of college but from there ive opened my own buisness and working on that
Im also on a tablet called anitriptilin for sleeping but its stopped working , cannabis does the job VERY well but theres times because of smoking il be really into something, tv-reading/researchin etc so i wont smoke as much and then by the time its late im sober but thats just time limits which il push my self to stay too
Fair point on people not wanting to give it there children and what ‘serena’ above has said about trying brownies is a very good idea i think it will help alot towards his sleeping gutted that i didnt find it early on as even from a baby id get out of my cot play with my toys untill im fully eshasted and then pass out where i was playing. But as long as u keep it down to a minimum he should be fine as from this im guessing when hes old enough he will start smoking but at least its better than drinkin ayee
To any1 who is wanting to help there asperges ADHD sleeping or anything else i do recommend cannabis
much bettter than being on ‘Ritalin’ for ADHD and less bad side effects trust me read the forms u get with prescribed drugs and there risks of bad effects is alot worse than cannabis’s bad effects
you can enjoy ur self while being medicated too
not many people get paranoid [biggest reason for paranoia is the fact its illegal]
but like everything on this planet SOME people have allergic reactions if any of you are out there dont go making it out as a huge thing because its very rare for one to be allergic seen as we have our own Cannabinoids in our own bodies
I have Aspergers and used medical marijuana after it was prescribed by a California psychiatrist. It really did help with my vocal tics, and calmed me down. However, I felt like a complete idiot after, my brain was way too slow, and thinking was not instantaneous. It was like being in a daze. It works great for tics, but unfortunately, it makes me really stupid. Did nothing to my paranoia though, or anxiety, it does calm me down, but I just can’t stand having to not get things instantaneously. Kind of like being drunk and trying to skate, very difficult.
I would make sure to try a few different strains. Switch eating vs. inhalation or use sublingual administration (tincture). Different methods of consumption produce different effects of a single strain. Allow for differences between batches of the same strain which can be dependent upon the grower.
I too have aspergers and smoked weed from 1995-2007 heavily until I ended up in the hospital with a diagnosis of “toxic psychosis” cannabis may help in the short-term but here’s some info about the harm it does. To all those who still smoke weed-i’m not trying to be self-righteous and I’m not trying to get anyone angry. I quit weed for good in 2008 and part of me was angry about it it felt like i was leaving behind my best friend. Anyway here’s that info:It has been suggested that marijuana is at the root of many mental disorders, including acute toxic psychosis, panic attacks (one of the very conditions it is being used experimentally to treat), flashbacks, delusions, depersonalization, hallucinations, paranoia, depression, and uncontrollable aggressiveness. Marijuana has long been known to trigger attacks of mental illness, such as bipolar (manic-depressive) psychosis and schizophrenia. This connection with mental illness should make health care providers for terminally ill patients and the patients themselves, who may already be suffering from some form of clinical depression, weigh very carefully the pros and cons of adopting a therapeutic course of marijuana.
In the short term, marijuana use impairs perception, judgment, thinking, memory, and learning; memory defects may persist six weeks after last use. Mental disorders connected with marijuana use merit THEIR OWN CATEGORY in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV, published by the American Psychiatric Association. These include Cannabis Intoxication (consisting of impaired motor coordination, anxiety, impaired judgment, sensation of slowed time, social withdrawal, and often includes perceptual disturbances; Cannabis Intoxication Delirium (memory deficit, disorientation); Cannabis Induced Psychotic Disorder, Delusions; Cannabis Induced Psychotic Disorder, Hallucinations; and Cannabis Induced Anxiety Disorder.
In addition, marijuana use has many indirect effects on health. Its effect on coordination, perception, and judgment means that it causes a number of accidents, vehicular and otherwise.
It is true that you will find a DSM IV category for marijuana…but this information was not based on full medical science based reviews, clinical trial, or any formal testing which would test the subject and the type of marijuana being used because the US has not allowed for enough testing-although they have their own strain growing in Mississippi for the 4 remaining patients of the marijuana program that was in affect in the past and deliver it to them once a month in the form of 300 rolled joints. There are many growers who also use too many chemical fertilizers, or don’t flush them from the plants before harvest. There are pesticides used, in many circumstances due to poor control of environment, which can also affect people differently and in most instances very badly. With that in mind, there are millions of patient providers that can attest to safe medicine practices to which most cannabis street users may not be aware of-given that-having the laws change this into a more regulated market will allow for further testing of all of the cannabinoids (over 70+ known-but not tested) and strains (over 400+), patient dosing standards….with the concept of how the plant is handled from seed to harvest (thousands of different combinations of good and bad techniques) added in, you can see that by limiting the scope of marijuana down to just one DSM IV category is like saying that there is only one kind of bird on the planet, and it will only shit on your head. It has been shown that out of the population that may react psychologically negatively to pot, only 2% will have an adverse reaction, and those adverse reactions will never kill you. Don’t forget we are also up against 70 years of our power hungry/money driven country which forced the rest of the planet to outlaw hemp and marijuana and they have planted a lot of their own seeds of misguided information along the way to keep this medication, which for 5000+ years has been used without major issue. Best guesstimate of patients legally allowed to consume cannabis as medication would be 50,000-100,000 per state, now 16 states legal and Washington DC. that’s way over a million patients currently using marijuana in the US alone-they’re not all going crazy-but it is not unheard of for some patients to experience side effects if they are not dosing correctly or using bad weed or even the wrong strain for their condition. if you consume too much, or don’t have a clinical need as extensive as your dosing-you’re the one to blame, not the plant, if you experience side effects. if you take 15 aspiring-it will be your last headache too. And don’t eat GMO food, live next to electrical power lines or factorys, plants, or in polluted cites, take pharmaceuticals, drink tap water, use a cell phone too long next your head, use a plastic shower liner, etc. because you will most certainly start having cancer to deal with or some other toxic existence occurs and will need to go back to marijuana to save your life. Study/google the latest information (within the last 2-3years of clinical data) on marijuana/cannabis/endocannabinoid/cb1-cb2 …etc. It’s not a surprise that so many people have a mis-guided view of marijuana because they don’t teach you about this plant and it’s affects in scho0l because they don’t want you to know. Medical science is only just beginning to understand the endocannabinoid system as it is. You have some homework to do before you post up again if you want to discuss the negatives. you’re government, and the DSM IV writers are not being completely truthful to you. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03359.x/abstract;jsessionid=188CE72D62D745DEE48F5EDDA2BA91D1.d03t02?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+14+May+from+10-12+BST+for+monthly+maintenance
Also I know that people will say “it’s only a plant, it’s completely natural, it comes from Mother earth” and so on. Well tobacco comes from mother earth too-and besides being addictive, smoking causes lung cancer emphysema and heart disease ( and has NO legitimate use whatsoever). And besides smoking weed long-term (as stated in the previous post) CAN be a waste of time and money. And for all the asperger’s people out there with great memories-why would you want to smoke something that could screw up one of your greatest assets? It also can cause schizophrenia-google marijuana and schizophrenia for more info on this. generally I’ve found that the people who get really angry when this info is presented to them are the ones who can’t stop smoking (or who won’t stop-they’re terrified of facing life without weed) Again not to insult anyone but I’m just telling MY truth. And i’ve found that there are natural vitamin supplements that one can take or precription meds one can take to help with that feeling of disconnectedness.
No one mentions cannabis and any other medican / drug etc effects everybody differently
] , Not many people include the fact that many smokers drink alcohol aswell which is another drug that can cause Schizophrenia, & Alot of information online never includes the fact that MANY people smoke cannabis with tobacco, Smoking cannabis even on its on isn’t the healthiest thing. If you want to use it advise – Vapouriser, Bong, Pipe , Injest, (Injesting – healthiest way)
Some who turn Schizopherntic other things can kick it off, eg- traumas, runs in the family (genetic)
Personally ive had no problems appart from the (Physchological) addition side of it , my memories pretty good no change , still have memory problems with placeing things down then never being able to find them but thats part of having ADHD so that will never change. Ive never been a very paranoid person and still arnt after 2-4yrs smoking 2-3yrs (have been daily), it helps my anxiety alot for going out socializing , goin new places. Ive tryed many medications and cannabis has been the only one to help all 5 of my medical problems (1- ADHD 2- Asperges- for both none other tablets have worked) 3- Depression (1 tablet particialy works) 4- Insomnia (no tablet has fully worked yet) & 5- Ezema (creams , but since smoking i havn’t had it ) . & weirdly ive never actually whitey’d or had any bad experience with cannabis
In moderation cannabis is fine as long as you learn to control your use [which i will be doing once my medical problems are solved
I’l end this with if you get bad side effects from the ‘prescribed’ drugs or they dont work then yes i do advise u to at least give cannabis a try because even a day after not being stoned but it still being in my system from the night before still seems to helps alot for ADHD & Asperges symptoms ( ive even googled it but i swear thats spelt wrong) so u dont have to smoke it daily, just now and again if it doesn’t work move on but giving it a try wont harm u never know u might end up finding it works wonders & turns out to be ur favourite medician!
Yes, cooking and ingesting cannabis is the healthiest way of consuming it, but (decent) vapourisers eliminate almost all the problems associated with smoking.
I think that Josh should be deleted. There is no reason for name-calling and the like. MMJ is the perfect medication for people like me will aspie’s. If you would have asked us to comment about the effect of this medication, that would be one thing, but to say you know (when you dont), only show how ignorant you are on the subject. MMJ is not only the perfect medication for many ailments, it is also the perfect replacement for; 1) big oil including but not limited to, gas, plastic, oil, all synthetics. 2) big paper, (1.5 million acres of trees were cut down in canada alone last year for paper) all of which belonged to prestine forests that had never been cut before including trees that were 1000 years old in and of themselves. 3) textiles, most of which are made from synthetic materials all non- biodegradable, as apposed to its hemp conterpart for which it is always biodegradable. (in every case)
before you judge this plant you should realize that God made it on the third day and blessed it (see Gen 1:11), and that it has been the most widely used product in human history. Just ask Henry Ford why it was made illegal in the first place. If you cant figure that out then you dont deserve to leave a comment here.
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I have asperger’s and marijuana is the only thing that gives me people emotions. Normally have zero feelings, but when I smoke pot I laugh, I cry, and it feels awesome. Also the noise in my head stops for those few hours. If it wasn’t for this beautiful plant I would now have been able to get through college or be successful at all.
All right-I’m not saying anyone ELSE should quit smoking weed-but it CAN be dangerous (see my previous posts) especially if you are a chronic user (the stoned all day/every day type). And there are many varities of hemp with VERY low THC content which can (and should) be used commercially. All that said-I see someone brought up the old Bible argument. Fine-as far as the Bible goes-after Adam and Eve sinned God CURSED the earth. And besides if everything that grows on earth is blessed and made for our consumption then why do plants like tobacco or hemlock or deadly nightshade exist? Are poisonous mushrooms that can kill a human blessed also?. Look on wikipedia for a list of poisonous plants (it’s a fairly long list) -is that a blessing from God? And NO poster has the right to say that anyone else doesn’t deserve leave a comment on this website. I know smoking marijuana is not good for ME-if you want to smoke go ahead-just realize that not everyone share’s the view that it’s a blessing from God and completely safe. Bad reactions to pot may be rare but it IS possible. google marijuana and schizophrenia or google marijuana and mental illness.
Yes, even highly poisonous plants can be ‘blessed’, as the major difference between pharmacology and toxicology is dosage – there are countless medicines that have been derived from biotoxins. Fortunately, THC and other cannabinoids have effectively no toxicity. Smoking any kind of plant material, of course, *does* produce harmful substances, but it is not necessary to smoke cannabis – vapourisation and ingestion are far safer alternative forms of delivery.
….”any seed baring plant” is what it said, according to most translations of the bible, which all translations have still yet to be verified as the absolute truth. either way, the bible is not the clinical data which would factor in the current status of genetics we have in the population today which has been severely altered over the last 2000 years (since the bible was released) by the toxins, we the people, put in the environment. the endocannabinoid system is working very hard for you to exist on the planet. Genesis 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
And tobacco is not harmful in and of itself, only when you cure it, ignite it, and inhale the cancer causing smoke from it
Ive been smoking since 07 without many breaks, i now stopped and going to for 3 months. I had problems the first few days, but could even be with my buddies while they were smoking. The reason for that is the social anxiety is much greater then what the addiction is. Cannabis helps me with the things i have troubles with, and i don’t like the high more then feeling “normal”.
People with Asperger’s syndrome often value their clarity
of thought: one adult described his reaction to medication: ‘It was like I was locked out
of my own home.’
Tony Attwood, THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ASPERGER’S SYNDROME
Theres many plants out there and many have some medical goodness scientifically they can separate the bad
Like ive said above EVERYBODY reacts to anything even prescribed drugs eg- ritalin (works for some , I had no affect at all ) differently so cannabis can be amazing for some people medically
and others it may not help but if ur really having problems i do advise just give it a try !
i dont know what all that talk is about above but having Aspergers i can tell you pot dosnt work-in very mild dosages it dose but getting stoned freaks me the fuck out- it helps in very mild dosages
what dose work is “prn” as needed zoloft only when stress hits you if you take it regularly you just get use to it and suffer and you have side effects-prn zoloft = no side effects and mild the moderate relief
It may not work for you but u cant got saying i can tell u pot DOESNT work
it sure works for me and many others out there but like EVERYTHING on this planent earth EVERYBODY reacts different so some of you stop being so fucking 1 sided!! Some of u it may not work for and i understand that so move on try something new but theres many others out there that it does work for so u should see out point too!
Hey Gemma I smoked pot every day from 1995-2008. i loved it- it made me feel sooo much more “in touch with the world” and i felt connected to people also (and it helped suppress my anxiety and anger). In 1999, i did notice that it was making me MORE anxious-so i went to a psychiatrist and he gave me Klonopin. After about an hour of taking that first pill i was thinking “SO this is how it’s SUPPOSED to be” I could talk to people without being nervous, I was self-confident, I could read non-verbal clues in people’s facial expressions and body language-it was great!!!! i finally felt like a REAL person. The problem with klonopin is that it’s highly addictive and you develop a tolerance. So in 2008 i got off the Klonopin for good. The withdrawals were NOT fun (And I’m not sure if I’ll ever fully recover). If anyone on this board has any knowledge they’d care to share about drugs that can help someone with asperger’s-as long as it’s not bud or addictive anti-anxiety pills-I’d sure appreciate it. Thanks
Most drugs are addictive anything that will help an illness like asperges or ADHD (anything that is permanent) whatever you take for them it will become addictive as its helping your long life problem. But if u have will power you can control it which i will be doing with cannabis once i get my insomnia problem sorted (and no this is not caused by me smoking cannabis ive literally had this since the day i was born) my asperges isnt as bad as some i can easily tell most facial expressions and some body language my main problem is my ADHD with lack of concentration and easily distraction where as if i smoke all that goes away and i can actually get work done , 5 of my problems are all fixed by cannabis i will say once more this isn’t for everyone people react differently but for me it helps all my medical problems and i believe it should be legalized medically. For example – Ritan made me more depressed , yet it works for many many others with adhd. ive tryed many other things for adhd and cannabis is the only thing out there that can work. if i wasn’t smoking now i doubt i would have kept writing id easily get bored
My son is 15 almost 16. Has been diagnosed with Aspergers in 2nd grade. School has been tough. We’ve tried different adhd meds. They don’t seem to work for him. Social Anxiety has peaked for him this year in 10th grade. We’ve tried up to 30 mg of lexapro, now weaning off. We have recently tried Klonipin and Alprazolam – he feels drunk at school and can’t remember anything that happened. He has smoked pot before and keeps telling me that is his answer to anxiety and concentration at school – also with sleep at night. It isn’t legal in TX. What is a mother to do who is fighting for her son. I didn’t mention he was cutting himself on lexapro – guess it was easier to take the physical pain than the emotional pain. We are trying to find someone for him to talk to. Meanwhile – we are desperate for a solution. Thoughts?
I have Aspergers Syndrome, and I’ve been learning how to live with it since I was about 10 or 11.
I’ve never done any drugs, I do drink, and if I wanted to, I could probably get and smoke Marijuana easily.
But I don’t.
The reason being that A) I don’t need it, because I have always had a good support structure around me.
B) The only thing that really affects me on a daily basis is getting motivated to do those things that I don’t like, but have to be done. This is always a struggle, possibly always will be a struggle, but it’s never as bad as my head makes it seem. Would weed help this? Possibly, or it could also end up making me less inclined to do those things, or even the things I want to do.
I honestly don’t think that using Marijuana for dealing with any Autistic condition is the answer. I believe that even of prescription drugs. But then again that is just me. Would I ever try it? I don’t know, I’m certainly curious to see what the experience is like first hand, and the option is always there. But I think I’m far off trying it, and I’m certainly not inclined to try it simply as a crutch to help me cope.
Hi Ryan, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Different approaches work for different folks, and cannabis is definitely not for everybody.
That being said, I wanted to add – I see it not so much as a crutch, more as a skateboard
Cheers
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